San Francisco’s Oldest Indian Restaurant “New Delhi” Celebrates 33 Years as “Legacy Business” by Raising Funds for Nonprofit “Compassionate Chefs” Initiative
Media contact: David Perry / news@davidperry.com / (415) 676-7007
San Francisco’s Oldest Indian Restaurant “New Delhi” Celebrates 33 Years as “Legacy Business” by Raising Funds for Nonprofit “Compassionate Chefs” Initiative
“Deep Gratitude To You” is theme of November 3 Event
Honoring “Heroines of Recovery”
Vice President Kamala Harris
San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed
and Attorney Mishty Deb
Former SF Mayor Art Agnos Celebrated as “Partner in Compassion”
14 October 2021 – San Francisco, CA: As a wise teacher once said: we need to cultivate an attitude of gratitude every day, in every way. Certainly, no one embodies that more than Ranjan Dey, founder and owner of San Francisco’s historic legacy business, New Delhi Restaurant, the oldest example of Indian Cuisine in the City. On Wednesday, November 3 at 6pm, Ranjan hosts an event whose theme is just that: “Deep Gratitude To You”. Marking New Delhi Restaurant’s 33rd Anniversary, the evening of food, fun, fabulous music and festivities will honor three extraordinary “Heroines of Recovery” who demonstrated amazing leadership helping small business recover from the COVID shutdowns: United States Vice-President Kamala Harris, San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed, and attorney Mishty Deb. Additionally, former SF Mayor Art Agnos will be celebrated as a special “Partner in Compassion.” Tickets are $ 50 and all proceeds will be donated to the nonprofit Compassionate Chefs Cafe. The festivities will begin at 6pm with an open bar and buffet of traditional Indian delicacies, a short program at 7pm followed by a special Bollywood dance performance, and lessons for the willing, by Shruthi Reddy. Tickets available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/thanks-for-being-with-us-tickets-167636522351?aff=Emailblast1
“Thank you will never be enough for the many people, including our honorees, who helped us get through COVID. By us, I mean our entire City of San Francisco and very specifically our family here at New Delhi Restaurant,” said Chef Dey, New Delhi owner. “In appreciation we are launching the Live Legends at Compassionate Chefs Cafe 2022 series to give back and enrich the community trough culinary and performance art and story-telling and archive and capture bygone memories.”
The brainchild of Chef Dey and Carmen Milagro Live Legends is an interview series with Bay Area artists and musicians benefitting Compassionate Chefs Café which raises funds to help underprivileged kids right in New Delhi’s neighborhood, the Tenderloin, as well as across the ocean at the three biggest slums opposite Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India. Compassionate Chefs Café’s goal and mission is to help the kids become global citizens by connecting them through several ongoing programs. New Delhi Restaurant has transformed into Compassionate Chefs Café, twice a year in May and November, since 2005. The inaugural artists for the Living Legends 2022 series will be announced at the November 3rd event.
“Everyone attending will partake in the delicious story of how the community was always there to help us,” Dey continues. “They will hear about a lawyer who was there to lend us a helping hand all the way from Texas when we were so lost trying to get our PPP and EIDL loans. This happened when I was posting my frustration that the big banks were just facilitating big business. We as a small mixed family immigrant business were just not a priority.”
New Delhi Restaurant has been serving guests from around the world from the same location for over 30 years. It is located in a 100-year-old former hotel ballroom built in 1914. Decorated like a Maharajah’s private banquet room, the restaurant serves cuisine made from recipes culled from the royal Indian menus dating back 300 to 400 years using the freshest local ingredients. Chef and owner, Ranjan Dey, star of the documentary series “MY INDIA”, creates daily specials with his six gourmet spice blends, available nationwide under New World Spices. New Delhi Bar has been the favorite hot spot for many, working in the downtown restaurant and hotel industry, since its inception in 1988. It is famous for its “Double-Happiness-Happy Hour”: The first from 5:30pm to 7:30pm and the second from 10pm to 12 midnight (“because not everybody works 9 to 5” according to Ranjan.) New Delhi is a great place to try inventive cocktails like Madras Madness or Oh! Calcutta; sip specialty infused Mango or Lychee Martinis and soak up the lively atmosphere and friendly company.
On January 27, 2020, New Delhi Restaurant was proud to be recognized as a Legacy Business: an honor only given to 239 business and the first Indian restaurant and South Asian owned business to be included. San Francisco’s Legacy Business Program acknowledges longstanding and community serving establishments that help make up the “soul of the city” and preserve the unique character of San Francisco.
“Our evening of ‘Deep Gratitude To You’ will be a delicious celebration of the stories of our resiliency,” Dey sums up. “Through creativity and gratitude we were able to overcome, survive and thrive. This event will feed the body and soul.”