28 March 2nd–March 8th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | music | cafe | film | culTuRe | NighT+Day | feaTuRe | NeWs | OPiNiON | feeDBacK | cONTeNTs | down, but loyal customers kept the busi- ness afloat, Brasch says. He ultimately thinks the success of his restaurants — the secret sauce — is “the wonderful people around us. We have a great community and we’re very fortunate to take all that and toss in 50 percent luck.” Whether you call it luck or skill, Green New American Vegetarian continues to draw customers in for its exceptional plant-based food. Green New American Vegetarian 2240 North Scottsdale Road, #130, Tempe 480-941-9003 2022 North Seventh Street 602-258-1870 greenvegetarian.com down the grocery aisles through a fake store that they were unfamiliar with. “You’re trying to build a dish in your mind and you’re doing this in real-time,” Raj says. The time allotment is 30 minutes from start to finish. Pulling from her Indian heritage, Raj decided to make a jackfruit shawarma dish for the first round. “I could hear my heartbeat in my ears and I think when you work in the restau- rant industry you’re also used to working under a lot of pressure,” she says. She quickly moved past the first round, eliminated her competitors, and won $10,000. She then moved to the next round, where she got the choice of which judge to compete against. Raj picked Damaris Phillips, a chef from Kentucky who is married to a vegetarian. Raj says she was immediately drawn to her “kind, sweet, bubbly and welcoming personality,” and her Kentucky roots. The parameters of the competition involved a “5-star vegetarian dinner showdown.” For this dish, Raj had to include a cracker component, use a juicer, and incorporate a blackening technique. She chose to make a blackened “salmon” from papaya and laid it on top of rice noodles. For her juicer component, she created a sauce that she describes as “fresh ginger married with several spices creating a salty, sweet mixture.” She crumbled peanuts to make a crispy topping. As she was making her dish, she recalls, “I didn’t have the guts to look at the clock.” With the little time remaining, she created her own version of a cracker. The judges were especially impressed with her blackening technique, leading her to win an additional $10,000. Raj’s skills, earned from years of running her restau- rant, took her all the way to the top. She won the competition in January and took home $20,000 as her bounty. Raj is grateful she had the experience to appear on the show. “I had gone on the show saying I’m just going to do the very best that I can and hopefully it will resonate,” she says. And she’s grateful that the funds will help her continue the philanthropic efforts she spearheaded when she owned 24 Carrots. “One of the things that I missed and mourn about 24 Carrots is the work we did with the community,” she says. During the pandemic, she supported nonprofits that aligned with causes dedicated to food insecurity. “It was hard to think about all of those efforts coming to an end. Even when we were wrapping up, we did our best to make sure that we could spread the love and donated our equipment to nonprofits,” Raj says. She plans to take a portion of the proceeds to donate to various community organizations that are supporting conver- sations around food security and nutrition access. As far as opening a restaurant in the future, she hasn’t ruled out the possibility. “I think the biggest gift that this experi- ence gave me is it showed that [there] was still a way forward,” Raj says, “to do what made my heart sing.” Victory from p 27 Green New American offers a cool and colorful vibe. Green from p 26 Emily Thomas
