Support for LAist comes from
Local and national news, NPR, things to do, food recommendations and guides to Los Angeles, Orange County and the Inland Empire
Stay Connected
Listen

Share This

Food

This Quick-Service Pakistani Spot Wants To Be The Next Chipotle

A trio of wraps mad with light brown flatbread containing different combination of fillings of meat and vegetables. Each wrap contains a white paper wrapping with Briyani Boys logo and well as the capital letter B in blue lettering.
Biryani Boy combo with chicken.
(
Photo courtesy of Briyani Boys
)
Support your source for local news!
In these challenging times, the need for reliable local reporting has never been greater. Put a value on the impact of our year-round coverage. Help us continue to highlight LA stories, hold the powerful accountable, and amplify community voices. Your support keeps our reporting free for all to use. Stand with us today.

If you’re looking for a quick, decent quality bite, there’s likely a chain in SoCal to hit the spot: In-N-Out for burgers, Mendocino Farms for sandwiches, Cava for Mediterranean food and yes, Chipotle for Mexican food.

But South Asian options at this level of speed, scale, and convenience are harder to come by.

The family behind Biryani Boys, the Pakistani fast-casual joint currently operating out of Anaheim Food Co., is hoping to fill that void. Owner Irfan Ahmed said he is focusing on making Pakistani food scalable.

“The concept behind Biryani Boys is to make South Asian food approachable in much the same way that Chipotle or Cava is approachable,” Ahmed said.

Support for LAist comes from

“They took these cultural cuisines, and they made them household staples in the American culinary experience and cultural experience,” he added.

Ahmed said he thinks folks are ready for a fast-casual South Asian option because he’s already seen it work in the U.K.

“Desi food is very much part of the cultural fabric there. There's quick-service, nice sit down, and everything in between," he said. "But for Americans whose lifestyles are begging for convenience, I think desi food generally does not yet serve that segment very well.”

  • Desi: used to describe people or products of South Asia and the South Asian diaspora.

A group of people from all different races all stand in outdoor setting in front of a blue pop-up tent with at night.
Biryani Boys staff and team
(
Courtesy of Biryani Boys
)

Signature dish

Ahmed is the son of South Asian immigrants; his father, Jamil Ahmed, was born in India pre-Partition, after which he moved to Pakistan, where Ahmed’s mother, Talat Iqbal, was born and raised.

Growing up in Anaheim, Ahmed saw his mother, an excellent cook, operate a catering service out of their family home and in kitchens at local mosques.

One of her signature dishes was her biryani, a piping hot, long-grain rice cooked with a warm, salty, savory blend of spices like cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, cloves, and cumin; vegetables like potatoes and onions; and usually a type of marinated meat, often served alongside a diced cucumber and tomato salad and a serving of yogurt.

Support for LAist comes from
A plate of yellow rice mixed with chicken pieces, and two drumsticks, topped with green herbs, sliced lemon and lime, is placed on a dark blue surface, with a grey napkin and a silver fork next to it. Three small dishes containing pickled red onions, a white cream-like sauce, and a dark green sauce are placed in the bottom left corner.
Biryani Boy combo
(
Courtesy of Biryani Boys
)
  • Biryani: It’s widely believed that biryani originated in modern-day Iran and was brought to modern-day India via the Mughal empire. Biryani variations can change vastly from one region to another, depending on available ingredients and local culinary practices.

Ahmed began sharing his mother’s biryani with his friends at annual friendsgiving potlucks with “the boys,” which is what inspired the restaurant’s name. As the potlucks grew over the years, drawing up to a hundred people each year, the biryani quickly became a mainstay.

While her food played a big role in the family, outside the house, Ahmed rarely saw any restaurants that offered the type of Pakistani food he wanted to eat.

So he worked with his family — including his parents, sister Sadaf Ahmed, and wife Sohila Khalili — to make his own, using his mother’s recipe to open up a restaurant different from the sit-down spots and buffet-style offerings he saw around him. The family opened their kitchen out of Anaheim Food Co. in October 2023 and has plans to open a brick and mortar space later this year.

A blue background has the words Biryani Boys, Modern Pakistani Easts, with a blue and white bowl above with crescent moons
Biryani Boys logo
(
Courtesy of Biryani Boys
)

To make a meal quick and simple to produce, Ahmed has narrowed down choices and created a customizable, modular system like the one found at Chipotle.

Diners can choose between two types of biryani: The Sindhi biryani, pulling from southeastern Pakistan and characterized by its spicy, savory, and tangy spice blend, plus additional flavor from prunes or plums, or the pulao, made with a simpler and lighter spice blend.

Both biryanis can be ordered with a ground beef seekh kabob, a pulled beef nihari or pulled chicken (both of which Ahmed likens to a birria), boneless chicken breast marinated overnight in cream and yogurt, or a potato kabob for vegetarians.

Then you have the sauces: raita, made with yogurt and spices, plus chutneys: a mild, cilantro based green chutney; a tamarind chutney; and an extra spicy red chutney to add flavor.

Ahmed noted that he is not hoping to create a fusion dining experience, or even one that is driven by authenticity alone. “You’re going to get your purists who are going to say, ‘This isn't my mom's Hyderabadi biryani.’” he said. “I'm not fusing flavors, I'm just changing the medium or the modality in which it's served. So I'm taking desi flavors, and I'm serving them in a way that's more familiar for the average common American.”

There’s also a range of rolls (flaky parathas wrapped around a meat or veggie filling), crinkle-cut masala fries topped with a house spice blend, and potato balls, similar to the beloved Porto’s classic from the outside, but more akin to a classic chapli kabob by taste. A range of lassis flavored with rose or fruits like guava, mango, peach, and strawberry, add a bit of sweetness along with South Asian-inspired cheesecakes topped with nuts and rose petals.

The Brief

Ahmed emphasized how important it was for him for the brand to be visibly Pakistani. “There's a reason why I was very particular about choosing Pakistani, as opposed to just South Asian or Indian,” he said, adding that while there are cultural and culinary similarities between the two countries, the regional distinctions and the visibility matter.

“There are some distinctions in Pakistani food that you wouldn't find in Indian food. For example, it's heavier on the meat base, it's a little less spicy depending on where the region is," he said. "To me, biryani uses ingredients that are indigenous to the region of Sindh. Some of the kabobs have heavy Afghan influence, especially chapli and shami kabob, which is very unique to that part of the world as opposed to India."

There are three round tubular glasses placed on a white marble surface. Each glass contains the same pink liquid and is garnished with torn pieces of red flower petals on top. Next to the glasses, there is a small gold metal bowl filled with rose petals.
Rose flavored lassi to quench your thirst
(
Photo courtesy of Biryani Boys
)

For the brand, he opted for a modern, sleek blue design, inspired by the Badshahi Mosque in Sindh, Pakistan, and embellished with Islamic motifs, like geometric patterns and crescent moons.

“The aftermath of 9/11 deeply affected the American Muslim community, leading to a reluctance among many Muslims to incorporate Islamic cultural elements into their public personas due to concerns about potential backlash or harm," Ahmed said. "I felt that it was time to correctly represent my true Muslim-American identity.

“Most Pakistani restaurants in Southern California, and maybe the U.S. in general, will call themselves Indian because it's easier to do that from a business perspective, because it's less controversial," he added. "And you expand your market; there are more Indians than there are Pakistanis, and you don't want to disenfranchise your core constituency. So it's better to say Indian than it is to say Pakistani."

He noted that while a majority of the response to Biryani Boys has been positive and supportive, he’s gotten some pushback on social media, including from folks who ask what makes his food distinct from Indian food.

“I was very scared when I put ‘modern Pakistani eats’ on the branding, and I am still to this day, but I've been blown away overall by the positivity and the reception, because I would say maybe 50 to 60% of our consumers are actually Indian, and they love the food,” Ahmed said.

On a marble-white surface, there are three dessert dishes. Two of the desserts are placed on stacked white trivets. Each dessert has a different topping. In the foreground, there is a dessert with pink frosting. The second dessert has two slices of banana on top, and the third one has a layer of green crumbled substance that appears to be pistachio.
Classic Desi Desserts include: Rasmalai Biscoff Cheesecake and Gulab Jamun Biscoff Cheesecake
(
Courtesy of Biryani Boys
)

Ahmed notes that he is most proud of starting a restaurant despite all the challenges that come with it and for seeing if he can make biryani scalable.

“Most restaurants don't do well selling biryani because it's hard to scale biryani. It's too labor intensive. It's not monetizable in the same way, you can't make money selling it in the same way here. Labor is much cheaper in India and Pakistan,” he said. “The second thing to be proud of is the fact that I am Indian and Pakistani, and am really creating and elevating our cuisine in the eyes of the average Westerner. If I could do that right, I achieved my goal.”

Have An Idea For A Food Story?
Send it our way. We can’t reply to every query we receive but we will try to help. We’d love to hear from you.

Most Read