Indian fusion pizza is having a moment. Why does Sacramento love it so much?
Pizza is one of America’s biggest culinary institutions, present from grade school classroom parties to the end of a night out.
Despite hailing from across the pond, the savory — and occasionally sweet — dish has firmly cemented itself into the country’s cultural fabric, which makes a recent love for fusion twists on classic pizzas all the more fascinating.
Namely, Indian fusion pizza.
Specialty restaurants across the country top pies with ingredients used in Indian dishes like fragrant chicken tikka masala and herby palak paneer, and the Sacramento area is indulging in the concept. The region has at least a dozen different eateries — including chain restaurants and small businesses — that bring flavors from the subcontinent to pizzas.
Two Indian fusion pizza restaurants opened in the capital region in September alone — Tandoori Pizza at 8234 Laguna Blvd., Suite 130 in Elk Grove and Indian Pizza and Bar at 512 Main St. in Placerville. In late October, California chain Desi Pizza Bites is expected to open a restaurant in Folsom at 299 Iron Point Road, Suite 100, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.
Tandoori Pizza’s Elk Grove location is the chain’s first in the Sacramento region, with a Downtown Commons that opened Wednesday.
The opening was a smash, according to operator Brandon Boparai, with lines stretching around the Laguna Boulevard shopping center well into the night. The launch party’s success mirrored a pop-up the chain held at a Sacramento Kings game in 2024, which inspired the team to expand into the capital region.
“We were able to sell out before halftime was done,” Boparai said. “Once we saw that ... we brought so much food and it sold out, that’s when we wanted to really enter the Sacramento community.”
The fusion pizza company is based in the Bay Area, where Tandoori Pizza spokesperson Prabh Nijjar said is the region where the concept took off. Zante Pizza & Indian Cuisine on Mission Street in San Francisco has laid claim to developing the dish as early as 1986, winning various awards for its pizza in Bay Area news publications.
Boparai said growing up in Elk Grove, he didn’t have fusion pizzas nearby, having to drive an hour away to Tracy in order to find the delicacy. Now, chains like Tandoori Pizza, Curry Pizza House and Pizza Twist have expanded what was once a San Francisco specialty inland to the Valley and across the nation.
According to Boparai, his pizzeria has already amassed many regulars, with some saying they’ve been fully converted to fusion pizzas, preferring them over a traditional pepperoni or supreme pie.
Nijjar said she thinks much of the concept’s success is thanks to California’s “melting pot” of cultures, which she said encourages people to dine on cuisines vastly different to their own. Boparai agreed, saying the novel blend of masala spices and sauces on pizza opens a “whole different world” of the dish.
Boparai said some of the restaurant’s bestsellers include a Desi garlic chicken pizza — which includes an Indian green chili called hari mirch — and a lamb kebab pizza. He said even the spicy achari chicken wings are a hit in Elk Grove, indicating the fusion concept is only growing more popular, expanding beyond just pizza.
“Sacramento (is) one of the most diverse food regions in the U.S., and pizza being a very communal food in the world, everyone gets to share it,” Boparai said. “The Indian flavor, it brings depth and complexity through fresh herbs, bold spices and blends well on a pizza. The flavor ... already is very popular among the whole community.”
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