At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, nearly 40% of small businesses closed their doors and 20.6 million workers were unemployed. Nevertheless, Gopal Chandarana decided to take the leap and open Oh’ Calcutta in downtown Winston-Salem. 

“Everybody was saying that I was making the wrong decision,” Chandarana said at a four-person table in his restaurant’s main dining area — a plate of beet and sweet potato croquettes and two cups of Indian chai between us. 

Food service is in Chandarana’s blood. At 15-years-old, he worked at his uncle’s restaurant in Kolkata, India. At 20-years-old, he left India for the United States and picked up odd jobs as a dishwasher, salad maker and waiter. Despite earning an automotive engineering degree at Forsyth Technical Community College and moving on to work for Toyota, Chandarana’s true passion remained for fine dining. After over 30 years in the U.S., Chandarana decided it was time to return to his roots — and so he opened his own restaurant. 

Each dish on Oh’ Calcutta’s menu balances Eastern and Western flavors, drawing upon classic American menu items and both delicacies and street foods from all over the Indian subcontinent. In a culinary market saturated with bland chicken tikka masala — a curry invented by a British chef and eaten only by Westerners — Oh’ Calcutta is a delicious breath of fresh air.

“A lot of people don’t eat Indian food because they think it’s spicy,” Chandarana said. “I have tried to create a menu which is very edible.”

He continued: “Every item on the menu has a story.”

For example, the first among Oh’ Calcutta’s offerings is calamari — yes, the crispy squid hors d’oeuvre served at practically every Italian restaurant in the country. Paired with chaat masala and a vindaloo aioli, however, the dish transforms into a testament to how Indian and American flavors can shine side by side. Mango and mint chutney co-exist with a simple side of brussel sprouts; Indian beer is listed next to a classic chardonnay. 

The croquettes Chandarana let me sample had excellent textural variety but lacked a complex flavor profile. If you, like me, prefer a little more punch, the gunpowder chicken is unbeatable. These little morsels are ten leagues above the best chicken wings you’ve ever had, and I dream about the garlicky zing of their ginger, garlic and Kashmiri chili sauce. 

One frustration South Asian people often express is that, despite the proliferation of homogeneous Indian restaurants in America, there is no such thing as a singularly “Indian” style of cooking. The entree section draws from culinary traditions across the country’s 28 provinces, many of which have a distinct language and cultural identity. 

Oh’ Calcutta serves Indo-Chinese Tangra momo dumplings and black bass in a mustard cream sauce from the owner’s native Kolkata. Chandarana said he was nervous that American customers wouldn’t order goat, a staple in Eastern India, but the dish is a customer favorite. The dish’s rezala sauce pairs well with the must-order truffle and parmesan naan.

Tikka masala and samosas can still be found on the menu — you can’t serve Indian food in the United States without them — but alongside authentic dishes, they round out the menu exceptionally well. Oh’ Calcutta’s offerings are a testament to everything Indian cuisine has been and can still become: a blend of centuries-old traditions and a long colonial history that never stops evolving. 

“I’ll start by saying I LOVE Indian food,” Yelp reviewer Mike L. said from Statesville. “So it takes a lot for me to say ‘this was over the top outstanding.’ But this place made my day.”

Despite being skeptical, Mikaela B. from East Bend agreed: “I really did not think I liked Indian food. The first bite I took of this food, I knew I was in for a treat.”

Oh’ Calcutta celebrated its first birthday last month. With Downtown Winston-Salem Inc.’s Downtown Excellence Award and “Eat. Drink. With Restaurant Week’s” Best New Restaurant Award already under its belt, the upscale Indian-fusion restaurant is a roaring success. If the rave reviews and 4.6 stars on Yelp don’t convince you, the gunpowder chicken appetizer will.