Two Cuisines Cohabit at Casa India

The adjective unique is often applied to things that are not unique in the literal sense of being one of a kind. Sometimes the word does fit, however. If it were used to describe the Casa India, a restaurant that opened July 1 in downtown Los Angeles, there could be little argument.

To the casual stroller, the Casa India would appear to blend into its neighborhood, the heavily Latino shopping district along Broadway. Signs out front advertise tacos, cocido, chile verde and other daily specials. A stand by the entrance sells icy Mexican drinks. Popular Mexican songs blare from the jukebox, and a bowl of burning hot red chile salsa stands on each table.

The key to the difference is the maker of the salsa--Raksha Patel, the sari- clad woman who runs this restaurant with her husband, Arvind. Instead of referring to Mexican Indians, the India in the restaurant title indicates the land of curries and chappatis, pillaos and sweet spiced tea. The two cuisines cohabit the menu, a culinary “odd couple” that gets along very well.

Patel’s Indian meals look like Mexican combination plates. Instead of serving each dish in its own bowl Indian style, she lines them up on a platter. The spicy Indian eggs she cooks for breakfast look like huevos a la Mexicana, accompanied by pale orange rice, shredded cheese, tomato slices and Indian bread that resembles a thick tortilla. The rice, however, is basmati, and the eggs are seasoned with a “salsa” that Patel makes by blending a long list of spices with lemon juice and yogurt.

One day Patel experimented with a ground beef curry that was very much like chili except for the green peas and a slight change in spicing. Indian and Mexican cookery have much in common, she says, but Indians use more spices and do not season with oregano, which is a Mexican staple.

The relationship disappears when Patel turns to such typically Indian fare as patra and dhosa. Patra is a vegetarian dish from the state of Gujarat, where Patel would have been born if her family had not emigrated to Kenya. For this dish, Swiss chard leaves are lined with a paste of gram (garbanzo bean) flour and spices, rolled and boiled. The rolls are then sliced, fried with onions and served with a lemon wedge.

Dhosa is a large potato- and onion-filled pancake that is identified with Madras. Patel seasons the filling with turmeric and her own blend of hot chili powder and serves the dhosa with two sauces, one based on lentils, the other a mixture of yogurt and coconut.

The people of Gujarat are almost all vegetarians, and Patel was, too, but has lapsed from strictness so that she can test the flavor of the meat dishes she prepares. Along with Gujarati-style vegetable-filled samosas and vegetable pillao, she makes very good meatball and chicken curries. The chicken is marinated with yogurt and cooked with tomatoes and spices.

Lamb or beef marinated with yogurt and spices is served over white rice for meat pillao. All meat served is halal, which means processed so as to be acceptable to Muslims. No pork is used.

Desserts are a special treat. Patel makes delicious kulfi, an Indian-style ice cream that she flavors with pistachio nuts and cardamom. One day, there was also saffron-flavored kulfi. The little syrup-soaked dumplings called gulab jamun are available, too. Or one can simply enjoy the tea, which is boiled with milk and flavored with cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.

In order to survive in the neighborhood, Patel realized she would have to serve Mexican food. And she realized that she would need an experienced cook. A help-wanted sign in the window brought in Susana Gutierrez, who is from Nayarit.

To introduce the Indian food, Patel gives a sample to customers who order Mexican plates. When they return, they often switch to the Indian dishes, she said. Prices are very low. Combinations such as meatball curry with salad and Indian bread are $3.75; patra is $2.10; the spiced tea is $1, and kulfi is $1.50.

Casa India, 348 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, (213) 625-0947. Open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Cash only. Park in neighborhood lots.