Chef Laila Bazahm is firing up an Indian smokehouse for her third Austin restaurant in four years, following Spanish restaurant El Raval in 2023 and Southeast Asian restaurant Siti in 2025. Shola is expected to open in November at 105 Tillery St.

Shola, whose name means “living flame” in Urdu and Hindi, is the latest project from Guerilla Dining Concepts, Bazahm’s restaurant group. The restaurant will blend the live-fire cooking associated with dhabas, India’s rustic roadside restaurants, with Central Texas barbecue. Dhaba-style food is typically hearty and boldly spiced, with dishes cooked fresh over open flames or in clay tandoor ovens.

Dishes such as masala queso with smoked paneer, oak-smoked brisket nihari, tamarind pork ribs, and biryani with smoked brisket, goat, chicken, or jackfruit will bring the two traditions together.

In announcing Shola, Bazahm traced its inspiration to her years working as a chef and restaurateur in Spain, when she frequently traveled to London to explore its Indian restaurants. Those visits exposed her to the breadth of India’s regional cooking. After coming to Austin, she saw room for a restaurant that presented more of those distinct flavors and traditions.

A rendering of Shola highlights the restaurant’s colorful artwork and dining area.Rendering courtesy of Curry Fwd

Siti followed a similar path. The restaurant, which celebrated its first anniversary this summer, grew from Bazahm’s belief that Austin offered few restaurants representing the range of Southeast Asian cooking. Its menu draws from the cuisines of the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Bazahm is developing Shola’s menu in collaboration with New York-based chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author Hari Nayak. A native of Udupi on India’s southwest coast, Nayak has helped develop and curate restaurants around the world, including Jhol in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur and projects in Dubai, Bengaluru, Riyadh, and the Maldives.

Shola’s kitchen will center on a custom J&R Oyler, a wood-burning pit with rotating racks that expose food evenly to heat and smoke. Meats will cook over post oak for eight to 12 hours, while kebabs and naan will come from a tandoor. Shola will also use the smoker for lentils, vegetables, sauces, and even ghee.

The masala queso combines smoked paneer with Oaxacan cheese and green chile chutney. Diners can add chorizo verde made in the style of a seekh kebab. Another hybrid dish turns lamb, kebab spices, and Amul cheese into a smoked sausage.

The brisket nihari will pair a black pepper-garam masala crust with bone-broth korma and pickled daikon. The goat shoulder comes with black pepper-cashew korma, while the smoked pork ribs are finished with a jaggery-tamarind glaze, crispy ginger, and red chiles.

The Shola Feast, designed for two people, combines bone-in chicken, brisket, and sausage with gunpowder potatoes and tandoori broccoli. Other dishes include applewood-smoked butter chicken, passion fruit pani puri, and a Punjabi chana tostada served on a crisp semolina cracker. The larger menu will span regional curries, coastal seafood, house-made breads and chutneys, and numerous vegetarian options.

Shola will move into a space occupied for nearly a decade by Grizzelda’s, the colorful Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurant from the group behind nearby Jacoby’s Restaurant & Mercantile. The Tillery Street and East César Chávez dining area is also home to Sawyer & Co., De Nada Cantina, Justine’s Brasserie, and Central Machine Works.

The restaurant is designed as a casual, social gathering place inspired by Desi pubs and night markets. A patio screen will show sporting events, particularly cricket, and the bar will serve cocktails created to accompany the menu’s spices and smoked flavors.

Additional details, including the exact opening date, hours, and reservation information, have not yet been announced.