The Prince of High-Society Hype

High-society Manhattan at the turn of the twentieth century was easily entranced by exoticism, provided it arrived wrapped in satin and silk. When an ambitious cook calling himself Ranji Smile arrived from London in 1899, New York's culinary elite believed they had discovered the ultimate novelty. Recruited by Louis Sherry for his lavish Fifth Avenue establishment, Smile transformed curry into a performative spectacle, bowing before wealthy patrons in a blue turban and serving dishes like Bombay duck to Gilded Age plutocrats.

Capitalising on his newfound celebrity, Smile launched Omar Khayyam at 325 Fifth Avenue in late 1901, widely regarded as the first dedicated Indian restaurant in the United States. Financed by industrialist Roland R. Conklin, the venue boasted silk draperies, hanging lanterns, and turbaned waitstaff accompanied by live musicians. Yet, high fashion in dining is notoriously fickle. Within twelve months, the doors were permanently closed, with contemporary press noting that patrons had simply grown bored of the culinary trend.

What followed was less a retreat from the spotlight than an escalation of theatrical reinvention. As his commercial enterprise collapsed, Smile leaned entirely into fabrication. He began presenting himself as a prince from Baluchistan, complete with invented royal lineage and fictitious titles. Ahead of the restaurant's opening, he had traveled to Bombay to recruit a staff of valets and dancers under the guise of preparing for a royal coronation in London. The maneuver resulted in federal charges for illegal labor trafficking, though Smile managed to evade deportation while many in his entourage were less fortunate.

Over the subsequent two decades, Smile crisscrossed the country conducting cooking demonstrations, hawking Indian cuisine as a miraculous beauty elixir for women, and acquiring a series of American wives. His public narrative shifted constantly, claiming brotherhood to fictional foreign potentates whenever convenient. By the time his legal troubles multiplied—ranging from unlawful confinement to unpaid dining bills—Smile abandoned the kitchen altogether. His final trace in historical records appears in 1937, when a court filing revealed he had vanished, leaving behind his last wife and a string of invented identities.

The failure of Omar Khayyam highlights the difference between ephemeral hype and sustainable market positioning. Where Smile relied on pure spectacle, later immigrants found traction through steady commercial execution. In 1913, Ceylonese performer K.Y. Kira opened the Ceylon India Inn, targeting a growing diaspora alongside interested locals. By relocating near Times Square, Kira built an institution that endured until the late 1980s. Smile may have pioneered the sector through sheer bravado, but his trajectory demonstrates that exotic fanfare alone cannot substitute for sound business fundamentals.

Written by Thomas Nussbaumer thomas.nussbaumer@alpineweekly.com