There is a persistent rumor in San Francisco that Zante Pizza & Indian Cuisine, birthplace of the distinctly regional phenomenon known as "Indian pizza," is run by one "Mr. Zante," a dark-haired man of indeterminate age who blends the affable bravado of Bollywood's Shah Rukh Kahn and the sphinx-like calm of a young Omar Sharif. While I'm almost entirely sure I've made this up, it seems just as likely to be true as the story I'm told by the man who serves me a slice of chicken tikka masala pizza on a Friday afternoon.According to him, the fusion—an unbelievably effective hangover remedy (trust me, I know)—was invented and is made every morning by the shop's delivery driver, Singh. He would be in at 5 PM. When I return later in the week for an interview, I'm relieved to find this is not at all true. Tony, the restaurant's owner, greets me with a laugh. "Who told you that? He doesn't know anything!"Despite looking more like James Gandolfini than Shah Rukh Kahn, the North Indian has at least retained the look of indeterminate age that I'd imagined. He was born Dalvinder Multani, he tells me, but he's been "Tony" as long as he can remember."I think I went from Multani to Tony? Everyone who knows me knows me as Tony."Continue reading on MUNCHIES
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