Tasting Arcadia

Episode 20 - All India Cafe

• Karen Mac Nair • Season 2 • Episode 20

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Step into the aromatic world of authentic Indian cuisine on Tasting Arcadia with Karen Mac Nair as she sits down with the Santokh Singh and Harsimran Singh Khinda, father and son, owners of All India Cafe in Downtown Arcadia. Their culinary journey spans continents and generations, starting from farmlands in Punjab, India to establishing three successful restaurant locations across California. They also share what they are bringing to Taste of Arcadia!

For more information and tickets to the Taste of Arcadia visit TasteOfArcadia.com.

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John Villa:

Welcome to Tasting Arcadia, the official podcast of Taste of Arcadia. Taste of Arcadia is an all-inclusive event featuring food and drinks from the San Gabriel Valley restaurants, all for one price Sample food, wine, beer and spirits. Check out our brand new cars, visit our business showcase booths, smile at our photo booth and shake it on the dance floor with me, john Villa from Dance Syndicate DJ Entertainment. Taste of Arcadia is September 13th at Santa Anita Park. The fun goes from 2 to 6 pm, with special VIP entrance at 1 pm. Don't forget this is a 21 and over event. Get your tickets today at tasteofarcadiacom. Now let's hear it for our host, Karen Mac Nair.

Karen Mac Nair:

Thanks, john, for a great introduction to another Tasting Arcadia episode. I'm Karen Mac Nair, the CEO at the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, coming to you as we introduce another great business in Arcadia. This is one of our newest restaurants here in Arcadia I'm excited to share. They're located in downtown Arcadia. It's the All India Cafe. I have the owners in front of me right now and I'd like them to introduce themselves. Gentlemen, so excited to have you.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Hi, this is Santokh Singh Khinda , the owner, co-founder of All India Cafe.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Hi, my name is , the owner, co-founder of All India Cafe. Hi, my name is Harsimran Singh Kinda. I'm actually the son. I don't have a role, but I would say everyone in our family is always in charge of, or taking the responsibilities of, running the business together as a family.

Karen Mac Nair:

I did get to visit your restaurant already one time and I do notice that that it is a family affair Definitely everyone in together. You had said it today. Like no one has roles, we are all in this to help this business move forward, so that was great to see. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your business?

Santokh Singh Khinda:

the all india cafe. We started in 1996 in old town, pasadena. Okay, so then the second location we opened in Santa Monica in 1999. Then the third location I opened in Santa Barbara. That was, I think, 2006. Oh wow, I forgot the date, but then we started in 2017. 2017, in Glendale downtown, and this is the third one we started recently. In May 23rd, started the first day of all India cafe here in Arcadia, and I love this location oh, thank you.

Karen Mac Nair:

We're so never heard. We're so glad to have you in Arcadia. So it sounds like you. This isn't the first time you've started a business. You sound kind of like an expert. It has been so many locations you've opened and started. He's an expert.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

He has.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

I do all my life these things. I grew up in a farm in India Okay. And I know how to grow all the crops. I know all the vegetables, all grain, what's good, what's bad, the seasoning, everything. Then I went to Germany, I started cooking Italian thing. Then I went to Germany, I started

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Italian cooking and I love that cooking. Then I moved in 1985 here in Los Angeles. So I started my career in Indian food and I apply all my experience from all different cuisine to one cuisine to give the best shot. But it works wonderful because all my recipe, the beauty of this restaurant we make like a home style.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

All natural ingredients, nothing artificial coloring or flavoring. So you see, my food is very natural and no food coloring, no, any artificial flavors, so it's one of the best for the health, mm-hmm. And the taste. We have all different kind food meat like a lamb, fish, shrimp, chicken, all different vegetables. We have a lot of vegan dishes too.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay love that Because.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Indian popular is very much. Almost 70% of people are vegetarian.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, yes, that's good to know. It's good options too for vegetarians locally.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

We have a lot of options and we have all different cuisine and one cuisine. India is a big country the north, south, west, east. We have all different cultures. One cuisine India is a big country North, south, west, east. We have all different cultures, different cuisines. So I bring the food from different cultures, the best dishes. That's why we name it All India Cafe.

Karen Mac Nair:

That's what I was going to say. We talked about. The inspiration of the name is because of the cultures and the different people all in India. That it's definitely bringing all the food to us here is so great.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Correct. India has 1.5 billion people. Before China was considered the most biggest population. Now India is. Now how many cuisines? There's? Over hundreds of languages in India, Wow, and I believe only 23 are considered national languages, which is different. National newspapers they have as well too. Now we try to focus on as many regions as we can. That's why we have such a very big, broad menu, but what we keep is all the best-selling items, based on what the current demand we have from our customers, what they're asking, what they're requesting. For example, the new street food item. That's where it came out, because there's such a huge demand for pani puri In his hometown. It's actually called Gol Gappe. It was never called Paani Puri, it was actually called Gol Gappe.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Paani Puri is more like a Bombay side.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Not Punjab style. Where I grew up. In my culture they call Gol Gappe. Gol means round the Gappe is the ball thing, so they start with the water.

Karen Mac Nair:

I'm very excited we're going to get to taste At the end of the episodes we're going to get to. I don't feel like we've covered this. Where is your exact location? We know you're in downtown Arcadia, but so we're on 48 East Huntington Drive.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

It's right next to Chase Bank. If you all know where the Denny's Windmill is, we're right across about a few doors down towards Chase Bank.

Karen Mac Nair:

Great, and what hours are you open?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

So we're open Monday to Sunday, so seven days a week. We open at 11 30 in the morning. We do close from three to five, um, and we close at 10 during weekdays, 11 on weekends and Sundays, because it's God's day, so we open at four. Okay, we all want to go to temple, so it was something that our mom requested us.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

She's like you can always do business, but you can never skip out on God yeah, you know so because we were such a very we're a tight family and tight families build on relationships, on fundamentals yes, and that's where we got them from. So we're like we can't forget where we're so grateful where we came from the farmlands to owning business in the united states. You know that's a big accomplishment someone from who's an immigrant family yes so we want to make sure we stay in touch with our roots, our culture, our food, but still remember this is a the american dream of having our own business and opening up one.

Karen Mac Nair:

You guys. We're so excited to have you in the community. Your restaurant is beautiful too. When you walk inside beautiful murals on the walls. If you haven't gone by yet, you need to go by and definitely visit.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

And the mural has a little secret story behind it oh share that. A lot of people don't know about what the real meaning behind the mural People see peacocks.

Karen Mac Nair:

Think of the city of Arcadia. I agree, we're terrible at that. We assume it's Arcadia, it's fine.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

But people who live in Arcadia will soon to know, and I'm going to reveal the secret to you all. So the lady you see in the beautiful lady, it's one of our. It was just one of my imaginations. What I think. That's beautiful and the way she grew has a traditional attire. Hence the food is very traditional. It means you'll be getting very traditional-style food Cocktails. We grew up in California. We're known for our cocktails here. Sunglasses, it's LA, you know. That's Hollywood right there, you know. And then the peacocks is because they're actually Indian peacocks.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Oh, yes, a lot of people don't know where these peacocks came from. Actually, lucky Baldwin, who owned Arcadia, one of the most beautiful pet and star, breed them, you know he brought I'm not sure if it was seven or ten, that's always been a guess, that's been going on. But from what I heard was growing up as a kid in arcadia for a few years, I heard it was 10 peacocks he brought from india and they're actually from his hometown, punjab.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

The state of punjab.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

So they're indian peacocks, hence indian restaurant, indian peacocks. It made a complete sense to bring something that's the city of Peacocks into an Indian restaurant. You know, because they're both are together, it was a great way to combine the city as a one whole.

Karen Mac Nair:

I love that. It definitely when you walk in, you enjoy the beauty. And now it's great to know I mean, I love that that is a bird that comes from your hometown. That just seems like it's a seal of approval.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

You should be here, correct, and I felt like the city was missing something. It was missing. Why can't we have a nice, beautiful Indian restaurant?

John Villa:

in.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Arcadia. Arcadia is a beautiful city, one of the best cities to live in. The schools are fantastic here. I grew up in Arcadia for a little bit and Temple City, but around this neighborhood this was one of the best cities to all live in. Temple City, arcadia, monrovia, these are all great cities and I felt like I was telling my dad, let's go to Silver Lake and he's like man, it's going to be too far. And then I was like wait, after the fires everyone was leaving the city. You know the Meridian was an evacuation center and all businesses are scared, so it felt like a way to bring a beautiful food that our customers drive hours. We have customers that come all the way from Orange County.

Karen Mac Nair:

They come once a month, oh, okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

They have a specific timing of how they want to do everything. But they're like please, we have people from Arizona, people from England that stop in LA to try our food, so like, why don't we give back to our own city that we kind of grew up in you?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

know, why can't we do something like a little thing, make it nice so no one has to go to LA for a nice, fancy restaurant where you get to spend so much money? Here you, the deals are great, the food is fantastic and the ambiance is nice. Yes, it's like checks off all the boxes.

Karen Mac Nair:

It's true, and you get to stay local.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Correct.

Karen Mac Nair:

Which is wonderful. You know I feel like already your stories and please feel free to add to this, but that the inspiration is really your dad, family recipes, different things you love.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

So these are all his mom's recipes, okay, but some of them, of course, from his journey from Germany to the United States. He actually was a head chef of Bombay Cafe. If you know Bombay Cafe, it was one of the best Indian restaurants back in the day, but he was a head chef.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Oh nice, I started that one with them Really 1989.

Karen Mac Nair:

Wow.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Yeah, I worked there seven, seven and a half years before I started my Pasadena one.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Wow, and he wanted to pursue his typical American dream, you know. And that's where All India Cafe was born back in 96, you know. And then, right before that, he actually opened up a Italian restaurant back in the day, hence why it's similar cuisine. But unfortunately we just didn't get the lease. The leasing, we got pushed over and there was a beautiful brick wall in Pasadena that kind of reminded me of his hometown. He was like man, why don't we give Indian a chance? Don't we give indian a chance back then?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

in 96, there was not a single indian restaurant, especially in pasadena, right, you know, and that was like let's do something so people can share my culture, what she was saying. So to the people and then, ever then, since then la times, pasadena star news, pasadena weekly zagat, which is actually infatuation. Now, oh they wrote about it.

Karen Mac Nair:

Yeah, zagat got bought up by infatuation okay, well, I did see a couple of your articles which wonderful pictures, by the way, beautiful shot of smiling faces but it is impressive how, when you just represent who you are and who your family is and what your culture is, how it's a shining star. It's definitely standing out above the rest. So we're proud that you're here. Thank you, it's so exciting. We're proud that you're here, thank you.

Karen Mac Nair:

It's so exciting. Speaking of being proud, what is something about your business that you feel really proud of that you want people to know?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

We are a family business, you know, even if, like let me give you an example there's actually a couple of employees in Pasadena. They're like family. It's so hard to say you have people that have been working for you for 20 years yeah, yeah, 20 years a long time yeah 20, 22, 23 years, my most of the my staff.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

I start straight from the beginning. Dishwasher to the chef yeah, that is I don't have the chefs or I don't hide the trained people yeah it's very hard to make them modify.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

One of them is actually a nurse. Really, she went to go practice.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

She came with me when she came from Nepal. She started the job with me. During the job she got the training. She's a nurse but she never go to job. She said no, I love better working with you instead of going to the nursing job. Her husband he I love better working with you instead of doing the nursing job. Her husband he go with the hotel. A couple years. Then he came back. He worked with me two, three years. Then he got the license for a license for truck. He go for the big truck 18-wheeler. Then he came back again. So my people don't leave Because we treat them like family.

Karen Mac Nair:

Yes, well, when you're part of the family, it makes you not want to leave Like you want to stay together.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

I know how hard to working in the restaurant. So I treat them as they always say I'm implied. You say no, we share this business. We all working, I work, you work. So the only difference you take your portion earlier, I take the last.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

That's awesome.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Yeah, and they take pride in the food too, which shows that people like they care about the food. Like, for example, we remember our employees' birthdays. You know that's been now a new corporate thing to take care of employees' birthdays. He's been doing it since 96. Like that wasn't back then. There was no such thing as about like HR was really caring about these certain things. But he, when you work for someone, you really then and you become a boss later on. Then you realize, hey, working for someone is very hard. You should be very appreciative what they're going through.

Karen Mac Nair:

Right. So on that note, what is your favorite dish that you serve at the restaurant, so we all know what we can come in and order, or have you heard this question just a million times?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

so that's why I was, I had a little giggle. I mean him, and I always talk about this every time, you know, like, hey, man, what do we do? We talk about home, like after business, like what's our favorite dish, and he's like man, it's hard to say because everything is so great. You know, all my favorites, you know.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

And depend on what you're craving that day.

Karen Mac Nair:

Right, that is true, that is true.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

What do you fear? What can I order? I don't know what you feel like having it. So I give you all the choices. You tell me what you like, craving more, so then I can tell you the dish. It's very hard, we the dish, it's very hard. We have a basic approach my food, any dish you touch, you cannot go wrong. So I said close your eyes, pick. Whichever you go, you will be happy.

Karen Mac Nair:

So that's the new way Close your eyes and just pick.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

So don't pay.

John Villa:

Are you?

Santokh Singh Khinda:

sure, absolutely Don't pay if you don't like it. You should be fully, 100% satisfied with your buying it yeah, always.

Karen Mac Nair:

I said you should be fully, 100% satisfied with your buying it. Yeah, always, that's so sweet. Then I opened it.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Is that enough? I said come in. If you don't like it, don't pay. Are you sure? Absolutely. Then they said what do we think? I said no, I have to pay it.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

I remember when I joined the family business back in and there was a couple people walking in the alley towards mills alley, and then they're like asking me because he was loading some stuff out of the truck. And then they're like, hey, what's a good spot? He's like let me tell you one place. My son, my son, will tell you about everything, right. And he's like you don't like it, you don't pay. And I'm like, dad, you really said that. And he was like trust me, the food is. It speaks for itself, right, you know? And then there's a basic step process. I know that's one process that he'd been doing for so long. And then something new I came up with was like hey, man, do you like curry or do you like kebabs?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

you know, or do you like? Are you here for appetizers? Or appetizers like doses, you know, from tandoori wings to sipri, some pani puri malai? If you're here for, like the, the snacky food items, we have those as well, too right. And so we asked are you vegetarian, not vegetarian vegetarian? There's so many options. Not vegetarian? Okay, what type of meat do you like? Chicken, lamb, fish, shrimp? Okay, I pick one of them Half a second. They say shrimp Okay. Do you want a curry? Or a kebab Curry? Okay, what type of curry? There's traditional, there's a creamy curry, there's also sag, which is spinach. There's a coconut curry, and then, once you pick, you finally come down to one. They're like that's it, so that just pick and choose.

Karen Mac Nair:

Right, and that's so smart. As you listed everything, I could see like a checkbox in my mind like, okay, we're going to go down the checkbox and it gets narrower and narrower. And then you're like this is the perfect item for you.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Correct, because everyone has different taste buds, like chicken, lamb, fish or shrimp. No matter what you do, a person who loves lamb is going. You try to steer someone and you just let them person just guide themselves. They always hit a home run yeah yeah, I have a lot of customers.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

They come say, oh, my husband or my wife, she never like indian food.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Trust me, bring her in, I make her love it so then he or she going to regret why he missing indian food so long. Well, my food is very different than other Indian restaurants. It's not an other Indian restaurant, it's one of the Indian restaurants. So because it's my own recipes, the way we cook at home, so the way I cook here, or every my curry has a people are confused with the curries Curry. When I actually, when I came to America the house I was living Spanish lady, the owner of the house she came to me I want some curry powder. What's the curry powder? So then my colleagues, they were working all the rest and then they came home I said what's the curry powder? I never heard of that. Then we find out the British when they leave from India.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Much of the spice together, they name it curry powder. Oh so curry is not an Indian spice. People are confused with that, oh, okay.

Karen Mac Nair:

I didn't know that either. Still to this day.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Yeah, I had no idea. Well.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

I don't like curry. What do you mean? You don't like curry? There's nothing. The curry, the way we make the curry, is the different seasoning.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Yeah, so it's like a blend of spices that's what they call it, so it's not just a spice in and of itself.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

I get all my ingredients like a whole grain Clove, cardamom, cinnamon, you name it. I grind them myself. I try to get already grinded. The powder Doesn't taste like that, having no aroma. I don't know what they mix in, so I have to grind all my spices myself here at the restaurant. So it's a beauty.

Karen Mac Nair:

So, on that note, let's talk about the beautiful food in front of you, and then I'm going to do some tasting, oh please. So what are the dishes you brought today?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

So we got the saag paneer. We got our signature also as well. Pani puri shah. It's been going crazy about this. People have been loving especially. Our food is fantastic, but this is a classic street food item that, like everyone knows, in India.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Even in the United States now and when they're trying like, oh my God, this is even better than what they had before, Because this is everything the puri is made at Fresh and House. The pani puri juice I make it Fresh and House for all three locations. And then we also have the chicken tikka masala, we have the basmati rice and we have our classic garlic naan.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, Now Taste of Arcadia. Let's get back to that for one second. Any of these items you're going to take to taste.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

All of them.

Karen Mac Nair:

Round of applause. So if you're watching us on YouTube, you can see these beautiful items. If you're listening both groups, we need to go to tasteofarcadiacom to buy your tickets. You can go to the restaurant beforehand you can always do that but if you go to Taste, you're going to get tastings of all of this.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Okay, so my food. You can feel the freshness. I guarantee that.

Karen Mac Nair:

I do love that. Okay, what should I try first?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Let's try the panipuri first. So here I'm going to move it forward to you, okay.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Okay, you fell up with your own hand in the ball, so grab the baby ball, the baby jug Baby jug yeah, grab the ball as well.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Grab one of them in your left hand.

Karen Mac Nair:

I'm grabbing the ball with my left hand and we have an adorable display for the camera.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Correct. Now put about halfway of the water in there. Okay, it's okay, put halfway. And here's the tricky part. Okay, put the whole ball in your mouth.

Karen Mac Nair:

Oh my gosh, you guys are killing me, yeah, so we call them any explosion ball.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

So yeah, If you have a napkin, grab it.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, got a napkin.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Excellent, now put the whole ball there you go, there you go. That's what we call panipuri shots.

Karen Mac Nair:

I got a lot going on right now.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Correct. There's cilantro, there's mint, there's tamarindo, there's serrano, there's lime juice about 15 different spices of flavors blended in there. Now, I bet not a lot of Indian restaurants can name the first five spices listed for you. That's why we're so confident in our food.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

It sounds cocky but like we're confident it's speechless.

Karen Mac Nair:

It is speechless.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

It's mini explosion balls. So now you did halfway, try a full loaded one. Oh, I don't know if I can do it Well because now you know how to control the water in your mouth.

Karen Mac Nair:

Are you sure? Because I don't think I did very well.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

That's why I said do half first, because there's a lot going on.

John Villa:

It is.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

A person who grew up in American culture. They never experienced water, potatoes, spices, spices.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, that was potatoes, I thought.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Yeah, so there's potatoes, onion chickpea and the crisp ball. That's to kind of control the water. It's all water. You can't eat water, so we add texture to it. And then the little puff balls. It's a way to garnish, to add some texture to the water as well.

Karen Mac Nair:

Is it green chilies? So, serrano chilies. Serrano chilies there's cilantro, there's many so many, too many spices. My mouth is still trying to figure it out.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

I'm telling you. There's people that actually came inside and just literally asked can I have a gallon of the pani puri juice like I've had this couple times?

Karen Mac Nair:

yeah, what do you put it on? Something or no, they're like they take the they want to take it home.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

They're like weird, because people make cocktails around too. So that was a new thing. I came out my other locations. It's our pani puri cocktail. I'm actually I call pani puri martini, so you can actually blend tequila in it, because cilantro, mint, tamarindo, serrano, pepper, lime juice, all those 15 different flavors and spices, they all go well with tequila. Like green apple, you get a spicy margarita. They put jalapenos in them. You know there's cilantro, there's always a mint, they always have one of these garnishes. So then for me I was like oh my god, no brainer, why don't we put tequila in that thing? So some people make their own cocktails with them as well too because, the juice is so flavorful they're like.

Karen Mac Nair:

That's why they want to store it so I realize we're on a podcast and everyone can't see me and I keep saying look at my eyes, they're so big ignites all your senses at once it does. Let me try the others before full. So this is a sack name in front of you okay we also have a garlic now. I put it on the yeah, you can.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

You can break the bed, break it.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

India food is very easy, you do how you want to okay a lot of people in the. They don't even use any utensils they love with their hands.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

But I like utensils, the different cultures.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

That was the Italian way.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

His touch, you know no people do it in India too, a lot of Indian people. They never touch any utensils. They all eat with their hand.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

They actually use a banana leaf.

Karen Mac Nair:

Oh, a banana leaf.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Oh, so that's more like the Western culture touch, because as you go you have to adapt to certain times as well.

Karen Mac Nair:

Right, I grew up with tortillas, so I feel like it's similar oh yeah, correct, like dip in.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

That's why our food blends with the Mexican culture a lot as well. Scoop Blend in scoop.

Karen Mac Nair:

Oh yeah, Okay.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

So I you can put on the rice, you can put on the yogurt, you can put anything, you can put any sauce. Indian food is very Spinach, spinach.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Spinach. It's a spinach puree With some, of course, lots of onions, garlic and chilies as well, and then Indian paneer. Okay.

Karen Mac Nair:

That's the like Fourth level. Yeah, cause it. I feel so bad Eating and talking At the same time.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

No, you have.

Karen Mac Nair:

But you taste the spinach and then it is the garlic flavor, but like creamy.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

But there's no cream.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

There's no cream. It's vegan. I actually watch vegan.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

before we add the paneer you know, the naan you're eating is vegan too.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

With the potato or by itself. The saag is very, very famous in my culture.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

dish Very good, especially the state of Punjab where he's from. Like it's a farming state.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

You always want to have nice, healthy, like the southern states and in Punjab you have to have a saag, because we grow that and a lot of the mustard green.

Karen Mac Nair:

Do you put this on the white rice? Oh, you're going to put it. Is this white rice? Yeah, it's white rice, bas, that's right basmati rice.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

They call basmati the kind of rice we grow in India.

Karen Mac Nair:

I was at your restaurant too, and you could order brown rice, like there were other options too. Yeah, we had other options too. It was nice.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

And we put the different seasoning for these rice, but all basically the basmati, the basmati, the rice came from India.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Yeah, they don't grow here.

Karen Mac Nair:

And now this how do I eat this?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

So that's a classic chicken tikka masala.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

You can do the same with the naan, or you can do with the rice, or you can do by yourself. Just the chicken. Only so many options. Yeah, too many options it is. They don't want any Is this chicken, that's chicken. They don't want any carb. They can go by self A lot of people. They don't want carb, they don't want anything.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

I was a two-sport varsity athlete growing up on Indian stuff, you know and I was actually completely vegetarian growing up Because Indian food was naturally very vegetarian before the British ruled India.

Karen Mac Nair:

So I took a spoon and I put a little white rice on it and then I put the chicken on top.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Look at that Go big or go home right.

Karen Mac Nair:

Right, oh my gosh. Okay, here we go. It's going in.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Mmm, mmm, really good this has to be so good so, yeah, people dip it with the naan. You can do the rice. There's no such thing as a right or wrong way how to eat Indian food. Indian food is very easy.

Karen Mac Nair:

Thank you. I appreciate that because I thought I haven't had a lot of exposure they put everything together, they put the salad on top, they mix together.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

I love that, that's your way, that's your food.

Karen Mac Nair:

I love that.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

You never go wrong with Indian food.

Karen Mac Nair:

Now, I know, I thought that there might be different standards.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

No, there is something like a I'm still chewing the chicken Like a French food no.

Karen Mac Nair:

Not like a French food. Okay, the chicken is so tender, mm is so tender, very, very tender.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

The chicken we overnight marinate, then we bake in an Indian clay oven. They're called tandoor. Okay, then we chop the chicken again. Oh, wow, make the sauce on side, the gravy, Then we add the little cream there, a little yogurt there and all different spices like a fenugreek, all these things. Then we mix together again, spices like a fenugreek or these things. Then we mix together again. They cook twice.

Karen Mac Nair:

Wow, you can definitely tell. With the chicken, chicken marinated, it really does melt in your mouth. Then you cook with the sauce.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

It's so tender, very soft inside. You have a flavor all the way inside the chicken. Wow, you have to nail all the processes.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

You have to nail all the processes. You have to nail the gravy that we make in-house. Since he cooked Italian, a lot of restaurants will put tomato paste, which is completely wrong. Because, there's no flavor, it's only tomato. We make our own tomato saffron sauce.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

I know why any sauce that he made, like a tomato sauce or anything? No, we make everything from scratch. This guy is your engineer. I sent him and he working with a Pepsi. He said no, I don't want to work with anybody. He came back no, I have to start my India restaurant.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Okay, Because I've worked in many industries. I've worked for defense. I wanted to always serve my country. That was the number one thing on my mind. And then they were like we're the only son. Come on, man.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Like let's not do this. Yeah, I want to sound like you're a dog.

Karen Mac Nair:

Thank you for that desire, though we greatly appreciate it.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

Yeah. So that's when I was like, okay, why don't I just kind of help the military out? So I worked for defense. Some things I'm not going to be able to disclose at all. I really wanted to get into that. That was the coolest thing.

Karen Mac Nair:

That's a different podcast. We'll talk about that later, correct?

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

And then Pepsi picked me up. Pepsi, for two years, was in charge of Pacific Northwest site, so I've done millions of dollars changes to it because my whole job was I wanted to make lives better that was my whole thing.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

I want to make food better. And then when I walked in, like this is a giant kitchen. But then I was like why we're doing all this processing stuff? Like why can't we make it better? And I told him, why don't we focus on more healthier items? Like dude, we've been doing this for so long. Like I know, I know you guys are big dogs, but a little dog like me telling you like let's go on healthier items, and they're like no. And then the third thing, and I'm telling my dad like you know, I always had a dream to become like my dad.

Karen Mac Nair:

Oh, I love that.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

That was my dream. And then I literally called him on Thursday. I still remember this Thursday I'm coming home. And he was like sure, why don't you go on vacation? And I was like, no, no, I'm coming home permanently. He's like what you serious? And I'm like, yeah, I'm serious. He's like why? He's like dude.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

I was age of 10 when I learned to slap naan in the oven. I'm telling you, no kid does that. I had a little step stool. I'll be slapping it backhand, righthand, any direction. And then I was like man. I always wanted to be like you. I want to pursue that true dream. And plus, you're getting little. He's great and fit. He doesn't like to admit it, but he's healthy, he's everything. But I feel like it's my job now. He did all this thing for me over the years, as in getting me to school, pay for my education the typical American dream. Now I feel like it's my turn to pay back him that let's push your legacy forward. I can make all this money for people in the world, but my true dream was to serve people happiness.

Karen Mac Nair:

Oh, I love that. So, everyone listening, you have to go taste a little bit of happiness Correct At the All Indian Cafe on Huntington in downtown Arcadia. Thank you, gentlemen, so much for being here. I can't believe it went so quickly.

Santokh Singh Khinda:

Thank you very much for having us.

Karen Mac Nair:

Yes, we're so glad. Make sure you get your tickets for Taste of Arcadia September 13th at the beautiful Santa Anita Park. All these great tastings, great restaurants will be there. Go to tasteofarcadiacom today and thank you so much. It's been wonderful.

Harsimran Singh Khinda:

No, thank you, guys for letting us have you and coming us here.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, John, take us away.

John Villa:

Thank you, Karen, for another great episode. You can hear us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and iHeart Radio. Don't forget, join us on September 13th at Santa Anita Park for Taste of Arcadia. You can get your tickets now at tasteofarcadiacom. Thanks again for joining us for Tasting Arcadia. We'll see you at the Taste.