Monday, August 15, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $115

In 2004 Indebleu owner Arjun Rishi and general manager Jay Coldron launched a worldwide search for the chef who would mold their vision of a French–Indian fusion restaurant into a reality. Vikram Garg was a dream come true. Chosen from among 170 hopefuls, Garg came to D.C. with visions of his own. “The exact combinations will come to me in my dreams,” he told the Washington Post’s Monica Bhide, describing how he creates his bold new cuisine, “and I will know how to execute a perfect dish.”

At Indebleu, Garg’s menu juxtaposes sophisticated French dishes and bold Indian flavors with such ease that Thomas Head of the Washingtonian described the chef’s creations as “fusion cooking to make you forget all the meals that have given fusion cooking a bad name.” Garg’s menu is as hip and hot as the crowd lounging in Indebleu’s swinging sofas—think seared foie gras sandwiches with rose petal marmalade on garam masala brioche and rabbit samosas on celeriac purée. As Corinna Lothar of the Washington Times wrote of Garg, ”He has put together a fascinating menu of creative, often witty, dishes, frequently combining sweet and salty ingredients. No dish is purely French or exclusively Indian…There’s nothing in town quite like Indebleu.”

Garg’s intriguing brand of fusion is the result of his culturally rich training in India. After graduating from New Delhi’s Oberoi School of Hotel Management and earning a postgraduate degree from the Oberoi Center for Learning and Development, Garg went on to develop his unique cooking style at some of India’s top hotels and restaurants. Before joining Indebleu, Garg ran the kitchen at Leela Kempinski Palace in Bangalore, India.

Indebleu’s opening was so eagerly anticipated that the restaurant greeted 1,200 guests on its opening night in December 2004. It has since maintained a prominent position on every “best of” list in town—and around the country. Condé Nast Traveler recently named Indebleu to its list of the world’s 80 Great New Restaurants, writing, “The restaurant seems poised to shatter D.C.’s staid culinary tradition.” To the delight of D.C. diners and critics alike, it seems that all of Garg’s dreams are coming true.