About Us

Avinash Kapoor is chef and co-owner of Southern California Indian restaurants, Akbar, Cuisine of India, and Kapoor’s Akbar Indian Restaurant. He brings over 40 years of experience in the restaurant industry.

Kapoor grew up apprenticing alongside veteran Indian restaurateurs, his father, Kapal Dev Kapoor, and Uncle, Jagdish Kapoor, both in India, and the U.S. Immigration to the U.S. in 1982, immediately opened him up to the challenges his father faced in promoting the unknown Indian cuisine to the American public at his legendary award-winning Akbar Restaurant(s) (1976 - 1994). Known for its elegance and traditional Mughlai cuisine, this was one of the first Indian restaurant to introduce and serve Indian cuisine in Southern California and it helped set the standard for Indian restaurants henceforth. Initially, Kapoor wanted to pursue restaurant ownership and management. However, his father's panache in sharing his culinary romance of Indian food with apprehensive patrons and their responses changed his mind. Daily, he observed how his father charmed his patrons to savor the tantalizing gastronomic flavors, colors, aromas, and traditions of India. Their delight at the taste of his native cuisine soon inspired Kapoor to cook himself and train others.

In 1994, at Akbar Grill in Encino, Kapoor started harmonizing the traditional Mughlai cuisine in contemporary ways to serve lean recipes with focus on healthy diet. He found his patrons' palate was acquainted to the rich Mughlai food and would accept his new lean recipes. Kapoor decided to minimize the traditional heavy sauce-based Mughlai food and replace it with subtly blended combination of fresh herbs and spices into contrasting flavors like sweet and sour, and hot and tangy. In 1995, Kapoor’s creativity was rewarded with a nomination and recognition by The Best Chef in Southern California as one of the top 2000 innovative chefs in the U.S.

The year 1997 launched Kapoor's open kitchen concept at his first Akbar restaurant in Marina Del Rey, where diners watched their meals being cooked. A fan of California wines, Kapoor started concocting special Indian dishes to pair with wines. Capturing the provocative complement of spicy Indian cuisine with fruit-forward-palate California wines, his menu offerings were a hit.

Since 2010, motivated by his patrons’ willingness to try novel twists to his recipes, Kapoor has been combining Indian spices and cooking methods with those of other cuisines to invent dishes that reflect Los Angeles’ gastronomic mosaic. He serves his successful new recipes along with traditional Indian dishes at Kapoor’s Akbar Indian restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles.

Kapoor has cooked at the Soka University in Malibu, has taught Indian cooking to the California Institute of Technology and Jet Propulsion Laboratory kitchen staff, and volunteers Indian cooking lessons for fund-raising events. He has experience in public speaking and has appeared on Merril Schindler's Radio Show, "Feed Your Face" on 97.1 FM, and KTLA, Channel 5, "Morning Show." Over the years, his restaurants have continued to receive awards for "Best Indian Food." Kapoor had also volunteered his time consulting with the Valley Economic Development Center, in the San Fernando Valley, providing advice to start-up restaurants. Kapoor has served as a volunteer Board Member of the Legal Foundation of Los Angeles, Long Beach Chapter, and is an active volunteer at wine industry charity events. When not cooking, Kapoor enjoys traveling around the world sampling and researching fine wines and food. He also enjoys hosting wine dinners to promote Indian food with wines.