For Valentine's Day, we asked them to open up about their "meet cute" stories, romances and the secret recipe to keeping the love alive, even during a pandemic.
Priya first met her husband, Ashnikumar Guru, 14 years ago when he worked at Mirch Masala in Bensalem and she ordered his Paneer Lacha. She fell in love with the dish and later fell for the chef.
Priya would frequent the restaurant to order it again — and talk to the chef. But when the restaurant shut down, and Ashnikumar moved to New York, Priya searched for a Paneer Lacha that would match his for four years. Paneer Lacha is shredded paneer cooked with ginger and onions in a thick gravy.
“So, I tell everyone that’s the dish I married the man for,” Priya said.
In 2014, Ashnikumar came back to Pennsylvania for a visit and reconnected with Priya with the help of his ex-boss, and finally took her out on a date.
“It took him seven years to realize how much I flirted,” Priya recalled laughing.
In 2015, the couple had their Anand Karaj, the Sikh marriage ceremony, in Robbinsville, New Jersey, followed by a Gujarati wedding in Morrisville. That same year they opened Guru’s Indian Cuisine in Newtown.
The couple bought a new location in November of 2018 after their landlord refused to renew the restaurant's lease. In April of 2019, after renovations and new permits, they moved Guru’s to its current location at 203 North Sycamore St.
Because of the renovations, they were four months behind on their mortgage. They were able to make it up to only two months behind, finally settling down by December of 2019. Priya saw her first paycheck in two and half years, thinking, “finally, it’s all worth it.”
But then the pandemic hit in March, and restaurants shut down.
“My husband — he’s very calm and believes, whatever happens, happens for a reason, and on the other hand, me, I’m a panic person,” Priya said. “So as soon as the pandemic hit, I was like, that’s it, the restaurant is shut down.”
When takeout was permitted, their staff wasn’t ready to come back to work. So, the couple worked together to get the business back up and running.
“In 2020, we revisited 2015 like 'How we started the restaurant?,' him cooking and me packing and serving and picking up the phones,” Priya said. “The only difference was I was a little more experienced than I was in 2015.”
The two started cooking for hospital workers and first responders, partnered with Neighbor in Need in Yardley and delivered food to families quarantining due to COVID to help the community.
By August, outdoor seating reopened, and the couple had two to three months of steady business till the cold came, and they had to go back to takeout and delivery.
“It’s been a rollercoaster,” Priya said. “So, I tell everybody, don’t worry, if I don’t have a place, I’ll cook from my house.”
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