11:45AM, 3/13/2022
Today I headed over to Curry Pizza House, located at Douglas and Sierra College, to see what they had to offer for lunch. This is a small but rapidly growing chain with about a dozen locations and nearly as many listed as coming soon. All but one are in CA, with most of those being in the Bay Area. As you probably gathered from the name it is a Indian/Pizza fusion concept. This isn’t the first one we’ve had in Roseville so far. Chicago’s Pizza With A Twist (AKA PizzaTwist) played with these flavors on pizza already.
I’ve been kind of jonesing for these flavors recently and it’s also been a little while since I’ve had pizza so this was a very enticing choice for lunch. After realizing I was down an hour this morning do to the time change I packed up and headed out the door. I arrived at about 11:45 and headed in to a very quiet store. Well, quiet other than the droning of the oven hood, which is located strangely very close to the front door. No music was playing, though about 25 minutes into my visit it was turned on, at a low volume. There was a TV in the corner near the door playing basketball at a very low volume as well. Only sitting right underneath it did I even notice the sound was on.
The space is small, no doubt most of their business is take-out. There are just a few tables to sit at along the wall. On that wall is a nice mural. Browsing through the photos of their other locations I see that a nearly identical mural is featured in most if not all of them. Overall the space is clean and modern.
I was greeted by a woman from about halfway back in the kitchen as soon as I walked in, asking me if I was picking up or ordering. She met me up at the register to take my order and pointed out a couple menus on the counter. I had already pretty much picked out my order earlier at home but took a peek to make sure what I wanted was also on this menu. It was, but with some new information. I was planning to do a half and half pizza and this menu specified prices for a large or X-large half and half. I asked if they did 50/50 in less than a large and was told no, large is the smallest they offer. And that’s the story of how I now have leftovers in the fridge.
Anyway, I went ahead with the large and ordered half Palak Paneer and half Curry Chicken Masala [$25.99]. I hastily selected a beer from the four tap handles, which ended up being a Dust Bowl Taco Truck Amber Lager [$6]. After I sat down and took a closer look at my receipt I was thinking that it felt close to Round Table prices.
The woman, who by the way was the only person I saw working there the entire time, looked mildly busy, not that I had a great view over the counter from my booth. It took about seven minutes for my beer to be brought out, and another 14 minutes for the pizza.
The beer was nice, light and refreshing. It could have been about 10-20º cooler. I’m noticing more restaurants and even taprooms are serving beer a bit warmer than I’d prefer. Lack of pre-cooled glasses are a part of it. It just makes me appreciate those places that serve beer super cold and crisp even more I suppose.
On to the pie! This thing was packed from edge to edge with toppings. I sort of went back to my thoughts on RTP pricing and decided it felt like a pretty decent value for the sheer amount of chicken, paneer and other ingredients you get. The slices had a little bit of weight to them. The crust held up really well to it. Without being overly crunchy, blackened or burnt in any way, the crust had a very nice structure to it that helped keep all the toppings in place when picking up and holding a slice. I only lost a couple pieces of chicken to my plate the entire meal, which I thought was incredible for what should have been a very messy pizza.
On both sides the sauce/cheese/toppings were well assembled and very consistent throughout. Toppings were well seated into the cheese layer, which played a big part in how the whole thing held together.
The Palak Paneer consisted of pesto sauce, cheese, spinach, red onions, masala paneer, green chilies, ginger and garlic. The green pesto could be seen around the edges peaking out across the crust. The combo of green chilis and ginger gave each bite a mild to medium kick of spice. After a few bites it was really nice and hot. I loved the little cubes of paneer, which had crisped up just around the top for a little texture boost. Overall I enjoyed this half and would have it again.
The Curry Chicken Masala consisted of curry sauce, cheese, bell peppers, red onion, diced tomatoes, masala chicken and cilantro. I don’t usually care for cilantro but will tolerate it when it’s not a major ingredient. Here they had used a ton of it and it was the first flavor that hit my senses, for both smell and taste. It was however quickly overwhelmed by everything else on this side of the pie, and I had no issues with it. Man I loved this side. Although I’m still full as I type this a couple hours later, just thinking about it again I considered grabbing a slice of it from the fridge. I think the star was the curry sauce, which was incredibly well balanced with everything else. The chicken was plentiful, tender and flavorful, and the onions were just right, a bit softened by their time in the oven with just a bit of a satisfying crunch inside.
I have to admit, I sort of expected to like this place just due to the fusion concept but that Curry Chicken Masala really knocked it out of the park. Should I return here again I think I would do a create your own and add some paneer to this.
Eating Through Roseville 