Tiya in San Francisco is ringing in its first anniversary in May, celebrating a year’s worth of creative and colorful tasting menus in the Marina. Within two short months of opening last year, Tiya slid into the MICHELIN Guide, Eater SF named the restaurant’s Izler Thomas Bartender of the Year, and San Franciscans still can’t get enough of Tiya’s maximalist dining room.
“It’s my newborn baby, you know?” says Pujan Sarkar, who co-owns the restaurant along with his brother Sujan Sarkar (of Chicago’s famed MICHELIN-Starred Indienne). “I’m already the father of a daughter who’s nine-years old, and now I have a baby who’s one-year old. It’s been a rollercoaster of ups and downs.”
Tiya is part of an exciting wave of Indian cooking that’s pushing the envelope in SF, including Dogpatch Gujarati spot Besharam and South Indian stunner Copra. Where Besharam’s Heena Patel and Copra’s Srijith Gopinathan dig deep into the cuisines of their native states, the Sarkar brothers prefer to freewheel across the Indian subcontinent. “My menu is very diversified,” Pujan says. “Personally, I work around every part of India, to understand the delicacy and flavor.”
Read on for what to expect at Tiya in San Francisco, and secure your seat in that stunning dining room on OpenTable.
How the brothers got their start
The Sarkar brothers grew up on a farm near Kolkata in West Bengal, climbing mango trees in the backyard filled with parrots. Seven years apart, the brothers trained separately before cooking together in Delhi. Pujan was working for Princess Cruises at one point and sailed around the world three times. But ultimately they fell in love with San Francisco while opening acclaimed Indian restaurant ROOH, where Sujan was the opening chef for a year, and Pujan stayed to run the kitchen for seven.
It was a family affair to finally open their own restaurant together. “My brother is not only my brother, he’s my chef and mentor,” Pujan says. These days, Sujan focuses on Indienne, while Pujan leads the team at Tiya here in SF, with plenty of guidance from his brother who flies back every six weeks.
Why eating here remains so exciting
The menu has evolved over the first year. Tiya now has three different tasting menus, including vegetarian and vegan versions, which change every couple of months. Pujan says nearly two thirds of the a la carte dishes change too, so there’s always something new. He’s currently excited about a fresh barramundi wrapped in banana leaves, charcoal-grilled white and green asparagus, and morel mushrooms stuffed with bone marrow. You can always look forward to signatures like creamy butter chicken and luxurious black dal.
And another thing that stays—Izler’s award-winning cocktails. The mango lassi-inspired Marina is still a crowd favorite and Pujan is partial to the North Beach inspired by a slice from Golden Boy. Think of it like a tomatini; a martini shaken up with cherry tomatoes and basil with an infusion of sourdough starter.
What to expect at the anniversary dinner
Pujan is planning a celebratory anniversary dinner to mark the milestone, so check out the OpenTable booking page and Tiya’s Instagram for more details in the coming weeks. A special mango dessert is one of the highlights and will showcase the fruit in a variety of forms including in panna cotta, ice cream, and in both fresh and dried versions that capture his childhood nostalgia.
More than anything, Pujan is grateful to share the experience of running this restaurant with his brother. “Everyone enjoys working with him, because he has some spark and persona,” Pujan says. “Working with him, you get the feeling of working with someone who you really admire.”
Becky Duffett is a food writer living and eating in San Francisco. Her work has appeared in Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Eater SF.
