A neighborhood couple is serving up a Himalayan twist on American meals of their Poolesville café.
Nichole and Ashar Abbasi, homeowners of K2 Café at 17610 W. Willard Street, opened their trade in April 2021 providing Himalayan fusion foods.
“South Asian meals isn’t whole with none spices and with none flavors, it’s now not simply white eggs and toast, it’s curries, it’s kabobs, it’s issues that experience cooked for hours and hours, it’s marinated in a large number of spices,” mentioned Ashar, who hails from Pakistan. “The Himalayan aptitude is, principally, we’re taking conventional American recipes and including our personal aptitude to it. We give it our personal twist.”
The couple made additions to their menu remaining month, including curries and their tackle pizza, known as N’izza, which is conventional pizza toppings on naan, a flatbread.
“We used to do curry each Thursday however now we do it each day. Who is aware of, once we pass larger, we may well be including extra and we most effective have two curry pieces presently, we may upload extra curry pieces,” Ashar mentioned.
Standard menu pieces come with the K2 Highly spiced Make a selection wrap, which incorporates Tandoori rooster, cheddar, pink onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and highly spiced Ranch on a jalapeno cheddar wrap, and a highly spiced breakfast wrap, which incorporates jalapenos, eggs, cilantro, cheddar cheese and a dash of sizzling sauce on a jalapeno cheddar wrap, Ashar mentioned.
Different menu pieces are the K2 Veggie Bowl with spiced chickpeas, potatoes, rice, tomatoes, pink onion, lettuce, yogurt, a tamarind chutney sauce, and Namak Para, which is a crunchy topping; and a K2 Café Salad, which incorporates marinated Tandoori rooster, lettuce, cucumbers, pink onion and cheddar cheese served with a yogurt mint chutney dressing.
Nichole mentioned the couple sought after to open a spot the place any individual may just are available in for a meal.
“My husband is a Muslim, so he eats halal meals, and he doesn’t devour issues that experience gelatin, he has to concentrate on the issues once we pass out to devour so we’re like, that’s it, when we now have a spot, we need to have one thing for everybody,” she mentioned. “We’ve gluten-free choices, we now have vegan choices, we don’t use red meat … we needed there to be one thing for everybody as a result of I understand how a lot it sucks to move someplace” and now not have the ability to devour the meals.
Ashar mentioned the outlet of K2 Café was once a part of his model of the American dream.
“One of the vital causes I truly sought after to start out it’s because while you come to The us, there’s a pronouncing about [the] American Dream and everybody has a special definition of the American dream,” he mentioned. “Some other folks need to pass to college and get the most productive training in one of the most absolute best universities within the U.S. and that’s their American dream. My American dream was once to have my very own small trade and this trade offers me the chance to a minimum of glance in opposition to a larger dream.”
Ashar mentioned the identify of the eating place originates from the Himalayan mountain in Pakistan.
“K2, as now not we all know, is the second-largest mountain on the earth this is situated in Pakistan,” he mentioned. “It’s also probably the most savage on the earth, which means [a] 25% of casualty price from other folks looking to climb it. It creates an enormous problem to achieve the summit, and once we began this café right through the pandemic, to me, [that] was once a logo of problem.”
The identify of the café could also be a nod to the fusion of Pakistani and American delicacies, in keeping with Ashar.
“The Himalayas are a part of our pleasure in Pakistan, and we are living in Poolesville, we’re just about Sugarloaf Mountain and we’re looking to deliver each mountains in combination,” he mentioned.
In step with Nichole, trade has been sturdy and the couple is hoping it is going to keep growing.
“We don’t need this to be our most effective spot, we would like in an effort to develop. We predict we now have one thing particular and the group’s noticing it,” Nichole mentioned.
“I at all times sought after to have my very own trade, I at all times sought after to be my very own boss and this gave me the chance to do this,” Ashar added. “To me this can be a base, that is our base camp of K2. It’s a foothill of K2 so we began right here however we’re going to develop. The sky’s the prohibit – who is aware of the place we pass from right here.”