Nooruddin Fazal opened the Indian restaurant Zyka: The Taste in Decatur 28 years ago, becoming an early adopter of the counter-service, fast-casual dining model that lies somewhere between fast-food joints and casual dining restaurants.
Fazal’s story is an unlikely one, driven by his family, as well as career twists and turns.
He was born in Hyderabad, a city in southern India that is “known for food,” Fazal said. “I did my hotel management in Mumbai. It was a three-year course to graduate.”
Actually, he said, his career in the hospitality industry came about “by accident.”
He was one of three brothers and “my dad wanted one to be a doctor, one to be an accountant, one to become an engineer. So, I was the one to become an engineer.”
However, he said, getting an engineering degree in India is “not like over here, where you just apply to get in. There’s limited space. There’s something like 500 spots, and you have 10,000 people apply. You’re given an exam and how well you do on that exam will determine what college you pick.”
As it turned out, Fazal didn’t make it into engineering school, but he graduated with a master’s degree in hotel management and made his way to the U.S.
“My brother is a doctor in New York City, and he said, ‘Why don’t you come and see if you like it?’ Fortunately, I got a job at a restaurant called Manhattan Market. I was there for six years, then I moved to Houston for a year or so, but I didn’t like it.”
At that point, someone told Fazal that Atlanta could be an interesting place to start a business. He went back to India to sharpen his culinary skills and then moved here, purchasing a 60-year-old building in 1996 that previously had been the Decatur Church of Christ. Zyka opened its doors to the public in the summer of 1997.
Fazal attributes part of his restaurant’s early success to a review by former restaurant critic John Kessler in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “When we opened,” he said, Kessler “gave us an extremely positive review and that brought long lines of customers for weeks and months. I remember we had to shut down the restaurant at 9 o’clock because we ran out of food.”
At Zyka, Fazal said, “I specialize in my own (native) cuisine. We grew up eating that food. Even today, there are very few restaurants specializing in what we do. We have Indian weddings with catering. Atlanta is a meeting place for people from all over the country, so their extended family can be together.”
Fazal opened a Zyka location in Alpharetta in the winter of 2020, which turned out to be the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a tough, tough time,” he remembered, shaking his head. “We bought the land, we did the construction, and there was no budget after that. But we stay busy there now. It’s newer and fancier.”
Like most longtime restaurant owners, Fazal enjoys the regulars who have grown up eating at Zyka.
“I’ve seen them when they were bachelors, and then they’re getting married, and they come here with their kids,” he said. “It’s a generational business, and I see those customers again and again.”
Over time, the menu favorites of Hyderabad have become hometown food for people of many nationalities.
“The most popular dish we have is the Chicken 65, with marinated boneless thigh meat,” Fazal said. “There’s the Behari kabob, with marinated beef slices skewered and grilled over an open fire. Biryani is a universal rice dish that’s a given for any festivities.”
Zyka is renowned for its banquet halls and catering.
“Alpharetta can do a banquet for 60 or 70 people. Over here (in Decatur) it’s 350 in the big banquet hall,” Fazal said. “It’s booked for the whole year now.”
When Fazal was asked whether there will there be a third Zyka location, his son Irfan joined the conversation.
“What we see, if you look at the trends in food and restaurants every 10 or 15 years, it changes,” the elder Fazal said. “It was French cuisine, then Mexican food and Thai food, and now we see Mediterranean food. So, Irfan has been telling me, why don’t we start a fast-casual place something like Chick-fil-A?”
From Irfan’s point of view his father needs to take on both a new dining concept and step back from the kitchen.
“We have 40 or 50 items on the menu, and you have to get those right every time you make them,” the son said. “How many of the bottom 40 do we really sell? We do most of our sales from our top 10 items. So, why not trim the fat off and make it in a smaller location? Fifty percent of our business is takeout.
“You’ve done a really good job of finding items and making them the best,” Irfan said to his father. “Now, you have to trust the marketing and the growth and be more like a business owner that’s trying to make multiple locations instead being here all the time.”
“It sounds good on paper,” his father said, laughing.
Zyka: The Taste. 1677 Scott Blvd., Decatur. 404-728-4444; and 3800 Brookside Parkway, Alpharetta. 678-580-0538, zyka.com.
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