Phoenix just got its first spot for Nepalese food
New restaurants always exciting.
When they’re the first of their kind, that goes triply so.
Festival-goers and farmers market regulars have likely encountered (or at least heard about) Everest Momo, a local food truck that launched in April, serving Nepali dumplings and seasonal curries with a focus on the products of local growers. Now, Subash and Chandra Yadav, the husband-and-wife team behind Everest Momo, have taken their operation brick and mortar.
The result? Sherpa Kitchen, the Valley’s first restaurant dedicated to Nepali cuisine.
This fledgling Gilbert restaurant, which softopened on Jan. 17, parlays Everest Momo’s popularity into a full-service format with an expanded menu. And even though the Yadavs are just getting started, Sherpa Kitchen is already shaping up to be essential eating for anyone with even the slightest interest in South Asian cuisine — and a welcoming spot for neophytes seeking an introduction to the same.
After all, the Yadavs are still relatively new to this themselves.
Why they opened Sherpa Kitchen
are
Subash, born in the southern Terai region of Nepal and raised in Kathmandu, came to the United States in 2008 to study medicine, and quickly discovered it wasn’t for him.
Shifting his studies to food and dairy science, he first worked in corporate food research and development, then moved to Arizona in 2014 to take a position producing and eventually designing menus for office cafeterias. But while he enjoyed the opportunity to introduce more diverse cuisines, he found himself wanting to focus on Nepali cuisine without the constraints of a corporate setting.
Subash and Chandra, then a schoolteacher, chose to set aside 2019 as a year to chase a dream. In April, they launched Everest Momo, and it took off even faster than they anticipated.
Now, as they enter 2020, the couple is doubling down.
“People were asking us if we would ever have a restaurant, so really we started Sherpa Kitchen out of customers’ requests,” Subash explains. “We wanted to share more Nepali food with our customers.”
Sherpa Kitchen
1533 W. Elliot Road, Gilbert.
11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays.
Soups, salads and sides $2-$6; appetizers $6-$10; momo plates $11-$14; entrees $12-$14; desserts $4-$7.
480-687-1187, sherpakitchenaz.com.
In a small, tidy restaurant space near the corner of Elliot and McQueen Road, they’re doing just that.
What is Nepali cuisine?
Nestled between northeastern India and Tibet, Nepal draws culinary influences that will be familiar to many diners. But Nepali cuisine is more distinct — and more diverse — than many expect.
“If you look at the geography of Nepal, we go from arid mountains in the north to lush and tropical in the southern part of Nepal, so we’ve got such diversity in terms of ingredients,” Subash explains. “In Nepali cuisine, you’ll see a blend of Tibetan and Chinese cuisine in the north to more of the Indian style curries and spices in the southern part.”
The southern cuisine manifests in dishes like a snack of pickled radish — thick, crunchy batons made spicy and pungent with mustard seed, stained a deep yellow color with golden turmeric. Aaloo achar walks a similarly turmeric-laden path, a helping of tender potato salad with the cool crisp of raw cucumber and onion, spiked with a stinging dose of green chile heat.
Samosas will be familiar to many, and Sherpa Kitchen’s are excellent — thick, pyramidal packages fried to a crisp and filled with a creamy blend of spiced potatoes, peas and carrots. Taruwa, meanwhile, are roughly analogous to pakoras — chaotic nests of fresh seasonal vegetables dipped in a batter of chickpea and rice flour, fried to a golden crisp and served with tamarind and mint chutneys.
Daal soup, meanwhile, is a rich and earthy concoction, lentils melting into a golden puddle scented with ginger and garlic, stained with turmeric and lifted by the scent of smoked ghee. And chicken tikka masala — the creamy tomatobased curry softened for British palates that eventually worked its way back to India — also makes an appearance, thick and rich and no worse for the lengthy journey.
A guide to ordering momos
Chinese influences on Nepali cuisine come to the fore in dishes like Sherpa Kitchen’s chow mein, a stir fry of tender noodles tangled up with sautéed peppers in a fragrant spicy-sweet sauce.
But the food truck’s namesake is still the star of the menu.
Those who geek out on
dumplings are going to get some serious mileage out of Sherpa Kitchen’s. Steamed or fried, stuffed with vegetables or chicken, dressed in a variety of sauces, it’s easy to see how the Yadavs were able to win such a devoted following so quickly.
I’m smitten with the curry momo, nifty little buns with deftly twirled tops, substantial wrappers turned bubbly crisp and chewy when deep fried, then smothered in a sweet and fragrant coconut masala. Chile momo bypass the creamy comfort of coconut, providing a more direct line to a bit of sweet searing chile heat, bolstered by the crisp sweetness of stir fried onions and peppers.
Pale and light, the traditional momo come steamed and paired with a dish of tomato sauce. Boasting a rich, roasted depth and a light whiff of spice, it gently supports the delicate vegetable filling. Even subtler, however, is the dish I can’t get out of my head.
The jhol momo are lined up like swimmers in a Busby Berkeley number, cavorting waist-deep in a pool of golden vegetable broth. The subtlety’s the thing, and when you cut one open, soup rushes in to bathe the minced filling, cradling the dumpling in sweetness and warmth.
And when it’s time for sweets, coconut rice pudding is nice, but the tapioca pudding is even better, crowned with a crisp, bruleed cap and a heap of fresh mango.
What’s next for Sherpa Kitchen?
Sherpa Kitchen is yet to celebrate its official opening, and it’s only fair to expect the usual growing pains as word filters out. But the Yadavs already have an eye on the future.
Deep as the current menu is, Subash suggests it’s just a prelude to the official launch menu, which he and Chandra plan to unveil sometime in February. And once they’re in full swing, they plan to update the menu on a regular basis.
“Our goal is to use local and seasonal ingredients, and we’ll have menus changing every few months,” Subash says. “I wanted to be able to work with local farmers instead of working with large farms.”
And though the truck’s schedule has been sharply curtailed to help them get Sherpa Kitchen off the ground, fans of Everest Momo needn’t worry. The Yadavs insist it’s just a temporary measure until they can bring in some extra help.
That’s a relief. More momo, it seems, are in everybody’s best interests.