The once popular Indian food truck The Twisted Tandoor has joined Tucson restaurant group Jam Culinary Concepts, parent of Vero Amore and Noble Hops, and will soon have its own brick-and-mortar restaurant.
Plans aren't finalized, but the restaurant is expected to open in midtown in late August or early September, said Suzanne Kaiser, an owner and partner in Jam with her sons Joshua and Aric Mussman.
Kaiser said the partnership comes two years after the company started working with Twisted Tandoor's owners Roop and Mukhi Singh, who started the food truck in 2012. The Singhs were in the process of opening a temporary restaurant in summer 2015 when Mukhi Singh died of an apparent heart attack. He was 52.
Soon after joining forces in February, Vero Amore, the Mussman brothers' Neopolitan pizzeria, started serving Indian style pizzas based on Roop Singh's recipes. Singh described the pizzas as being similar to serving her savory chicken tikka masala on the classic Indian naan.
Singh said the restaurant, to be called The Twisted Tandoor, will feature many of the popular dishes they served on the food truck among an expanded menu of Indian dishes, all using her recipes. The menu also could have Indian pizzas and sandwiches.
She said she will not be the chef in the kitchen — that was her husband's job during their food truck days — but she will follow her late husband's food philosophy: "The most important thing will be that people like the food," she said.
"It’s big shoes to step into when it comes to people’s expectations, when it comes to the reputation of The Twisted Tandoor," she said. "(But) it will be fun, I’m sure."
