Burns Road brings the heat with burgers inspired by Pakistan street food
The city of Karachi in Pakistan is best known for its vibrant Burns Road, which is packed with street food vendors and lined with a host of restaurants.
The food mecca inspired the name of Tustin's fast casual burger spot, Burns Road, where flame-grilled cheeseburgers and other fare inspired by the flavors found in Southeast Asia can be found.
Business partners Imran Dadabhoy and Naveed Siddiqui opened the Pakistan-inspired restaurant in January with the idea of bringing the global cuisine found on the original Burns Road to Orange County.
'We looked at things like pizza, or the gyro or the bagel and these are things that came from Italy or from Greece and they went around the world and they changed, because they took on the cultures and spices from different parts of the world,' said Siddiqui. 'What is the American thing that has gone global? The burger.'
The smash burger in particular has reigned supreme in the culinary world the last few years, known for its thin, crispy laced edges. Orange County has several places that serve up expertly grilled smash burger, like Hammer Burger in Santa Ana and Mario's Butcher Shop in Newport Beach.
But Siddiqui and Dadabhoy, experts on burgers outside the U.S., learned they had taken on new life abroad.
'Everywhere I went, whether I was in the Middle East or in Europe… the burger was always being served as a burger and people wanted that,' said Siddiqui.
Instead of a smash burger, the cheeseburgers at Burns Road in Tustin are made with grass-fed Halal beef, spiced like slow-cooked nihari, a braised dish popular in Pakistan.
'Nihari is a breakfast meat stew dish from the South Asian region,' Siddiqui explained.
The Roadside burger is made with a nihari-inspired beef patty, watermelon radish, house slaw, tomato, red onion and Fresno chiles for extra heat, while the Burnswich is a take on the Philly cheesesteak, with pulled nihari beef, melted Jack cheese, ginger citrus slaw, Fresno chiles, and horseradish-mint aioli on a French roll.
Steven Delgado, Burns Road's general manager and executive chef, said the kitchen achieves the unique flavor profile of each sandwich by using specific spices in a multitude of ways.
'There is a lot of cumin, coriander; we use whole and ground spices,' said Delgado. 'When we use whole, it is usually toasted into the recipe or seared in oil to bloom the flavor.'
Delgado said they don't use curry powder, but diners will taste turmeric, cayenne pepper and 'super bright red' Kashmiri chili powder.
'All our produce also comes in fresh,' Dadabhoy adds. 'Produce comes in regularly too, so nothing is sitting around frozen. Everything is made to order.'
On a recent visit, grill cooks threw down beef patties for Burns Road's Katakat chopped cheese. The meat sizzled as it hit the grill top, then cook Felipe Contreras used two metal spatulas to chop the meat. The sandwich is a blend of the Pakistani street food made from offal meat known as Katakat with the New York City bodega classic.
'In New York City you can order these chopped cheese sandwiches, and its this cheeseburger chopped up on the grill with the onions and of course everyone has their variations,' said Delgado.
The concept of the chopped cheese reminded Siddiqui of the technique used in Karachi to make Katakat, a mixture of meat organs.
'If you go to Burns Road, they have these massive pans where they take all sorts of meats for Katakat, there is fire underneath the pan and they are just chopping vegetables and spices with their spatulas, chopping, chopping just like the chopped cheese and they put it on naan and serve it to you,' said Siddiqui.
The Katakat chopped cheese is one of the top sellers at Burns Road. While the fusion sandwiches are popular, the team also began to notice a demand for the traditional dishes that inspired the burgers.
'People will turn around and say, what is nihari? Where are you getting these flavors from?' said Siddiqui. 'We have introduced traditional nihari served with naan, for people that don't just want to go for the burger.'
Beginning on the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha on June 6, Burns Road will serve nihari and naan along with the other traditional breakfast platters currently on the weekend menu, like halwa poori nashta, paratha and qeema thali, as well as the Burns Road omelet of egg with chopped tomato, onion, cilantro, serrano peppers, spices and herbs.
'We want people to come in and feel like it's home,' said Dadabhoy. 'We have the older generation that wants that nostalgia, that wants that taste of home but we also have the next generation that wants it in a burger form.'
Burns Road opens at 9 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays to serve breakfast. On Fridays and Saturdays it stays open until 2 a.m., when hookah is offered on the patio. The team wants Burns Road to give diners a taste of the experience they might find in Karachi, without having to leave Orange County.
'We want you think of this as your new home away from home,' said Siddiqui. 'Come in and share the taste of the food.'
Burns Road restaurant and hookah lounge is located at 15712 Tustin Village Way in Tustin. For full menu and hours visit burnsroad.com.
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