Just before noon, staff at India’s Spice begin packing to-go boxes.
For the next hour, Frisco’s newest restaurant offers those meals to anyone in need — part of a daily effort owner Kassaul Bahal said was shaped by both community input and personal experience.
“Because we got tremendous support from Summit County, we recently introduced providing the free lunch meal for whoever is struggling financially,” Bahal said.
During that time, Bahal’s brother-in-law — the restaurant’s head chef — assembles lunchboxes full of rice, chicken curry and veggies. The idea came from Bahal’s wife, Sabina Shrestha, who suggested it after hearing from customers facing financial hardship and food insecurity. Bahal said the whole family immediately agreed.
“I still remember my childhood days, to be honest with you, because I grew up in a village, not the city, and we don’t want anybody to go hungry,” said Bahal, referencing his early years living in a small Nepalese mountain town far from the capital Kathmandu.
India’s Spice at 121 E. Main St. has been open just over a month following the closure of the Mexican restaurant Casa Sanchez. The business venture is part of a somewhat rapid transition for a family that arrived in Frisco only three months ago. While Bahal and his relatives previously operated their restaurant in south Denver, he said they didn’t find success there.
“We pretty much lost everything in Denver,” Bahal said.
Decorations fill the inside of India’s Spice on Thursday, March 26, 2026. Andrew Maciejewski/Summit Daily News
Even so, Bahal said he was determined to locate a different market for the Indian and Nepalese dishes he loves and grew up eating. He said one day he was invited to get tacos with a friend of a friend in Denver, and the next thing he knew, he was committed to relocating to the man’s Frisco Main Street building.
“I got to talk to him over tacos and in a short period of time, I was buying a different restaurant,” Bahal said, laughing. “It was kind of like a butterfly effect.”
Starting over in Frisco, he added, felt like both an opportunity and a gamble.
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“We saw an opportunity with ski season and, particularly in the Frisco area, the community is very nice, they know one another, so the word of mouth is very good here,” Bahal said.
Except Tuesdays, the restaurant is open every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Bahal said he may extend business hours during the summer depending on demand.
While the current location on Main Street — prime real estate for local businesses — comes with higher costs than the family’s previous Denver restaurant, Bahal said the early response in Summit County has been encouraging.
“It’s too early to get any investment back, but we’re seeing all the positive signs,” he said.
Bahal’s brother-in-law has only been cooking professionally for three years. Bahal complimented his work ethic and raved about his menu design — an extensive array of Indian and Nepalese staple dishes, including a dozen vegetarian plates and traditional desserts like gulab jamun, a sugary milk dumpling famous across southern Asia.
A server at India’s Spice in Frisco carries food to a table on Thursday, March 26, 2026. The restaurant opened in early 2026, replacing Casa Sanchez Mexican restaurant on Frisco Main Street. Andrew Maciejewski/Summit Daily News
“The food, that’s his choice, because he cooks everything,” Bahal said of his brother-in-law. “The Nepalese momos, for example, that’s very famous and so good, it’s even gained popularity in the U.S.”
For a few patrons, the cuisine has been unfamiliar.
“There have been a few people that haven’t ever tried Nepalese or Indian food, like some locals from Frisco who are maybe older, and they tried for the first time like chicken tikka masala and our cheese naan,” Bahal said. “And it’s been fun because they’re open to it and then they say, ‘why have we not tried this before?’”
Though far from the Himalayas, Bahal said living in Colorado still feels like home.
“You’d be surprised, Kathmandu is pretty much the same landscape as Frisco,” Bahal said. “The mountains and the hills and valleys, it’s familiar to us.”
Behind the scenes, the family operation remains close-knit. He said they remain dedicated to serving local residents in need. The addition of the free lunch initiative at India’s Spice comes as food insecurity remains a concern across the state, as local food banks have reported increased demand and strained resources following federal cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Bahal said his family hopes to respond to that need even as they adjust to their new lives in Frisco.
“If we’re getting support from the community, the least we can do is give back,” he said.
