One evening many decades ago, a 17-year-old boy in Bombay, India walked through his front door knowing he had to break the news to his parents that he had not been accepted into medical school.
He lived in a household of seven: mother, father and five siblings. In his culture, parents want their children to become doctors.
"That's it and nothing else," he says now.
So when Paddy Ruwal, owner and chef of the esteemed Raaga-Go "gourmet Indian takeaway" restaurant in Santa Fe, crossed the threshold of his home as a teenager bearing news of his rejection, he expected the worst.
"My mom, she said, 'It's okay, son, we still love you,'" Ruwal recalled. "My dad said, 'Whatever you do in life, just do it with passion.'"
Getting started
The youngest in the family, Ruwal spent many evenings in the kitchen helping his mother prepare dinner so that she could more quickly sit at the table and enjoy a meal herself. Also finding passion in acts of service, he decided on hotel-management school after finishing high school.
Within a decade, Ruwal had served as a five-star hotel chef, developed experience in international cuisine and landed a management role in one of the world's largest food service-management companies. But Ruwal's worldly travels and jetting through the culinary industry took a toll on his personal life.
"My work messed up my family life," he admitted.
After divorcing, Ruwal set his sights on the land of new beginnings. On Jan. 5, 2001, he touched down in America with nothing to his name except $100 in his pocket.
Paddy takes America
Ruwal first dropped roots in Michigan, where he successfully opened two restaurants in 2005 and 2008. But the economic drought proved too much and after scraping by for a few years, he moved to the Southwest to try his luck in Santa Fe.
In March 2011, the Raaga legacy began.
"Raaga was very successful," Ruwal said. "It was No. 1 in Santa Fe for almost two years, amongst all the other 300-plus restaurants here. I was very humbled by that."
Raaga was Raaga-Go's in-person-dining predecessor that thrived from 2011 until 2016, when the owner/chef received difficult news from his doctor.
"He said, 'Paddy, you just can't keep doing this, man. You need to take care of your health,'" Ruwal said.
In order to address his health concerns, Ruwal closed the restaurant and announced his intention to retire. The people of Santa Fe did not embrace the news.
"The community was not happy at all," he recalled. "They were very upset that I shut down, but they understood that it was for health reasons."
The successful brand's story, however, was far from over.
Make it 'to-go'
One day, just months after shutting down Raaga, Ruwal got a call from his bright, up-and-coming son back in Mumbai, formerly Bombay. He wanted to come to the U.S. to attend business school.
"Uh-oh," Ruwal laughs at the memory. "I asked what his plan was and he said, 'There is no plan.'"
Four months later, word came that Ruwal's son's green card had been approved unexpectedly early. It was good news, but also terrifying for a retired father suddenly on the hook for an impending tuition bill from a top American business school.
The total tally for Ruwal to put his son through Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University was a cool $100,000.
"So I thought of this prototype, because I had to recoup some money back from my so-called retirement," Ruwal said. "I came up with this prototype of a gourmet Indian takeaway. And I decided I would call it Raaga-Go."
Media darling
Since launching the original Raaga and its rebirth as Raaga-Go in late 2018, Ruwal's face has become increasingly well-known throughout the culinary industry and beyond. He competed on TV's "Chopped," he successfully "Beat Bobby Flay" on the celebrity chef's show of the same name, and he even earned on-air raves from morning personality Kelly Ripa after she dined at Raaga during a visit to Santa Fe.
And while many restaurants suffered or closed during the pandemic, Raaga-Go's business tripled. But despite the media attention and culinary and business successes, Ruwal's favorite accomplishments are much more modest: putting his son through Carnegie Mellon and seeing his children married.
With retirement still looming, what's in store for Raaga-Go? Hopefully, Ruwal says, his ghost-kitchen concept will become a successful prototype for others.
"Five years from today, I would like to hand it over to my current team that I'm coaching and developing," he said. "This concept that I've created is very simple, and I'm hoping that I can convince at least four or five people within 30 miles of Santa Fe to take a bite and open a satellite unit with Raaga-Go as the commissary that supports them."