Restaurant Review #125: India's Sweets and Spices, Culver City

India's Sweets and Spices doesn't look like much--in fact, it looks like a place you'd want to avoid. If you just get out of your car and step inside though, the lines, the clientele, and the pungent, savory aroma of Indian curries will convince you that you're in exactly the right place.

Though there is a large menu on the wall behind the counter, it seems to make more sense to order what's

Restaurant Review #124: Hurry Curry, Mar Vista

At Hurry Curry, you can get a lunch special with one vegetable and one meat entree plus rice for $2.99, according to the sign. Yet for some reason, my lunch was $3.99. Even stranger, I didn't question this. I have bigger things to worry about than $1.00, of course, but the principle of the situation normally would have made me mad.

My food would have made me mad under ordinary circumstances

Restaurant Review #88: Jaipur Cuisine of India, Westwood/West LA

Garlic naan, tamarind and mint chutneys, mango chutney, and began bartha

A yellow pages ad for Jaipur's delivery service came to my rescue on a Friday night when I was determined to not leave the sanctuary of my new apartment again until Monday morning. Mao's didn't deliver to my new apartment, and the yellow pages didn't have a lot to offer, but I've only had maybe one Indian dish in my life

Restaurant Review #79: India's Tandoori, West LA

Malai kofta, garlic naan, and neon chutney

Located in--you guessed it--the second story of a strip mall on Wilshire near Granville, India's Tandoori has the kind of extensive menu that makes life quite difficult for indecisive gals like me. I probably should have gone to the lunch buffet, except that I can't get to the restaurant and back and still have time to eat in the span of my hour lunch

Restaurant Review #38: All India Cafe, West LA

This is supposed to be one of the better Indian restaurants in the area--and this judgment refers strictly to the food, as there is no atmosphere, unless you count a stunning view of the Blockbuster Video across the street. So I faxed in my order, had my friend pick it up on the way home from work, and enjoyed my Indian feast in the atmosphere of my tiny apartment.

We ordered the Bombay chicken

Restaurant Review #25: Nawab of India, Santa Monica

SamosasYou look like you're lot's of fun. . .Last night I realized that I have really been missing out. I prematurely judged Nawab of India on my first and second visits based on what now appear to be small flaws. On the first visit, I was so upset by the tamarind chutney that I ruled out the restaurant, because no way could it replace my favorite St. Louis Indian place, India's Rasoi. And since

Restaurant Review #20: Udupi Palace, Artesia, Orange County

On Sunday I went to Little India in Artesia. I wanted to make it in time for a lunch buffet, but since I had to sleep in and take care of some other things, I had to settle for an early dinner. I went to Udupi Palace on instinct--it seemed to have some semblance of atmosphere and plenty of Indian diners. That it was vegetarian didn't hurt, either.

As an appetizer I ordered kancheepurum idli

Restaurant Review #19: Shan Halal, Artesia, Orange County

After my meal at Udupi Palace, I wanted to go to the spice shop and to another grocery store but I decided to do my wallet a favor and settle for a sweet shop. Or maybe I was just chickening out from the further self-imposed mental discomfort of being an outsider in Little India. At any rate, I found a sweets and meats shop (a very odd combination, if you ask me, but I must be missing something)

Restaurant Review #18: Ambala Dhaba, Westwood

In spite of thinking that it was impossible to do better than Annapurna, which I had the joy of trying last weekend, I felt it necessary to continue my Indian food research, perhaps in search of something equally good yet different. 85 miles, 2 hours of driving, 5 gallons of premium gas, 1 parking ticket, 3 grocery stores, 2 restaurants, and $130 later, I am here to report to you the results of

Restaurant Review #16: Annapurna Cuisine, Culver City

My first plate

On my first visit, after just one bite, I was ready to proclaim this restaurant to be the best Indian food in LA. I took a second bite, of a different dish, just to be sure, and then made my proclamation out loud to my friend. On my second visit, I wasn't as enthralled. The food was still very good, it just wasn't mind-blowing. Maybe I just wasn't as hungry. Maybe I've been