Growing Truck Stop Indian Restaurant Trend Hits Michigan Border

There's been a growing trending - particular in the western states of America - truck stop restaurants that serve Indian cuisine. The roadside diners, named dhabas, have sprung up in surprising places like rural Oklahoma and Arizona. The trend is slowly but surly spreading across the country and has now hit Michigan's doorstep.

Along one of the great America cross-country routes, Interstates 80-90 where the Indiana Toll Road meets the Ohio Turnpike, just 4 miles south of the Michigan state line near the famed MI-IN-OH tripoint.

The restaurant that recently opened is in a former Burger King and it's known as Indian Dhaba.

The trend is thanks to a growing number of truckers of Punjabi/Indian background. A report from NewsNation cites a statistic claiming that 35% of all truckers operating on the West Coast and 20% nationwide are Punjabi. And they're looking for curries, kormas and masalas.

Given that the Westgate exit on I-80/90 (the longest interstate overlap in the nation with the two highways running concurrently from the outskirts of Chicago to the outskirts of Cleveland) is part of the most travelled east-west corridor in the northern section of the country, it should be a surprise to see a dhaba pop up. Perhaps, the better question is what took so long.

Because many Indian restaurants are only in mid-sized and larger cities, these truckstop dhabas bring a unique cuisine to a rural population that may not get ready exposure to Indian food.

A trend like this could certainly cross the state line - particular when considering that Michigan has three interstate routes that lead to international border crossings making the state a true continental crossroads.