«He was so youthful to take over a major chain and there was this imminent threat of Walmart's
food empire moving north, so yes, I think there was some skepticism,» Hardy said.
Botiwalla, which will open this April in Atlanta's Ponce City Market, is one of a new breed of restaurants that includes Babu Ji, Floyd Cardoz's upcoming Paowalla in New York City, Michael Mina's The Company pop - up in San Francisco and a slew of fast - casual spots like Inday and Soho Tiffin Junction, which are pushing Indian cuisine forward,
moving it beyond lunchtime buffets and saag paneer into more nuanced territory — the likes of which could do what, say, David Chang has done for Korean
food with the Momofuku
empire or Danny Bowien's interpretation of Chinese with Mission Chinese.