(Indian) Curry Up Indian Grill

When I travel and eat outside of the US–admittedly mostly in Japan–I’m struck by how “fast casual” cuisine is an uniquely American dining phenomenon. The definition of fast casual is, in my opinion, overly expansive; a better one would center on two particular features: 1) customer-directed, built-to-order food assembled from ingredients via an assembly line system; 2) an emphasis on ingredients that are (ostensibly) healthy and freshly prepared. Using that more specific standard, places with largely fixed menu items, such as Panera, Shake Shack, and Five Guys do not count, but chains such as Chipotle, Bibibop, and Mezze do.

The surprising thing is that when thinking of places that fit my definition of fast casual, none that serve Indian cuisine come immediately to mind. This is odd, given the relative popularity of Indian food (at least the typical heavy Punjabi kind), how well that protein-in-a-curry would work with either the rice-based bowls that are an inextricable part of fast casual cuisine, or with fresh vegetables in a salad-centric bowl for a lighter touch. Yet while there are more emerging on the market in the past five years, Indian cast casual restaurants aren’t widely available yet. These were the thoughts running through my mind when I first encountered Columbus’s Curry Up Indian Grill almost a year ago.

Curry Up Indian Grill–no relation to the San Francisco-based Indian fast casual chain Curry Up–is run by Vishal Patel, a former doctor-in-training turned restaurateur who started this restaurant in 2016 in part because of the lack of Indian fast casual options in Columbus, OH. While that may have been a smart business move, he has occasionally experienced pushback from Indian clientele, particularly first-timers who are used to table service and not shuffling along a line.

The everyday menu features choices organized in the typical fast casual manner: a base vehicle (wrap, bowl, salad); curries (tikka masala, rohgan josh, korma); proteins (chicken, paneer, lamb, and tofu); raita sauces (cucumber yogurt, spicy avocado, mint chutney); and numerous vegetable toppings. Of particular note are the curries, which also included featured specials on rotation. There are also other side items such as kati rolls, chaats, biryani, samosas, chai and lassi drinks. It’s all pretty good: the image above features a bowl with spinach sauce that, while not as rich as the chicken saag one might get in a restaurant, is still a good compromise given what else one is able to put into the bowl.

But where Curry Up really stands out is Vishal’s willingness to constantly test and try new dishes that are drawn from Indian street food. This includes the aloo tikki burger featured at the top of this post, which is a spicy fried potato croquette filled with spices, herbs, peas, peppers, and onions, that is fried and topped off with cole slaw mixed with avocado raita, mint chutney, and tamarind sauce. It’s paired with fries that were coated with a mix of special house spices that tasted vaguely like Five Guys’s cajun fries but with a dash of garam masala. It’s a fine dish though not without a few quibbles: the potato patty was packed a bit loose, which made it unwieldy given its already-large size; the bun wasn’t robust enough to hold the entire sandwich together; and the fries were independently good, but not a good pairing for such a potato-heavy meal.

Other street food experiments included Chili Gobi, which is an Indo-Chinese street snack made from deep frying breaded cauliflower–not unlike General Tso’s Chicken–and then stir-frying it in a sauce made from onions, peppers, chilis, and soy sauce. It also includes a bhel puri, a snack made from puffed rice, chickpeas, onions, and sweet-and-sour tamarind sauce. Both were good, though I can’t say I’m particularly a fan of tamarind sauce.

The latest experiment that Vishal cooked up this week was a tandoori chicken sandwich. The “tandoor” part of its name comes not from the eponymous oven, but from the spice medley, which include cumin, corriander, ginger, garam masala, etc. The spices are used to marinate the chicken breast, which is grilled, chopped, and then topped with cole slaw featuring a spicy creamy sauce, spicy avocado raita, mint chutney, and sweet tamarind sauce. It comes either in a bun or a wrap: if the the wrap version would’ve made for a decent photo, it would be the preferred option over the bun, which like its counterpart in the aloo tikki burger, was not robust enough to hold the sandwich together. The sandwich itself also suffered from a case of less is more, where if the sauces were cut in half by both volume and number, it would’ve let the flavors marinated in the chicken to come out more. Still a good sandwich with a powerful level of spice.

Overall, Curry Up Grill fills the much-needed niche of Indian fast casual cuisine in this town, with new entrants such as Rollz Rice also joining the fray. However, what really stands out about Curry Up is its proclivity towards experimentation, particularly in its forays into Indian street food. These experimental renditions might not always be perfect, but they’re creative and are good pathways towards appreciating Indian cuisine from a wider perspective. They’re not listed on the main menu, so it’s worth asking Vishal what he’s cooking up and testing out his latest creations.

Rating: Strongly Recommended

Items of Note: Aloo Tikki Burger, Tandoori Chicken Burger, Kati Roll (or just the parathas)

Curry Up Indian Grill
6181 Sawmill Rd
Dublin, OH 43017

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