I feel like @MyAnnoyingOpinions should try this. 
maybe in january. the only problem is sanjeev kapoor is a hack.
also i feel this conversation he wants to expand was expanded long ago in delhi, london and new york. but that’s the marketing regurgitation that eater can always be relied on for.
Can I ask why you think this? I’m not trying to pick a fight, I just found Sanjeev Kapoor a couple years ago watching Indian cooking videos. The sheer number of videos on his channel in conjunction with the style and the product placement kind of put me in mind of Rachel Ray or something but I’ve yet to meet anyone that had heard of him.
That said, I wasn’t inclined to visit his Tustin restaurant and his name attached to this restaurant doesn’t particularly motivate me, either.
I don’t know anything about Sanjeev Kapoor but respect your opinion.
About expanding the conversation, though… Even if that expansion long ago internationally, isn’t one of the probs w/ Indian cuisine in LA that we don’t have a lot of more “modern” interpretations? So, given that, would it be fair to say that the conversation actually could use some (a lot) expanding in LA?
I’m not sure I’d call it a problem, but how many modern / creative / non-traditional Indian / Cal-Indian / Indian-influenced restaurants are there in the greater LA area? That Eater article mentions
- Badmaash
- Bombay Frankie (not sure that really belongs on such a list)
- Indimex Eats
- Khan Saab
- Pijja Palace
- Tumbi
What other places are there? Seems like Camphor didn’t turn out to many dishes that are particularly Indian.
Would Arth in Culver City qualify?
that’s more or less it. he’s parlayed tv fame into an empire but there doesn’t really appear to be any there there and the yellow chilli restaurants are mostly a triumph of branding. the fact that this place is called cali chilli suggests it’s really another sanjeev kapoor enterprise. and the description of the “innovations” the restaurant is putting out don’t really inspire great confidence: chicken tikka with white truffle oil? okay. it seems mostly like high concept fusion. not sure what the l.a indian scene is like but i think if it could use an expansion of styles this is probably not the best way.
remembering now that we actually drove past the tustin yellow chilli on the way to j zhou in june.
I found the food at CaliChilli enjoyable. The shrimp and grits was excellent with the use of Tellicherry pepper; a chicken rendang was very satisfying; and pani puri came with a charming selection of pani (yogurt, mango, and mint).
I’d go back.
I was trying to remember where this restaurant is and… Wow, Google Maps, tell us what you really think:
I’m assuming this description was pulled or scraped from someone’s pinned public map or something but it even appears on the main search page. Kinda makes me wonder how they moderate this kind of editorializing.
Or maybe that’s CaliChilli’s slogan for themselves…? I dunno
What a twist! Thanks for pointing that out, it seemed too odd to be random
Cali Chilli has opened a branch in Little Tokyo.
Had dinner their last night. There aren’t that many Indian restaurants with a full bar and have an actual bar where you can sit and have a cocktail and even watch a game on the flatscreen while you’re eating. At least there aren’t in Venice/Culver City where I life.
My first experience with Indian food done California-style was East India Grill which was born on La Brea, expanded to West Hollywood, Ventura Boulevard and Santa Monica. There all gone now, I’m pretty sure. For a while the chef/owner had a food truck called India Jones.
Here’s some trivia: Timothy Treadwell, the outdoorsman who lived with the grizzly bears up in Alaska and whose life (and death) was detailed in a Werner Herzog movie was the bartender for a while at the Santa Monica East India Grill. I’d have dinner at the bar and he’d show me photo albums from his trips to Alaska.
There is a new, upscale Indian restaurant in Santa Monica, Fitoor (on Ocean between Pico and Olympic), with a full bar and cocktails (but I don’t recall seeing any TVs). The food is good, though I thought the spice level was a bit toned down.
I just ordered delivery from the downtown place, which I did not know existed.
It was pretty good. Maybe not quite good enough to recommend but I would order again.