Former ER nurse opening Indian fusion pizzeria & wings spot in Warner Robins

Kirti Bhullar first started experimenting with Indian fusion pizza at home because her daughters were often torn between wanting Indian food and pizza.

Today, the former emergency room nurse is gearing up to open Slice & Spice, an Indian inspired pizzeria and wings shop in Warner Robins.

Her daughters, Nanki, 13, Bani, 9, and Raavi, 7, added the finishing touches to pizza angel wings for customers to take photos that are painted on a side wall of the new restaurant at 4027 Watson Blvd., Suite 110.

“Everything is built from scratch,” said Bhullar, who’s also working on her master’s degree in nursing informatics. “Every single item that I’ve made, every dish, even just the layout of this restaurant, everything, I have poured my heart into this.”

Diners can expect flavor-packed pizzas with a spicy twist, crispy wings seasoned with aromatic Indian spices and other fusion dishes when the new spot opens, possibly within the next four to six weeks.

The restaurant’s catch phrase is “where masala meets mozzarella.”

“I’ve spent years of my life taking care of others,” Bhullar shared in prepared notes. “Whether it was comforting patients in crisis or making sure my family was fed and loved, care has always been at the center of who I am.

“But deep down, I always had a passion for food — especially bold, flavorful desi food.”

From nursing to pizza making

Starting her own restaurant from scratch wasn’t on her radar when she and her husband, Ishtpreet Bhullar, who goes by Jay, first moved to Middle Georgia in 2011 from Queens, New York.

He had been working at a bank and she was taking pre-nursing classes at Queens University of New York. She was also pregnant with their first daughter.

The Bhullars initially lived in Hawkinsville where he owned and operated liquor stores. She carried on with her pre-nursing studies, helped out at the stores and became a mom.

In March 2013, the couple bought a house and moved to Bonaire.

In January 2015, Kirti Bhullar was accepted into the licensed practical nursing program at Central Georgia Technical College.

She did her clinical studies at the emergency room at Houston Healthcare’s Houston Medical Center in Warner Robins, now Emory Hospital Warner Robins. Her middle daughter was born in the last semester of her clinicals.

In 2016, she received her LPN license and started full-time as an ER nurse also at Houston Medical Center. Her third daughter was born the same year.

In October 2019, she started working as an ER nurse at Piedmont Macon, formerly Coliseum Health System, before transitioning to an ER case manager.

In March 2022, Bhullar became a traveling critical care case manager, working at major hospitals with large trauma units across the country.

During her travels, she came across restaurants offering Indian fusion pizza and wings, which planted a seed for what was to come. She also missed her girls.

In early 2024, the Bhullars became the new owners of 7 Spices Authentic Indian Restaurant and Bar, formerly Curry Mantra, in Warner Robins. This was their first entry into the restaurant industry, selling the liquor stores in order to do so.

Kirti Bhullar also kept working as a traveling case manager until May of this year.

At 7 Spices, Bhullar said she discovered that she really enjoyed talking with customers — helping them decide what to order by explaining the dishes and hearing what they thought afterwards.

“I love going and talking to them — and asking, ‘Did you taste the cumin in this? Or how did you like the food? Was it too spicy?’ — because people, when they think of Indian food, they think spicy, or they think of curry,” she said in a Telegraph interview.

“But it’s a lot more than that. It’s not just spice. It’s the flavors. Indian food is full of flavors, and every region of India has a different dish, a different flavor profile.”

Northern India is known for creamier, richer food, for example, while Southern India, which is on the coast, is more tropical with a different flavor profile where dishes such as coconut fish are popular, she said.

A look at the menu

At Slice & Spice, Bhullar aims to offer pizza, wings and other dishes that are vibrant, spicy and full of flavor.

She starts with New York-style dough made in-house.

Her signature Indian inspired pizzas offer a choice of chicken or paneer as their protein. Paneer is a fresh, Indian non-melting cheese often used as a meat substitute for vegetarian dishes.

“You’re gonna get creamy, crunchy, like different textures in your mouth, along with different flavors,” she said.

Bhullar experimented with different ingredients in developing the menu, having friends and 7 Spice employees do the taste testing to help perfect the creations.

She promises each pizza will be unique with different gravies, or sauces.

“Even though they’re just two proteins, chicken and paneer, you will taste a difference in each different pizza,” she said.

So far, she’s added eight signature pizzas to the menu. Here are a few:

• “Achari Affair” made with blended achar, white sauce, mozzarella, achari chicken or paneer, onions, bell peppers, green chilies and pickled garlic.
• “Tikka Talkin’” made with a white sauce, mozzarella, diced tomatoes, red onions, chicken or paneer tikka, green chilies, pickled red onion, and fresh cilantro
• “Buttery Nakhra” made with a butter masala sauce, mozzarella, red onions, diced tomatoes, butter chicken or paneer, jalapeños, and caramelized onions.
• “Tandoori Tango” made with a white sauce, mozzarella, tandoori chicken or paneer, bell peppers, diced tomatoes, red onions, ginger strips and green chilies.
• “Curry Up, Yaar” made with a curry base, mozzarella, red onions, bell peppers, masala chicken or paneer, tomatoes, chili oil and roasted cashews.

She also expects to offer pizza specials that aren’t on the menu from time to time such as a keema pizza she plans to make with lamb.

The pizza sizes are 12 inches and 16 inches. Customers will have the option of saying,”‘I don’t want the cilantro or I don’t want the red onions,’“ she noted.

The menu also offers traditional pizzas also with distinct names such as the Hungry Bulldawg, which is a meat lovers pizza made with red sauce, cheese, bacon, ham, Italian sausage, pepperoni and topped with fresh basil.

Bhullar also plans to offer gluten-free and cauliflower-crust pizzas.

Slice & Spice wings will blend Indian flavors and spices, while another fusion dish on the menu is the “Not Your Mother’s Samosa.”

“It’s a combination of empanada and a samosa having a baby together,” Bhullar said. “It’s gonna be crispy crust with cheese and butter chicken inside of it, and then it’s gonna be deep fried.

“It’s gonna be served with a side of the makhani. So, you break it and you can dip it.”

She described the makhani as a gravy or a creamy tomato sauce.

The menu also includes loaded fries with Indian flavors, including butter chicken fries that are topped with cheese, butter chicken makhani, fresh cilantro, mint chutney and red onions.

The paneer makhani fries are topped with cheese, paneer makhani, fresh cilantro, mint chutney, and red onions, while the messy masala fries are tossed in house masala, red onion and garnished with fresh coriander.

Bhullar also plans to offer what she described as an Indian burger that’s made with a potato patty and topped with coleslaw, Indian chutneys and Hakka noodles

Additionally, the menu features Indian drinks such as mango lassi, Indian sodas like Limca, Thums Up, as well as regular Coca-Cola products.

Wowing them at pizza university

In early July, Bhullar attended a three-day, one-on-one class at the Pizza University & Culinary Arts Center in Beltsville, Maryland.

When she arrived at the pizza university, Bhuller said she had “zero knowledge” of how to make the dough.

“Because I grew up in Indian culture, I grew up with the flavors,” she said. “I have a restaurant, so I know how butter chicken should taste. But if I don’t have the base right, it’s not going to work, right? … Let me do a three day class and learn the base.”

At the pizza university, Bhullar learned how to make Italian-style pizzas “trying to absorb every little thing” she could from her instructors.

“I was tossing pizzas, I was learning how to stretch,” Bhullar said of the dough. “I even went to an Indian restaurant, got some Indian stuff.

“So the third day I was able to, kind of say, you know, what? I learned how to make Italian pizza, you know, the margarita, all that, yeah, but that’s not what it is. That’s not what I’m making. I’m making Indian pizza.”

Her instructors were “blown away” by her Indian-fusion pizzas she created on the third day.

“Oh, my God, I am having a blast,” Bhullar said. “Like I’m telling you, like I started with seven or eight original pizzas named and everything. And I’ll come here and I have toppings and stuff sitting, and I’m like, we just throw this one, you know, I just made a pineapple jalapeno. “

Slice & Spice is located in the former Spudz restaurant spot within the same shopping center as 7 Spices and the Maharaja Market, an Indian-Pakistani grocery store that opened in April.

This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 12:01 PM.