From Nepal to Mass Street: co-owner Subarna Bhattachan

He may have been born in Nepal, but 1856 Bar and Grill co-owner Subarna Bhattachan might know the cuisine of Lawrence better than anybody. Since coming to America for college in 1988, Bhattachan has opened three restaurants in Lawrence, two of which are still open: Zen Zero, which serves Asian cuisine including food from Bhattachan’s native Nepal, and Genovese — an Italian-American restaurant that Bhattachan rebranded in January 2019 as 1856 Bar and Grill.

When he turned 18 years old, Bhattachan came to Kansas to attend college. At Bethel College in Newton, Kanas, he worked various jobs at restaurants around town. Then, his girlfriend and future wife at Kansas University invited him to come to Lawrence with her. He moved there in 1993 and took any culinary job he could find, working at restaurants like Free State Brewing Company, Teller’s (now Merchants Pub and Plate) and Fifi’s, which closed in 2002.

As the restaurant scene in Lawrence began to change, Bhattachan saw his opportunity. In 1996 — just three years after moving to Lawrence — Bhattachan and his partner Alejandro Lule helped to open Pachamama’s. The restaurant eventually closed in 2014, but the partners used it as a stepping stone for their careers. In 1999, they opened their first restaurant together: La Parilla.

La Parilla eventually closed its doors, but the duo’s next two restaurants — Zen Zero, which opened in 2002, and Genovese, which opened in 2007 and rebranded in early 2019 — are still going strong.

Surprisingly, after 20 years owning restaurants and 31 years working in the culinary field, Bhattachan still feels like almost the same person he was when he came from Nepal; however, he does believe one personality trait of his has changed.

“Obviously, you know, you get older,” Bhattachan said. “But in terms of change, I think I’m pretty much the same person. [However,] I am a little bit more relaxed, and much more tolerant.”

That one lesson Bhattachan has learned, tolerance, taught him to understand his restaurant staff and give them second chances.

“In my younger days when I was a chef, I would not tolerate a lot,” Bhattachan said. “If a cook or a server didn’t show up on time or didn’t show up to work, the normal course of action [was that] they [were] let go… [Today, we look at it from] a realistic perspective and we give our staff some second chances. We all make mistakes in life.”

Second chances don’t just help the morale of restaurant staff. In fact, Bhattachan said, retaining employees and giving them a second chance helps his business as well.

“I also look at it from a business perspective, you know. It does cost the business money to train people,” Bhattachan said. “If we had to train one server, [and] they have to train for seven shifts. If we had to train a cook, it takes about three to five weeks to train somebody, so that’s a lot of investment … if you’re continuously training people, that’s a lot of cost.”

Bhattachan believes that experience owning restaurants helped him refine not only his management skills, but his cooking style as well.

“The older I’ve [become] and the more I’ve traveled, my cuisine has gotten a lot simpler,” Bhattachan said. “In my younger days, I would put multiple sauces [on dishes and use] sometimes more than nine or ten ingredients. Now, I can cook with four or five ingredients [if they are] fresh. That’s what we do here. Everything is made from scratch with fresh ingredients, and you can taste all the flavors.”

Through decades in the kitchen, Bhattachan discovered what he believes is the secret to good cooking.

“You have to let the ingredients speak for themselves. You can’t make a fish taste like chicken and chicken taste like fish. You have to let the chicken taste like chicken and fish taste like fish,” Bhattachan said. “Some chefs do a lot of masking. They put so many ingredients that you can’t taste the dish. That’s maturity — eventually, once you get older and more experienced you go back to simplicity.”

Whether he’s cooking the dish or eating it, Bhattachan loves simplicity. He loves flavorful food from small restaurants, often preferring it to fancier, more expensive restaurants..

“It’s not necessary for me to go to a white-linen five star restaurant. When I travel, some of the best food I’ve eaten is from simple mom and pop restaurants,” Bhattachan said. “I’ve eaten at some very high-end restaurants, and it’s very good, but in terms of flavor, mom and pop restaurants are the best.”

This love for cheaper, more personal dining experiences was one of the factors that influenced Bhattachan’s rebrand of Genovese to 1856 Bar and Grill. During the rebrand, Bhattachan added more authentic cuisine like street tacos and hamburgers to his menu. He also worked to make the menu more affordable.

Every once in a while, though, Bhattachan needs a meal to remind himself of home. After all, it’s been 31 years since he came over from Nepal to make it big in the restaurant business.

“I don’t eat out too often,” Bhattachan said. “Once in a while, if I’m hungry for foods from Nepal or India, I go to India Palace. Fantastic food.”

Coming from most restaurant customers, ‘fantastic food’ is a kind compliment. However, coming from a man like Subarna Bhattachan who has dedicated his life to making his food fantastic, ‘fantastic food’ is a badge of honor.