AURORA – Masala Xpress is located in a shopping mall.
Yet, Masala Xpress is nothing like the usual mall food eatery.
Food court restaurants typically don’t roast and grind their own spices.
They don’t make their own fresh cheese and dumplings, and bake their own flabreads.
Most mall fast food restaurants don’t offer two dozen vegetarian options.
Masala Xpress does all that and more in its Town Center at Aurora space.
The year-old curry cafe is not even situated in the food court and that suits co-owners Raj Shrestha and Ashim K.C. just fine.
Indian food fans are making the location just inside the northwest entrance to the mall near Macy’s a destination.
“I decided to open Masala Xpress here because I thought the location might work, especially for takeout and delivery,” K.C. said. Unlike his past eateries, Masala Xpress was built on the fast casual model (a la Chipotle and Noodles & Company) where diners order at the counter. At lunchtime — when speed is of the essence — the restaurant offers an Indian buffet and quick naan wraps filled with spicy paneer (cheese), chicken tikka and the kathi roll with lamb.
“It’s a different way to make Indian food available inexpensively,” he said. He also likes the fact that there is more customer interaction and feedback without servers.
K.C. is no restaurant neophyte. He previously opened Maruti Narayan Restaurant in Aurora and India’s Kitchen in Parker. He also operates the Himalayan Cuisine restaurant in Frisco. Shrestha and K.C. both grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, but first met in Aurora. Shrestha moved to the United States when he was 18 years old to earn a degree as a business analyst. K.C. came to the Denver area to study aviation. So naturally, both ended up working at various metro area Indian eateries.
“Aurora is my hometown now — I’ve been here since ‘93 and feel very comfortable,” K.C. said. “I shopped at the Aurora Mall for many years.”
For their menu, Shrestha and K.C. said they focused on the greatest hits of Indian food as it’s served in America. This includes chicken, lamb or shrimp in the classic preparations: korma, makhani, rogan josh, Madras and the classic rice dish, biryani. The usual bestsellers are tandoor-roasted chicken tikka masala and saag paneer, extra creamy spinach with chunks of paneer cheese made fresh in Masala’s kitchen.
“Sometimes the vindaloos go like crazy. Customers challenge me to make a vindaloo that’s too hot for them,” K.C. said with sly grin on his face.
Also hugely popular are the handmade momos, the Nepali national dish. These meat- or vegetable-filled steamed dumplings come with with achar, a spicy tomato chutney.
The bottom line, he said, was that none of the food was going to be frozen, canned or full of preservatives.
Masala Xpress doesn’t used prepared masala — we know it as curry powder, he said. “We roast and grind spices and seeds to get the right flavor balance in the masala,” K.C. said.
The clearest sign of Masala Xpress’ authenticity are the large number of South Asian and Himalayan shoppers who stop in to dine. “They like it a lot. They say it tastes more like the home cooking they grew up with,” he said. Their favorites start with samosa chaat — think Indian nachos. A hot potato- or meat-filled fried pastry is smothered with various hot chutneys and toppings.
The owners — and the many family members who help out — continue to fight against the preconception diners have of shopping mall fare. After a sad, difficult summer and fall at Town Center, K.C. said that business has picked up at his end of the mall.
They’re just following their noses around the corner to Masala Xpress for chai, lamb kebobs, and steamed, cardamom-scented, long-grained basmati rice.
Masala Xpress
14200 E. Alameda Ave. (Town Center at Aurora), Aurora
303-344-8622; masalaxpess.com