Elephant Indian Grill brings a new cuisine to the neighborhood

Colorful string lights capture the tree standing tall above a mixed metal and concrete facial sculpture. The vibrancy colors continue to the entry point. Just up some stairs, multicolor lanterns hang above the patio framing the front door of the Elephant Indian Grill on Beckley Avenue.

The entry opens to walls of white and royal blue, where one customer can be heard saying, “We seriously want to eat all of it.”

Keeping with the colorful eye-catchers of the outside, two murals by Jan Riggins depict the state of India and the culture on the left and back walls. The decor also includes plates, tea pots, flowers and a door bought from a home in India estimated to be around 200 years old.

This is the second location of the concept following the first spot in Old East Dallas, which holds a slightly smaller menu. Chef Praveen Prasannan came to our city 15 years ago following his time working for hotels in India and aboard Royal Caribbean and Disney cruises. An owner of several restaurants in the city, such as Shiva’s Bar & Grill and Indian Masala Tadka, Prasannan says he expanded to Oak Cliff because of an offer from his regular and owner of the property, Matt Hartmann.

Prasannan says he doesn’t know how they got his number, but one day called him up and said they want Elephant Indian Grill in the old Swank location. And so, he accepted.

“There’s no Indian restaurant in Oak Cliff, and plus, I see a lot of people, they’re looking for a lot of vegan options, and I wanted to cater my food around here in Oak Cliff,” he says. “And a lot of people, I think, they don’t want to come because there is not much (of an) Indian community here.

I wanted to introduce my food for people.”

With this new location, which opened over the summer, the Elephant Indian Grill menu expanded. This includes more options with specialized Mumbai style (street food like the starter pani puri, $12) and southern style (dishes that originate from the southern zone of India), along with more vegan choices.

Vegan options are the tofu coconut, mushroom potato & peas masala and Bhindi-Do-Piazza, all $18 each.

Every ingredient and every item on the menu is selected by Prasannan, sourcing ingredients from across the globe to capture the exact flavor he desires.

“We have our own import people,” he says. “It costs a little more money, but you get good spices.”

Additionally, Prasannan says that the food at Elephant Indian Grill lacks greasy, oily flavors and textures that are common with other Indian restaurants. He credits that quality to the selected produce and practice of making everything from scratch in the kitchen, like the dough of the onion kulcha naan ($5) made by hand and their own ghee, a clarified butter.

When it comes to his personal favorites, Prasannan names the coconut salmon, listed on the menu as the salmon fish molee ($24.99), adding that their entrees come with a scale of one to 10, plus a really spicy option called Naga hot.

“That’s spicy. They love it,” he says. “That’s where we do five different chilies that we cook in a couple hours.

Another hot commodity includes the Royal Indian Old Fashioned ($15), which is described as a classic cocktail with “a luxurious Indian twist.”

For a way to cool down, there is the rice kheer ($6), which is a rice pudding made with coconut and milk powder, along with some spices that don’t turn up the temperature as much and a mango cheesecake ($10) just to name a couple.

The menu is extensive, but the items will rotate soon like his other restaurant locations.

“I change every four to six months to give more items and take out more items,” he says.

Although the customers are sticking indoors for the season, Prasannan plans to return the weekly live music of the weekends back to the patio in the spring, including artists he’s been working with for over six years.

“I like jazz. I don’t know much people who do that with Indian food, but I see it as blending with good live jazz music,” he says. “People love it, and I keep doing (jazz for) every location.”

Elephant Indian Grill, 1115 N. Beckley Ave., 469.248.0027, elephantgrill.com/beckley-ave