Tempe: Delhi Palace Indian Restaurant Returns to Apache Boulevard After Two-Year Fire Closure
Delhi Palace, one of Tempe's most beloved Indian restaurants, has reopened its doors at the iconic A-frame building on Apache Boulevard that for 36 years housed The Vine bar, bringing the family-run eatery back to life two years after a fire destroyed its original location near Rural Road and University Drive. Co-owners Parmjit Singh and his father Tajinder Gill have kept the same staff and the same family recipes that earned Delhi Palace its loyal following through nearly four decades of service.
Delhi Palace Reopens at The Vine's A-Frame After Two Years Dark
Delhi Palace made its long-awaited return to the Tempe dining scene when it opened its doors at the A-frame building on Apache Boulevard and Rural Road that The Vine bar occupied for 36 years before it relocated to Rural and Elliot roads in 2022. The original Delhi Palace restaurant, which first opened in 1986 at Rural Road and University Drive, suffered severe fire damage and was beyond salvageable, but co-owner Parmjit Singh saw in the vacated Vine building an almost ideal fit: the right layout, generous parking and a proximity to the original location that would allow the restaurant to reconnect with its longtime neighbourhood customer base. Singh and his father Tajinder Gill retained the full staff through the two-year closure, and the menu remains anchored in the family recipes that have defined Delhi Palace's cooking since the day it opened — curries, biryanis and a range of traditional Indian preparations prepared with the consistency that built the restaurant's following over nearly four decades. 'The last two years were very tough,' Singh told Axios. 'I just want people to support us, to grow again, to serve people good food.' For ASU-area diners and long-time Tempe residents, the reopening marks the welcome return of a genuine community institution that bridges the city's South Asian heritage with its broader dining culture. [1]
🍛 Delhi Palace Returns to a Phoenix Metro Area Indian Dining Scene That Has Never Been Stronger
Delhi Palace's reopening lands in a Valley Indian restaurant scene that Phoenix New Times describes as diverse and rapidly expanding. The publication's guide to the best Indian food in Phoenix and the wider metro highlights establishments ranging from longstanding north Indian curry houses to newer arrivals specialising in south Indian vegetarian cooking, Hyderabadi dum biryani, and street-food-inspired menus drawing on the culinary traditions of Gujarat, Punjab and Maharashtra. Tempe's position close to Arizona State University — with its large population of Indian and South Asian international students, faculty and tech-sector professionals — has made it a particularly fertile environment for Indian restaurants, and food writers note that the area's offerings now rival those in cities with much larger Indian American communities. Chains and fast-casual concepts have entered the market, but the restaurants with the deepest local loyalty tend to be family-operated, recipe-driven businesses with decades of history in the same neighbourhoods. Delhi Palace fits that profile exactly: a family whose cooking has kept customers returning since Ronald Reagan's second term, now back in a visible location on one of Tempe's best-known corridors. Its return is a signal, food observers say, that the appetite for authentic, community-rooted Indian dining in the Valley is as strong as ever. [2]
Sources: [1] Axios · [2] Phoenix New Times