Daru is a Hindi term for moonshine, and it’s also the name of a cocktail bar with a robust food menu that chef Suresh Sundas and beverage director Dante Datta opened in August of 2021 in the H Street neighborhood in Washington, D.C. It soon gained local and national acclaim thanks to its creative drinks, such as a Dirty Martini made with achar, a tangy type of Indian pickle, and food like paneer pesto tikka with honey and rhubarb and a blue cheese kebab with cashew and sour cherry.  

They followed that success with the opening of Tapori, also on H Street, serving street food from across the Indian subcontinent.  

Sundas is actually not from India, but Nepal, a country sandwiched between India and China, and he brings that heritage to bear with the use of timmur, a relative of Sichuan peppercorns that has a similar numbing effect and is popular in Nepalese cooking.  

Since the restaurants are in D.C., and soft-shell crab season is upon us, Sundas is making use of the local delicacy on his current menus, and, in a recent conversation, he shared his approach to developing menu items, and he’s joined by Datta, who discusses his beverage program.  

To learn more about Del Montes new fruit sauces and try a sample, visit https://www.delmontefoodservice.com/products/fruit-sauces?utm_campaign=Fruit_Sauces&utm_source=MenuTalk&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_content=040726_Graphic&utm_id=pm#requestForm