As founder, owner and culinary director of Vermilion, Rohini oversees the operations and culinary evolution of her restaurants and leads both her kitchen teams. She also writes a series on restaurants “From the Gut” for Chicago Sun Times and Huffington Post.
Since inception, Vermilion has been acclaimed as “Best New Restaurant” by Chicago Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Town & Country, USA Today, Bon Appetit, Wine Enthusiast, 3 stars Tribune among others. For it’s pioneering cuisine, woman-led team and Rohini’s entrepreneurial journey she and Vermilion have been profiled in The Financial Times, Time, Oprah Magazine, Fortune, FSB, Business Week, Esquire, Crain’s, Sante, Shelter, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, BBC World, CBS News, NBC, Business Today among others. Rohini was awarded the “Woman of Distinction” award by Children’s Hope, Woman of Distinction by Varli Culinary awards, and “Entrepreneur of the year – India” by the City of Chicago. Rohini was selected by the Economic Times as one of the thirteen “Overseas Indians who set to shine even more in 2013.” She is on the National Advisory Board of the James Beard Foundation and a member of the American Chef Corps of the US State Department Diplomacy Culinary initiative.
