The Indian chef who brought curry to America - then vanished

Omar Khayyam, Smile's Indian restaurant, opened in late 1901 at 325 Fifth Avenue. This was prime real estate, a block away from the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel where, 29 years later, the Empire State Building would rise. Smile adorned the restaurant with Indian draperies and hanging lanterns.

As the New York Herald reported, a fleet of Indian waiters in "voluminous turbans" staffed the premises, as did a group of Indian musicians. Now quite the embodiment of the American immigrant success story, Smile eagerly awaited his customers and fans.

Alas, they never materialised. Within a year, Omar Khayyam shuttered. The New York Sun claimed that people had "tired" of Indian fare, dismissing it as a passing fad.