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
