The big winner in Avishar Barua’s latest adventure on a nationally televised cooking competition: his mom.
The Columbus chef and restaurateur, who owns Agni in the Brewery District and Joya’s in Worthington, was defeated by three separate opponents on the Oct. 14 episode of Food Network’s “Bobby’s Triple Threat.” But he won praise for techniques and taste treats in many of his dishes that he said he learned from his mother.
“Tell your mother I’m stealing this idea,” host Bobby Flay told Barua after sampling chick-pea battered, deep-fried spinach leaves he made as part of a final-round dish.
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Barua praises his parents regularly in interviews and TV appearances. His mother, Jayasree, is a culinary influence, and her nickname, Joya, became the name of his first restaurant. Some of her recipes are on the menu.
On “Bobby’s Triple Threat,” which pits guest chefs against Flay’s three hand-picked culinary “titans,” Barua leaned on his Bengali heritage and a recent trip to Thailand to create six separate dishes over three rounds. Each round was against a different titan — chefs Michael Voltaggio, Ayesha Nurdjaja and Brooke Williamson — and reach required two dishes that included two mandatory ingredients.
“I thought this competition was going to be very difficult,” Barua said. “Turns out I was right.”
Guest chefs win $25,000 if they defeat the titans based on a judge’s total points over the three rounds.
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In Round One, with the mandatory ingredients of pineapple and yellowtail, Barua made a creamy fish curry and a tartare that incorporated both ingredients. Judge Leah Cohen awarded him five points out of a possible 10, but she gave Voltaggio eight points for a smoked fish dip and a type of Peruvian ceviche called tiradito.
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In Round Two, with the mandatory ingredients of potatoes and Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese, Barua made Thai hash browns with panang curry and Bengali mashed potato dish called bartha. Nurdjaja made a cacio e pepe potato risotto and a pyhllo-wrapped, potato-filled cigar. Cohen scored the round for Nurdjaja, 9-5.
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Barua tied Williamson, 17-17, in the 20-point third round, which required the chefs to use chick-pea flour and spinach in their dishes. The battered, fried spinach that Flay loved was part of Barua’s chaat; he also prepared a Thai spinach curry. Williamson also created a spinach curry, as well as chickpea-batter fries.
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About Barua and his cooking, Flay and Cohen used words such as “phenomenal,” “gutsy,” “mastermind” — and, just once, “too spicy.”
“I came to work and learned something today,” Voltaggio said after watching the Columbus chef cook.
Barua has competed on national TV before. When he was the executive chef at Service Bar in 2020, he made it to the final round of the Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games.” In 2021, he cooked on Season 19 of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” and he was the winner of a “Beat Bobby Flay” episode in 2023.
Joya’s also has been featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”
Bob Vitale can be reached at [email protected] or at @dispatchdining on the Instagram social platform.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus chef Avishar Barua’s results on ‘Bobby’s Triple Threat’
