Menu: Rapunzel's Royal Table on Disney Magic
Goli Soda To Offer Indian Food, Bar Services In McKinney
Goli Soda is expected to soft-launch later this month in McKinney, co-owner Vijay Avuir said.The new Desi restaurant will serve Indian street foods, Indo-Chinese delicacies and more, Avuir said. The restaurant will also open with a full-service bar that will serve draft beer from local breweries, wine and liquor.
By Colby FarrTransportation and Real Estate Reporter
Colby joined Community Impact in July 2022. He covers transportation and real estate for the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. Prior to joining CI, he worked for student newspapers at Del Mar College and The University of Texas at Arlington while attending school. In his spare time, Colby enjoys playing guitar, writing music and camping.
New Food Trailer Serves Indian Food
WILLIAMSBURG — Anita Jogi started her food trailer Masala Magic by Anita about a month ago, with the official opening on May 26 at Townline Ciderworks.
Jogi said she and her husband came to the United States from India so he could go to school to become a pharmacist. The couple lives in Elk Rapids, and Jogi will serve Indian food in Williamsburg this summer.
"We don't have any authentic Indian food around here," Jogi said. "I try to include all the popular dishes from all over India."
Perhaps the most popular is the butter chicken. Jogi said she makes a lot of that, even though it is time consuming. The tomato cashew sauce can take up to four hours to cook, she said. This sauce is also used for the Paneer, an Indian cottage cheese dish.
Though the butter chicken is a staple, Jogi said the rest of her menu may change. She will always offer a vegetarian and vegan option like dahl (a lentil dish) as well as naan.
"It changes a little bit so everybody can enjoy," she said of her menu.
She also makes tomato chutney and mango chutney sauces to go with the flatbread and samosas, an appetizer that is filled with potatoes and fried.
"Everything I make is from scratch," she said. "I like cooking. Feeding people is my love language."
The beverage option is either mango lassi or chai. The tea is made with a family spice mix recipe, Jogi said.
"India loves mangoes," she said. "It's a yogurty mango drink."
Townline Ciderworks co-owner and tasting room manager Kristie Altonen said they usually host a food truck during the summer, as it is "not easy to come by" in that area. She said Jogi reached out and they were excited to have her on site.
"The ciders will pair well with Indian food because it's not necessarily spicy unless you request it," Altonen said. "Our crisp ciders balance with heavily-seasoned food. We have a lot of dry ciders that also pair well."
She added that they are hosting music on Friday nights this summer.
Masala Magic by Anita is open Thursday to Sunday. Expanded hours are expected in mid-June, after schools are done for this year. For the current menu and other details, visit masalamagicbyanita.Com.
8 Trailblazing L.A. Restaurants For A Taste Of Modern Indian Cuisine
There's never been a better time to try Indian food in Los Angeles. Traditional cooking from across the subcontinent is abundant here: crispy, paper-thin dosas filled with warmly spiced potatoes, Mumbai-style street foods like tangy chaat and spicy vada pav, heaping bowls full of meat-laden biryani and copper pots of bright red chicken tikka masala.
And in recent years, more local Indian chefs have highlighted regional South Asian cuisine alongside creative spins on traditional dishes that fold in California produce and draw from the diversity of communities that call this city home.
On Melrose Avenue, chef Anmoldeep Khinda of Roots Indian Bistro pulls from his childhood growing up in Los Angeles as he reimagines Indian flavors with dosa quesadillas and chalupas made with spicy channa, along with Indian-inspired takes on pasta that his father Paramjit Singh first began serving to Angelenos at Ciao Pasadena in the '90s.
"We're embracing the culture around us and not just seeing it as one cuisine but one that can mesh with others," says Khinda.
Similarly, when the Mahendro family opened Badmaash in downtown L.A. In 2013, they were intent on creating a new kind of Indian restaurant that was completely different from the traditional buffet-style spots they grew up with in Toronto.
"We knew we wanted it to be from my and my brother's perspectives," says co-owner Nakul Mahendro. That meant eschewing tropes — burgundy carpets, brass accents and wicker baskets of garlic naan — and adding dishes such as Parle-G ice cream sandwiches and chicken tikka masala poutine, which piles beef gravy, cheese curds, tandoori chicken tikka and cilantro on masala-spiced fries, to the menu.
Mahendro takes great pride in shaping the future of Indian dining in L.A. "It's really this young, uncensored and raw energy that keeps us motivated to do more — to push this cuisine and culture further," he said. "India has been dope since the ancient times, America is just starting to find out."
More than a decade since Badmaash opened, the city's modern Indian culinary scene is showing no signs of slowing down. When Avish Naran opened Pijja Palace in Silver Lake in 2022, the stylish sports bar that pairs Indian flavors with pub grub became an instant hit. Two years later, the hype has yet to fade, and it remains one of the most sought-after reservations in the city.
Naran credits the restaurant's success partially to the culture of support within the local desi culinary community, adding that the Mahendro family has made themselves available to him anytime he's had a question. Now, both parties are expanding into Indian Chinese cuisine: The Mahendro family began their Hakka Hakka pop-up late last year, and Naran recently announced his upcoming Indian pan-Asian venture called Schezwan Club. But rather than viewing each other as competitors, both Naran and the Mahendros note a sense of community and camaraderie and a desire to see each other succeed.
"What is there to gatekeep? I like Indian pasta; I would love to have it somewhere else," Naran says. "At the end of the day, I don't stand to lose anything by helping anyone. I want to see more people not be afraid to execute their vision in a way that's personal to them."
With new pop-ups, chef residencies and restaurants, there are plenty of places to get acquainted with L.A.'s current South Asian dining scene. Locals and tourists alike flock to some of the city's best restaurants to try pizzas laden with chutneys, tacos stuffed with meats marinated in Indian spices and a range of reinvented traditional dishes. From Laguna Niguel to downtown L.A. To Long Beach, here are eight modern Indian favorites.
Comments
Post a Comment