A chef who has cooked for four U.S. presidents is bringing naan tacos, pupusas and tequila to downtown Chapel Hill. Tikka Tequila, a Mexican-Indian fusion restaurant with a Salvadoran twist, is set to open at 504 W. Franklin St. in early September, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
The restaurant is the brainchild of Chef Roberto Mendoza, an internationally acclaimed chef based in Charlotte, teaming up with Triangle restaurateurs Baljeet Singh and Gulshan Singh, according to the News & Observer. Singh described the concept as potentially the first Mexican-Indian fusion restaurant in North Carolina. The menu will lean on fresh ingredients and sauces pulled from both Indian and Mexican culinary traditions, including naan tacos that swap tortillas for Indian flatbread, along with empanadas, burritos, bowls, pupusas, steaks and seafood. There will also be a table-side omelet station for made-to-order eggs, and gluten-free and vegan options are planned.
Mendoza's own path to Chapel Hill runs through some of the most rarefied kitchens in the world. He worked as head chef at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1998 and, earlier in his career, catered major Hollywood events including the Academy Awards and premieres for films like Titanic and Air Force One, according to Unpretentious Palate. He cooked at the White House for President Bill Clinton, worked with Michelle Obama during the Obama administration, and has cooked at events for George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump. His resume also includes cooking for Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in India — where he developed the fusion concept behind Tikka Tequila — and presenting a salmon dish to a Saudi Arabian prince in 1998.
A Chef Forged by Survival
Mendoza's culinary path began with hardship far from any five-star kitchen. Born in El Salvador, he was orphaned along with three siblings during the Salvadoran Civil War, which raged from 1979 to 1992 and killed more than 75,000 people, per the News & Observer's reporting. As a boy, he and 27 other students were kidnapped by soldiers and lived in harsh conditions for more than a month before the Salvation Army helped him escape, a survival story also detailed by Dockwalk. He arrived in Canada before eventually moving to Los Angeles in 1994, working his way up through restaurant ranks to become a chef.
Along the way, Mendoza built a career that stretches well beyond the plate. He speaks English, Spanish, French and Hebrew, joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture, helped 34 universities develop food programs, and owns daycare centers in Charlotte and South Carolina in addition to his import and export company. That company supplies food products to prominent Charlotte dining spots, including Copper Modern Indian Cuisine in Dilworth and The Blue Taj in Ballantyne, according to Unpretentious Palate.
From NASCAR Leftovers to a Lottery-Funded Cafeteria
In 2009, Mendoza started Chef Heaven's Kitchen, a nonprofit fighting hunger and poverty in the United States and abroad. Dockwalk reports the idea took root in 2013, when Mendoza was head chef for the Coca-Cola NASCAR Cup Series and was struck by the volume of surplus food, prompting him to organize leftover meal donations for Charlotte homeless shelters. The nonprofit's reach expanded dramatically in 2019, when Mendoza won $250,000 in the North Carolina lottery from a $5 scratch-off ticket, taking home $176,876 after taxes, per the NC Education Lottery. He used the winnings to fund construction of a community cafeteria in Bayaguana, Dominican Republic. Mendoza told the News & Observer that food, for him, is about health, opportunity, service and giving back rather than only business — and that he prefers his own naan tacos filled with chicken tikka, noting that Indian food tends to run spicier than Mexican food.
Mendoza said he believes his arrival in Chapel Hill was guided by faith, telling the paper that God has brought him to town and that students and the local community want something healthy, fresh and different. Tikka Tequila plans to hire 10 employees initially, with the potential to grow to around 25 as the business develops.
Triangle Restaurant Veterans Bring Local Muscle
Mendoza's partners bring an established regional footprint to the venture. Baljeet Singh manages NaanStop Indian Cuisine in Durham and Naan House Indian Bistro in Apex, according to Business Debut. Baljeet and Gulshan Singh are simultaneously renovating 1301 E. Franklin St. in Chapel Hill to revive it as Naan by Gulshan, which could open early next year. The location carries personal resonance for Gulshan Singh, who worked there as a staff member in the 1990s when it operated as Tandoor Indian Restaurant.
The 2,800-square-foot Tikka Tequila space has seen quick turnover. It was previously leased by The Latin Effect, a food-truck-turned-restaurant serving Honduran and Latin American fare that closed in June 2026 after opening in late 2025 under husband-and-wife owners Rebecca and Bert Chedrani. Tikka Tequila will offer roughly 80 indoor dining seats when it opens.
A Corridor in the Middle of a Dining Boom
Tikka Tequila is landing in the middle of a broader wave remaking West Franklin Street. Taal Indian Restaurant opened at 310 W. Franklin St. in July, pairing Indian dining with a sports bar, while Kahlovera Mexican Bar & Grill debuted its third Triangle location at 431 W. Franklin St. the same month. Those openings followed the closure of longtime staple Red Lotus after a 20-year run, part of a broader turnover reshaping the corridor's storefronts. Industry analysts at Flambé Karma have pointed to Mexican-Indian fusion as an emerging national trend, driven by overlapping traditions of complex spice blends, flatbreads and street-food staples like naan tacos — a convergence Tikka Tequila is betting will resonate with Chapel Hill's college-town dining crowd.
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