The restaurant Tocabe may appear to be a humble affair—it operates just two locations, plus a food truck, in the metropolitan Denver area—but since launching an online platform last summer, this small business has been booming, and is in turn raising the profile of Native American cuisine and Indigenous ingredients nationally. Owners Matt Chandra and Ben Jacobs, the latter a member of the Osage Nation of Northeast Oklahoma, started the business in 2008, taking the name Tocabe, which means “blue” in the Osage language. (Before founding the company, the two met and became friends while attending the University of Denver, where Chandra majored in digital media and Jacobs in history.) At first glance, Tocabe’s two brick-and-mortar outlets look like any inviting fast-casual café, with a serving line of freshly made ingredients on full display. A closer look, though, reveals menu items like glazed bison ribs with berry barbecue sauce, Red Lake Nation wild rice, and Osage hominy mixed with cranberries, red onions, and jalapenos. Its “Indian tacos” feature a signature fluffy fry bread topped with braised shredded bison, ground beef, or grilled chicken, as well as lettuce, pinto beans or black beans, sweet corn salsa, mild or hot salsa, and a drizzle of sour cream. The tacos, like the restaurant itself, deftly balance heritage while broadening accessibility. “We serve food, of course,” Chandra says. “But we also aim to show the relevance of American Indian culture in a twenty-first century context.”