Zyka Twist officially opened two hours ago, and its cast of characters is assembled, except for Yudi.
Yudi runs the front of house at the new restaurant and was out looking for the right kind of rolling pin for the naan (the industrial ones you can get at restaurant supply stores are too bulky and press too hard). Chacha was in the back, visible through a box window.
Chacha is his nickname, the Hindi word for uncle, which he isn’t technically but because he comes from the same town that the owner Jimmy Aujla grew up in, he is addressed by the friendly title. Chacha is a chef at Zyka Twist.
Zyka Twist, 621 N. Fourth Ave., is an iteration of midtown’s Indian Twist at 4660 E. Camp Lowell Road. Jimmy also opened another outpost of Indian Twist downtown, at The Boxyard, with the help of Chacha. The location at The Boxyard isn’t open anymore. In its heyday, girls who were out on Fourth Avenue would come up to Chacha and ask to play with his mustache, and he let them twirl the ends. He’s a chef and a vegetarian. He cooks chicken perfectly.
Zyka Twist on Fourth Avenue is an iteration of midtown's Indian Twist. The butter chicken, pictured on the bottom right, is $16.95.
Kim, whose full name is Kamaljeet, is Jimmy’s wife. She was helping at the opening, taking calls and running the counter, but she had to leave early to pick up their kids from school. Today is their son’s birthday.
Before she left, she made Jimmy and me cups of chai from a machine called Cafe Desire. If you looked closely, most workers would be holding a white porcelain mug topped with mahogany foam as they went about their tasks. The chai at Indian Twist is made fresh, with spices imported directly from India, but the midtown kitchen is also bigger than the entire restaurant at Zyka Twist.
Jimmy Aujla is the owner of Indian Twist in midtown and Fourth Avenue's newest restaurant Zyka Twist.
The menu at Zyka Twist reflects the difference in layout: chances are, you can still find your favorite menu item, but they’ve curated the selection. Kormas and curries are the standouts, inspired by Jimmy’s northern home state of Punjab.
“My korma is out of the world — no one even gets close to our kormas,” he said, and though I don’t tell him, I believe him: his navratan korma, made with a selection of vegetables, is one of my favorite meals in Tucson. You can get it at Zyka Twist for $13.95.
Yudi comes back with the rolling pins. “He’s a genius,” Jimmy said.
A few minutes later, Jimmy receives the first naan cooked at Zyka Twist. He picks up the bread to show its bottom to the whole staff.
“My daughter doesn’t care about how the top of naan looks like. She goes straight for the bottom, and it has to look like this,” he said. The leopard-spotted underbelly means the naan is a success, and Yudi’s efforts were worthwhile.
The garlic naan at Zyka Twist is $4.25.
Also there on opening day is Tim, who is helping set up the point-of-sale software. Tim became Jimmy’s friend after going to Indian Twist’s lunch buffet every day. Tim introduced Jimmy to the bluetooth headsets that Jimmy couldn’t be seen without, for years. Tim actually sold them to Jimmy for credit at the restaurant instead of cash.
Less than two months ago, Jimmy got the keys to the location off Fourth Avenue and they opened with projects still in progress. The biggest is Tikka Lounge, where an outdoor tandoor will be heated with firewood or charcoal (unlike the indoor one the kitchen uses currently, powered by gas). Pedestrians will be able to order outside and get their tandoori chicken, lamb or anything else fresh from the oven. Beers like Kingfisher and Stella Artois are on tap.
After I ate my lunch, the menus had been delivered, the kitchen was all set, the point-of-sale system was working. Kim was off, picking up her kid on his birthday. Jimmy was sitting at the bar seating by the window, looking out at the traffic of people and cars on Fourth Avenue. It seemed to be the first time he had sat down in a long time.
“I had a couple of people go on vacation, and I got so busy,” Jimmy said. “Working over there [at Indian Twist], and then coming here — [I was] working until almost 2 o’ clock every night. It’ll get better day by day. We’ll get used to it more and more,” he said. “I can’t wait for people to be sitting here and watching the cars go by, with some fish pakora.”
Zyka Twist
Location: 621 N. Fourth Ave.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily; closed Tuesday.
For more information, check out Indian Twist's Facebook page.
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