TikkaTacoRito spotlights Indian and Mexican cuisines in a fast-casual atmosphere.
I love a good fusion food concept. So when I read about the newly opened TikkaTacoRito in the Pearl, my husband and our 13-month-old son went to check it out for an early weeknight dinner. TikkaTacoRito is located in the ground floor of The Rodney luxury apartment building and was established by Hari Venkatram, who’s been brainstorming fusion dishes between the two flavorful cuisines.
When we arrived on a Wednesday evening, there were people chowing down on burritos at the bistro tables lined up outside. Upon walking in, we were the only customers — but with dinnertime for the baby quickly approaching, being able to quickly order was welcome. Another win: It was happy hour, which runs Monday through Saturday from 3-6 pm. Pro tip: The eatery does have a high chair, but only one, so be mindful of that if it’s busy or your family needs more than one.
The fast-casual concept of TikkaTacoRito can best be described as Chipotle-esque; there’s an employee behind the counter ready to create your bowl, burrito, taco and more from ready-made rices, meats and toppings. But unlike the Tex-Mex chain, the ingredients and flavors also hail from India.
Since we were the only customers, the employee was helpful in going through the menu — there’s a lot of possible combinations! — and even let us sample some of the sauces and salsas. You can choose from Indian-style white or brown rice, spiced chickpeas, black beans or black-eyed peas, and meats cooked in the restaurant’s tandoor or claypot oven. Everything can then be topped with tikka, vindaloo or verde sauce, and roja, tamarind or cilantro-basil salsas. Shredded lettuce, cheese, pico de gallo and kachumber, an Indian salad made with carrots, cucumber, onion and lemon juice are also available.
The restaurant specializes in taco bombs ($9.99 or $6.49 during happy hour, pictured above). Meant to be eaten in one bite, they are Venkatram’s take on the Indian pani puri. Hollow round shells roughly the size of golf balls are deep fried until crispy and filled with beans, meat and sauces. We had to try them. We let the employee make his favorites, mixing a variety of flavors for each. For our son, we settled on a rice and chicken and black-eyed-pea bowl ($10.99), minus any of the spicy sauces and salsas. Curious about the pizzas, my husband also ordered the chicken tikka masala pizza ($15.99). The 12-inch pies have a naan crust and are cooked in the claypot oven. Lastly, we ordered chicken wings ($9.99 or $6.49 during happy hour) with the vindaloo sauce.
Before the pizza arrived, my husband fed our son part of the rice bowl. Pro tip: The food here is flavorful, which might be a stretch for some palates. Even without the sauce, the rice and peas still proved too spicy for him. Shortly after, the pizza arrived and he enjoyed some bites of the pizza toppings, especially the fresh pico de gallo. My husband and I both liked the pizza, the tikka curry was a flavoral sauce base, the chicken was smoky and the pico de gallo and kachumber salsas gave it added textures and freshness. Pro tip: It should be eaten immediately after being served; the naan crust quickly succumbs to the tikka sauce and toppings. The wings were a disappointment; we suspect they were left in the oven for too long as they arrived overly dry and crunchy.
The hit of the evening were the taco bombs. They are inventive, fun-to-eat and allow you to try many flavor combinations of TikkaTacoRito. My favorite one was stuffed with yellow Indian rice, carne asada and topped with tikka.
Only open for a month when we visited, the restaurant is still ironing out its operation (there were no plates when we dined in), but the magic here lies in the flavors and the many combinations possible.
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