Tocabe Plans to Grow, Changes Menu

With only two brick and mortar locations plus a food truck, Tocabe manages to be the country’s largest American Indian restaurant chain and it plans to grow more. The eight year old business jumped on the train of sourcing responsibly and eating ethically early on in its life. This year, Tocabe upped its game significantly by increasing the number of indigenous ingredients they source from Native farms.

"We are keenly focused on selecting the best ingredients for our menu and are continually in search of the highest quality ingredients sourced from like-minded producers and vendors," chef and owner Ben Jacobs said. "We are excited about partnerships with Native and Indigenous farmers and growers as well as vendors on a local level who share our values. To us ingredients don’t just make the food, they tell the story behind it."

Some of the indigenous and local-to-Colorado sources Tocabe uses include: Red Lake Nation Foods for wild rice, Ramona Farms for tepary beans and wheat berries, and Bow & Arrow for Indian corn and blue corn.

Tocabe expanded its menu for the very first time since it launched in 2008. New items include the Posu Bowl, a vegan bowl featuring wild rice to which a choice of beans, meat and veggie toppings can be added. A braised turkey protein option that can be added to a variety of dishes will be added early this spring.

Jacobs and co-owner Matt Chandra are currently seeking locations for their third brick-and-mortar store in the Aurora area, hoping for a summer 2017 opening.