Crown Restaurant Group (CRG) celebrated the grand opening of its eighth concept, Marigold, in February. Its concept takes a page out of the London desi pub’s book, serving the beloved London curries and adapted Indian dishes that the U.K. has grown to know, love and seek out above most other cuisines. Marigold’s menu features British classics like Scotch eggs and pot pies elevated with flavors from India, London curries accompanied by sourdough naan and saffron rice, and so much more.
CRG co-owners, Anthony and Haley Sitek, say that Marigold is unlike any of their other concepts, and it wasn’t plan A for the space. They had originally planned to move Crown Cantina into that space, but Mi Cozumel opened at Fountain Square over the summer, and they realized that the block was saturated with Mexican concepts. “Nada is two blocks away. Mi Cozumel is one block away. Chipotle is down the street. You’re gonna talk about four Mexican restaurants in two Cincinnati blocks. That’s not going to work,” Anthony says.
The idea of a British-Indian restaurant had been bopping around Anthony and Haley’s minds for a while. They knew it was a fresh concept for Cincinnati and a departure from CRG’s other concepts. Once they set their mind to it, Anthony says the process didn’t take long to get off the ground. “[Marigold chef Megan Yung] was the last piece of the puzzle,” Anthony says. “Bringing in her knowledge of the cuisine, her experience in general and letting what she does shine was pretty freaking awesome. It all happened in eight months, too.”
Not only does Yung have chops as a chef, but she’s intimately familiar with the U.K.’s cuisine. She’s a Northern Kentucky native who studied culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu in London. There, she fell in love with London’s Indian food scene. “The neighborhood I lived in was specifically a Bangladeshi neighborhood, so there were a lot of curry houses, a lot of stuff I really hadn’t been exposed to,” Yung says. “Getting to know friends from different parts of the U.K., I came to learn that curry is just as much of an English dish to them as it is Indian. It’s comforting like spaghetti and meatballs, and it’s become entrenched in their culture.”
As the executive chef of Marigold, she’s perfectly poised to bring Marigold’s concept to life. Her lived experience, combined with her impressive resume and her deep love of English food, brought us the incredible menu at Marigold. “Megan is really who brought the menu to life,” Haley says. “When we started doing menu tastings, I was honestly concerned that we weren’t hitting the mark. I didn’t think we were doing it justice, and then we found Megan.”
Prior to opening Marigold, Yung was making herself a simple lunch one day — roast chicken — when Anthony came in, tried it and said, “That’s going on the menu. It’s that beauty in the simplicity of how she cooks and how she executes. It’s amazing,” Haley says. “And not only was her food hitting, it was her personality. She’s everything that I think Marigold represents, and I am more excited about the food with Megan behind it.”
The menu leans more toward British cuisine with smatterings of Indian flavors throughout, like the chicken liver mousse that’s served with pistachio dukkah, curried onions and sourdough naan to mop up the dregs. Or the double-cut pork chop (a shared favorite of Anthony and Megan’s) that’s accompanied by a prune and pepper chutney. They feature a trio of curries, Malabar shrimp, butter chicken, and korma chickpea and squash, which are London curries, specifically.
“The best way to describe them is that they have the same flavor profile [as Indian curries], but the richness is up to the max,” Yung says. “They’re also a bit sweeter to accommodate British sensibilities, but I think that’s actually perfect for Cincinnati. I know a lot of people didn’t grow up eating it, or don’t have a lot of experience with Indian curry, and they’re kind of intimidated and aren’t sure, and [London curries are] the perfect kind of bridge into it.”
This approach to the menu reflects Yung’s experience living in the U.K., where there are pockets of culture throughout the country. “There’s a huge group of Indians and people from other areas in Southeast Asia living in London and all the parts of Great Britain. It’s actually kind of interesting to see where people from certain parts of India ended up in certain parts of the U.K. In Birmingham, it’s more Balti, and where I was, there was more Bangladeshi culture. It comes from a difficult situation, but now it’s just part of the culture in the U.K., and it really is celebrated,” Yung says.
She mentions having a few Indian families enjoying a meal at Marigold since it opened, one in particular passing along their thanks. “They said they were really excited to see their culture and their food presented in something other than a takeout container, and I thought that was really nice,” Yung says.
Marigold is held down by a primarily women-led team, something that’s reflected in Marigold’s branding. Take the name — Marigold was once a common name for girls and women in the U.K., but it’s also the flower that throws a wash of yellowish-orange onto Indian weddings and rests on the heads of celebrated women as a crown, a nod to both the U.K.’s monarchical society and the restaurant group’s name.
Throughout the restaurant, you’ll find warm yet sophisticated elements that pull in the U.K. as well as the boldly colored mural invoking Indian elements. “And then you have Rosie, which is the name of all of our murals in our restaurants,” Haley says. In Losanti, the Rosie mural takes up a whole wall. At Rosie’s Italian, she’s brandishing a martini glass. Marigold’s Rosie, designed by Chicago-based muralist Jenny Vyas, is hard to miss. She dons a crown and flowing red hair studded with marigolds, anchoring the two cultures together and paying homage to Haley’s red hair and childhood nickname, Rosie, as well as the Cincinnati Reds’ mascot.
“I’m proud to be from Cincinnati, and we’re proud to be raising our family here,” Haley says. “[In our restaurants], we’re trying to own that, and to represent Cincinnati as best as we can.”
Marigold, 60 W. Fifth St., Downtown. More info: marigoldcincy.com.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s April 16 print edition.
This article appears in Apr 16-29, 2025.