Blocks from the Bay in the sleepy-but-standout Dogpatch district, Minnesota Street Project is one of SF’s best art galleries, a multi-room complex of economically sustainable spaces housing museum-worthy exhibits from local artists. I love a walk through its galleries (like Leila Weefur’s powerful Play + Prey), then heading next door to Besharam for modern Indian food.
The industrial, lofty dining room is warmed up by a long wood bar and Bollywood playfulness in a flower-splashed red wall framing the kitchen, designed by artist Maria Qamar, centered by a cartoon Indian woman who also graces Besharam’s plates.
A La Cocina alum since 2014, chef Heena Patel’s gorgeous silver hair and a warm smile lights up the room, while her husband Paresh Patel is as gracious a host as one could dream of, greeting guests and checking in on tables. I’ve been dining at Besharam since it opened in May 2018, and even interviewed chef Heena as part of a Time Out print cover story on Daniel Patterson’s Alta restaurant group when I wrote the food and drink section. I clearly recall that day, touched by Patel’s humble sincerity, her quiet power, even tears as she talked of passion for her work. I knew then I’d trust wherever she was going.
In 2019, when the Alta group partnerships dissolved, Patel had free reign over Besharam. In August 2021, after nearly three years (and two reopenings), Patel followed her original vision, creating a menu without meat or seafood. Yes, it’s full-on vegetarian — which she’s been her whole life, though her husband is not. It’s not labeled as such, and, frankly, you won’t miss the meat.
Heena’s family home state of Gujarat in western India has long been the regional focus of the menu, laced with creative influence from growing up in Bombay. But she honed the menu to give us a hyper-regional journey through four Gujarat cities: Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat, each section offering three to four small plates and a couple mains. Childhood favorites, her interpretations of classic dishes and modern playfulness weave throughout. This is the kind of menu I “get off” on: one that is first and most importantly, delicious, by turns nurturing and exciting — and one that, for many of us, educates and turns us on to dishes we might not have been exposed to.
I’ve long been a lover of Indian breads, with such a vast range from across the massive country. Chef Heena is a bread master, whether cracker-esque khichu, fermented batter idla (one of my faves) or wheat-besan-millet theplas flatbread laced with fenugreek. Breads are a highlight, ranging from more traditional interpretations (the theplas) to twists, like Paresh’s paratha, named after Heena’s husband, delicately graced with Point Reyes blue cheese. Chef Heena’s pickled accents and chutneys offer a bold flavor splash to any dish you mix and match them with, whether lemon spiced mango or bitter melon chips. I love fresh turmeric, pickled with a citrusy hit playing with turmeric’s subtle bitter earthiness.
Longtime Indian favorites of mine thrive under the “Chef Heena treatment,” like drunken pani puri (semolina puffs) filled with a crushed peas, while spicy gin-mint-lemon tamarind water is poured inside. I delight in the crispy, juicy contrast and pop as you quickly eat pani puri in one bite before the juice soaks through. A pav bhaji puff is a flaky pastry stunner filled with spiced vegetables and dipped in an irresistible curry patta dip. Another stellar rendition of a longtime fave? Dahi wada or urad dal (black lentil) dumplings doused in chilled yogurt, cilantro and tamarind sauces. It’s tough to resist gobbling up the plate full.
Even the pauva salad benefits from chef Heena’s creative touch: three little gem lettuce wedges dotted with flattened rice, roasted potatoes and toasted hazelnuts in black fig dressing. Another standout? Mooli kachori, or fried mini-flatbreads stuffed with radish, chiles and turmeric slaw, topped with spiced daikon radish.
We weren’t missing the meat, our mouths buzzing with spice, heat and most of all, fearless flavor. So let’s talk entrees. Chole is essentially a classic chloe masala (also known as channay or chole), with its masala-spiced garbanzo beans (chickpeas) base, bright tomato sauce and chili garlic pickles. It’s restorative and filling. Dal dhokli was the most interesting entree, though that mountain of local Hodo Foods organic yuba sheets started to feel like a lot get through after a few bites. The yuba was bright in lime, coconut broth and kachori-spiced edamame, a stew of textures and almost tropical vibrancy. Chef Heena’s housemade paneer is the exemplar of what the whipped Indian cheese should be. Substantial as it is light and fluffy, the maska paneer dish showed off her cheese in spiced spinach sauce and garam masala spices, silky with chili oil.
On the drink front, Indian-inspired cocktails were standard at Besharam from bar managers over the years with playful names and Indian ingredients. I wrote about past drinks like Bhang Bhang, He Shot Me Down, laced with terpene cannabis drops in pisco, coconut milk, garam masala spices, grenadine and ginger. Currently, I found the spirituous F U Covid cocktail too sweet, but its name confirmed that whimsy has remained under current bar lead, Matt Melle.
Some cocktails stood out over others, with the Mumtaz (Bloom Jasmine Rose Gin, Tempus Fugit Creme de Violette, Select Aperitivo, pistachio orgeat syrup) being the most crushable in vivid pink. Slumdog Martini is the most interesting and an appetite stimulant. Diplomatico Rum benefits from just a touch of tamarind (which can often dominate a cocktail) and black pepper, a dose of cumin turning the drink dry, savory and food friendly. The drink menu is rounded out by wines from Spain to South Africa, and four beers on draft from neighboring (and quality) Harmonic Brewing.
By this point, my husband Dan and I were too full for dessert. So we took home a slice of shrikhand cheesecake, based on a classic Indian yogurt dessert punctuated with saffron and cardamom. It tasted beautiful the next morning with espresso, the accents of blueberry compote and edible flowers not wilted, while saffron’s unique flavor starred in the creamy cheesecake.
Besharam is important on a few levels: showcasing a female chef at the height of her powers and voice; highlighting regional Indian food that doesn’t get the attention it should outside of India, seen through the unique perspective of its chef; a neighborhood restaurant that manages to be both welcoming and relaxed, yet also hip and dynamic; and a vegetarian restaurant displaying dimension, variety and possibility in a plant-driven menu.
Sign up for The Bold Italic newsletter to get the best of the Bay Area in your inbox every week.
Whatever reasons impel you, go. These are just the kind of restaurants we’re spoiled with by the dozens in SF: worthy of awards and Michelin stars but holding quietly steady in an edge-of-town neighborhood night after night. Besharam is the kind of place where quality ingredients, nurture, and lively flavor reign, while it gently schools you on dishes you may not know but will fall in love with. And all sans meat.
// 1275 Minnesota Street, https://besharamrestaurant.com
