Four Inane Questions with Elephant Wings’ Ameet Malhotra
Photo Courtesy of Jill Bode
Chef Ameet Malhotra will be the first to tell you that necessity is the mother of invention. When he moved to KC way back in 2001, he was homesick for the Indian cuisine he grew up eating. “I started recreating, like, three recipes that my grandma had written down for me,” he says. “I never knew how to cook.”
As his confidence and culinary skills grew, Malhotra started inviting his friends to dinner parties multiple times a month over the years. “They loved all of it,” he says.
Photo Courtesy of Jill Bode
From there, his creativity and sheer determination led him to launch Elephant Wings—a private Indian-centric dining experience. “My cuisine also has a dash of influence from my favorite band Metallica,” he jokes. “Good mood equals Metallica, bad mood equals Metallica, sad mood equals Metallica, celebratory equals Metallica. Any mood, they always bring me joy. What I get from them is their tenacity, drive, and resilience.”
After a stint at Anousone at Strang Hall, Malhotra opened his first spot in The Iron District in North Kansas City. These days you’ll find him cooking up a storm at his newest iteration of Elephant Wings at Parlor KC in the Crossroads. “Two of my restaurant’s most popular menu items are my tikka masala poutine and the Bombay-mi,” he says. “I provide a fresh take on classic Indian dishes, but don’t snooze on my tandoori fries!”
We caught up with Malhotra right after he won big at Guac Your Word, a local taco competition for Shepherd’s Center. His entry—”the Cumin Chicken Crusher,” he quips—was a definitive crowd favorite. Thus, we opted to ping him with our goofy questionnaire while he was riding that wave of success. Mercifully, he kept his F-bombs to a minimum. Bless.
The Pitch: How many times is too many times to hit snooze on your alarm?
Ameet Malhotra: Ha. I did it this morning. I hit snooze two times. But two times is two times too much. I never hit snooze—like, ever. I usually wake up before the alarm rings because I’m ready to go and we need to start prepping for the day at the restaurant. But, yeah, two times today. It was two times too much. Once is allowable. One time is fine.
Photo Courtesy of Erishyll Mae Photography LLC
What’s the strangest thing in your refrigerator at the moment?
A colleague of my dad just gave us some goat brains. I remember first trying it at 15 or 16 years old. I’m a very adventurous eater, but at the age of 15, I was kind of scared. And it was the most amazing thing. It doesn’t have any, like, weird texture to it. It’s just so soft, and it melted with this tomato and onion-based sauce. I still remember the dish.
You can banish a musical instrument from the earth. What are you choosing?
110 percent—cowbell. You know why? I remember in my 20s going to house parties. And after many, many beers, if there was a drum set or some instruments lying around, people would start jamming. The cowbell is the most annoying. Everyone thinks they’re a rock star after twenty Coors Lights. Yeah, for sure, the cowbell.
Erishyll Mae Photography LLC
What’s the worst sandwich ingredient, in your opinion?
Ugh. Anchovies. I had just moved to Atlanta to go to a design school there. Some of us went to this weird dive bar and they had this sandwich with anchovies. I didn’t know what it was. I pride myself on being able to eat anything, so I tried it. It was disgusting. I hate anchovies. Some people eat anchovies straight up. No.
Bonus 5th Question: If you had to mimic an animal to save your life, which one could you imitate?
This is a no-brainer. Elephant. They’re so majestic and big, and they’ll just walk the earth not giving a fuck. I don’t know what more I can say about that. Also, India is known for the elephant. And it’s in the name of my restaurant—that’s a little detail I forgot.
