College Football is Back!

I love football! NFL, NCAA, I'll even watch a good High School game on ESPN. It wasn't always that way. I grew up a big baseball and basketball fan as those were the sports I played as a kid. But around the time I started college at UCSB, Sunday became gameday. BBQ's, cold beers and Raider games were the highlight of the week for me. I wasn't all that into college football at the time, it's not like UCSB had a team or anything however we did excel in lacrosse (that's for you Brent and Brian). Different story altogether for Chan. She grew up a die hard University of Miami fan (she plays dirty just like the Canes) and went on to attend Auburn University where football comes first and everything else is an afterthought. Chan will never get tired of talking about gamedays in Auburn, streets lined with alumni in their pimped out RV's, Q'ing and drinking all day Friday straight through gameday. The traditional Tiger walk, where the team parades through campus shaking hands and giving hi-fives to the Tiger faithful that crowd both sides of the mile long path to Jordan Hare stadium. Before the game starts the crowd of nearly 90,000 raucous (drunk) fans goes silent as an eagle flies around the stadium and lands on the 50 yard line...War Eagle! Auburn is 2-0 after last nights big conference road win against Miss St., and their QB might just be one of the best in the country.

But Urbann Turbann is not in Auburn, Al, it's in Berkeley, Ca. Home of the University of California Golden Bears. Our neighbor Steve, the owner of Vinnies Cheesesteaks and La Val's, was telling us how he remembers not-so-long-ago, before coach Tedfords era began, when a Cal football game was about as riveting as a tennis match. A quiet and polite crowd with minimal energy barely cheering on their team. In 2002 Jeff Tedford showed up and for the past few years Cal has become a legit college football program, robbed of a Rose Bowl appearance after an amazing 2004 season in which they finished ranked 9th in the country (the same year Auburn went undefeated in the SEC and were robbed of a chance to play in the BCS championship game). NFL stars Aaron Rogers, Marshawn Lynch, Desean Jackson and Nnamdi Asomugha have all played under Tedford at Cal.

So by now you are clearly wondering what this has to do with UT, a small Indian wraps joint on Northside. Well...we are now open on Saturdays (11am-5:30pm) and Chan and I were both excited to roll through the streets around campus and see the students getting ready (hammered) for the season opener. We were very disappointed. It looked like everyone around campus decided to sleep in on gameday. Props to the Pike house for having what was either a giant inflatable slide or a bounce house ready to go for gameday...but Chan kept asking "where are all the tailgaters and people partying before the game?". And I internally pondered the same questions. What's up Cal fans? La Val's on Northside had a decent pregame crowd drinking pitchers and I'm sure the Southside standby's like Henry's and Ralieghs had good gameday crowds. I know we were only playing UC Davis in what was essentially a warm up game, but I expect more. More partying, more noise, more excitement, more fans, much much more debauchery! Tomorrow we welcome Colorado to the PAC-10 (or PAC-12), and the 12th man needs to be in full effect. While Colorado is not the program they once were, they also ain't UC Davis. The "experts" on ESPN picked Cal to finish 7th in the PAC-10/12, but Coach Tedford and company will not let that be the case. The road to the Rose Bowl begins tomorrow at Memorial Stadium, get out there and support your Bears.

And on your way to the game or back home from the game stop by UT for lunch. Our new big screen TV will be up with games on so you won't miss a minute of glorious football.

Go Bears!
War Eagle!

Cheers,
Aman

Getting Ready for the 2010-2011 School year

It was way too hot to spend another day in the kitchen, and since we get our wonderful 68 degree weather back starting tomorrow, I decided to take the day off and relax and let Chan, Freddie and the rest of the trusted crew run the show. In all honesty we did just get back from 3 days in Vegas, but I came back more tired than I left. And a solid days rest would be probably be wise with Fall semester classes starting for the under grads tomorrow.

Summer, as far as students are concerned, is over and and we are ready for the frenzy of the school year. For those who don't yet know, Urbann Turbann is located on the busy thoroughfare known as Euclid Ave. just up from UC Berkeley's North gate entrance. A relatively quiet neighborhood housing a mix of students and non-students, the area has a soothing calmness during the summer relished by the residents and hated by the business owners. From what we hear from some of our very friendly neighbors, restaurants on the North side see a drop of 30-45% during the summer months as the great exodus of students and faculty takes place. But the U-hauls lining the streets of all the neighborhoods around campus assures us that the students are back and we are ready for them.

Opening in the summer was both a blessing and a curse. We still had our busy lunches, especially in July, and we were able to smooth out our ordering process and assembly line. We had lots of regulars and really got to know our customers on a personal level. Dinners have been very slow, it's typical of the the neighborhood, so that gave me some time to play with new recipes. But most importantly we got lots of feedback. Less ginger in the karahi paneer, more spice in the cholay, a more careful approach to wrapping and a better description of the breads (roti is not just a whole wheat naan, there are major textural differences) are just a few of the changes we were able to make.

There are a few principles we are always going to stick to. We are always going to run a business that we can be proud of. One that treats the staff, environment and community with respect. A restaurant that offers homemade wholesome food using great ingredients. These are all sincere promises and we hope that you will call us out if we ever stray from our mission.

Cheers to a new school year. Cheers to the success of UT. And most of all, cheers to a PAC-10 title for the Golden Bears!!!

Aman

Doesn't everyone love warm cookies?

In a move that may seem a bit odd, Chan and I have decided to start selling cookies. As with everything else that we serve they will be made from scratch in our kitchen and we'll have a vegan option, most likely vegan oatmeal raisin. We're also going to make a chocolate chip cookie with Belgian milk chocolate chips and a coconut, pecan and white chocolate chip cookie (also Belgian chocolate). Organic butter (vegetable shortening for the vegan), Madagascar vanilla and organic free range eggs will be used for the batter cause that's how we roll at UT.

But the question inevitably will be, why is an Indian restaurant selling cookies? Warm, rich, delicious cookies. And the reason is that Chan is freaking awesome at baking, ask anyone in my family and they'll agree. You really need a passion for good food and for cooking to get into the restaurant business. The hours are long the financial investment is large and the failure rate is high. Chandler comes from a long line of bakers, and while she pretty much has taught herself how to bake, she gets the passion for cooking from her late grandma, Wanda French. Wanda was a wizard in the kitchen, a queen of traditional American classics like chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes, chicken fried steak, homemade biscuits and gravy and of course pies. There was a time when Wanda would bake a different fresh pie from scratch every night. I had the privilege of eating Wanda's cooking for Christmas 3 years ago and I was blown away. Smooth and airy mashed potatoes (made with no less than two sticks of butter), the most amazing fall-apart-tender pot roast and 3 different types of pie... that was a meal that I will never forget. I think one of the reasons Chan likes to bake so much is because it continues to be a link between her and her grandmother even after her grandmothers passing. Whether baking pies for thanksgiving dinner, amazing cakes for family birthdays, cupcakes for summer BBQs and now cookies for UT customers, Chan loves sharing her passion for baking...and I love eating the outcome. So even if it doesn't fit our theme, UT is gonna serve cookies. Warm, fresh from the oven cookies, baked in small batches throughout the day. Because really, doesn't everyone love warm cookies?

We should start selling the cookies sometime next week for 2 bucks a piece.

Cheers,
Aman

Our Story

Hi. This is my first ever blog post of any kind and I'm a bit nervous. I figure this is a good opportunity to tell people the story of how Urbann Turbann came to be.

Urbann Turbann is a project built on love, our love for food and our love for each other. Chandler (my wife) and I love working together. Some people find that weird, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We also love good food, cooking it and eating it. Opening UT was our chance to combine these passions and hopefully build a foundation for a successful future.

I suppose I have always been a fan of food. My moms cooking was always my favorite. Mom cooked dinner at home 6 nights a week. She had a great repertoire of recipes that ranged from enchiladas to lasagna to homemade tandoori chicken. Thing was, I grew up hating Indian food. It wasn't until I moved to Santa Barbara for college that I realized what I had been taking for granted. Whenever I came home to visit I wanted to eat Indian food. Eventually I slowly started to learn how to cook it myself. Cooking grew from a hobby to an obsession. Anytime I tasted a great dish at a restaurant, Indian or non-Indian, I tried to replicate it at home. I wanted everything I cooked to be amazing. I started working at Indian restaurants to learn new skills and different dishes. Towards the end of 2009 I was made an offer that I couldn't refuse, move to Puerta Vallarta, Mexico for 3 months and help open PV's only Indian restaurant.

Opening Casa De Tandoor was a very rewarding experience. The owners didn't want to rely on importing spices, so the menu had to be created using only local ingredients. Luckily, Mexican food shares a lot of flavors with Indian food. In the end, we only had to ship in two spices, black salt and aamchoor (dry mango powder). It was in Mexico that we became enamored with all natural ingredients. At first I was surprised at how expensive the proteins were in Mexico, almost one and a alf times what wholesalers charge in CA. But the chicken was super fresh, never frozen and raised at local farms. You could taste difference immediately. At that time Chan and I decided that when we did finally open our own restaurant, we would never sacrifice the quality of our ingredients... and we never will. When CDT was ready to run on its own we returned to the Bay Area ready to open Urbann Turbann.

A lot of people ask us how we came up with the name Urbann Turbann (some people love it, some people hate it). Truth is, we didn't come up with it. Two years ago my uncle and aunt opened Kasa Indian Eatery in San Francisco. My aunt, Anamika, wanted to name it Urban Turban but couldn't convince her husband and their partner... so we took it.

Urbann Turbann is a fusion of tradition and modernization. We make our naan and roti on site in tandoors, the same way its been done in India for 1000's of years. Our cholay recipe is my Grandma's. The mushroom mattar, tandoori chicken, and karahi paneer are all based on my Mom's recipes. The pork vindaloo, beef kabobs and fresh veggies are my own original recipes. Everything including the dough for the naan, the main fillings, the chutneys and the samosas are made from scratch in our kitchen. We order whole spices and roast, grind and mix them ourselves. No shortcuts, no compromises. Based on our small space and limited seating area, we knew that most people would have to take food to go, so we decided to focus on wraps and rice bowls that can easily be eaten on the go.

We are committed to using high quality ingredients. All of our dairy items are 100% certified organic as are our tomatoes, cucumbers, spring mix and romaine lettuce. Our chicken is all natural free range, our beef is grass fed and our pork is all natural.

We have surrounded ourselves with a fun and energetic crew. Chan and I look forward to coming into work everyday, and while we do get tired after a long week, it's all well worth it.

Cheers,

Aman