Ever-Reliable Indian-Style Restaurant Resurfaces in La Jolla

There is something beguilingly old-fashioned about a curry dinner, at least when served in the made-for-export style devised by 19th-Century Indian cooks to suit their British colonial masters.

This sort of meal, while composed of dishes quite different from those that might be prepared in the typical Indian home, has a solid tradition that has proved steadfastly resistant to change; Anglo-Indian curry raises an arched eyebrow at nouvelle niceties and whims. It is comfortingly savory in its reliance on long-stewed meats, yet not at all rich, and just exotic enough in its use of spices and condiments to make it always qualify as a special occasion dinner.

In San Diego County, the simple act of locating an Indian restaurant always has qualified as something of a special occasion, just because there have been so few of them. They come and go (National City’s engaging little Curry Pot, and Rancho Bernardo’s Tandoori Oven are two that have gone) with some regularity, but rarely has the county’s inventory of curry houses numbered more than two.

In terms of durability, the ever-reliable Desmond’s wins hands down, though this likable restaurant lately has been forced, by lack of business, to move from the Oceanside shopping center location it long-occupied to similarly modest quarters at the tag end of La Jolla’s Pearl Street. Virtually nothing has changed other than the location, however, since the menu and staff survived the transition intact.

Nothing really needed to change, though, because Desmond’s always offered a thoroughly serviceable menu and prepared thoroughly serviceable curries. The cooking could not be called inspired--other Indian restaurants manage to endow their dishes with greater subtlety and more intense shadings of flavor--but it almost always is quite pleasant.

One can open a meal safely with a bowl of mulligatawny (a lightly spiced, modestly bodied soup of limited appeal) or rather more daringly with an order of fried dhal. Dhal, an umbrella-like term that shelters whole families of dried lentils and peas, generally cooked to a soup-like consistency that can be poured over rice, is a dietary mainstay of India’s many vegetarians.

Desmond’s version takes a somewhat thicker lentil preparation and stirs it in hot butter with minced garlic, onion and ginger, enough of each to give the resulting dish a very definite and somewhat racy character. The accompanying chappati (a thick, delicious flat bread prepared freshly to order) poses something of a dilemma that only can be resolved by the individual diner; an Indian would tear off bits of bread and use them as a scoop for the dhal, while a San Diegan might feel inclined to construct a burrito. Either solution is messy, and using a fork or spoon in this situation is perfectly acceptable.

The samosas, of which the menu offers three varieties, probably are the friendliest appetizers in that they are familiar and easily managed. Just like egg rolls, pirogi, empanadas and dozens of other tasty little mouthfuls, these consist of fried pastry packages stuffed with almost any ingredient the cook may have at hand.

The ground beef samosas probably exist as an alternative for diners who dislike lamb, but the lamb pastries seem both better seasoned and more delicate. In either case, the meat is mixed with peas (a favorite Indian combination; another is peas with potatoes, dry-fried and lightly curried), a succulent pairing that works quite well. The chopped, long-cooked filling in the vegetable samosas has an indefinable, old-fashioned appeal in this day of undercooked carrots and green beans. A light tomato sauce, not unlike a Mexican salsa cruda, provides auxiliary moistening for the pastries.

It is easy enough to think of a curry dinner as a three-ring circus, with the entree firmly in possession of the center ring, but with plenty of activity going on around it. The supporting performers in this case are the various chutneys, pickles, raitas (minced vegetables, especially cucumber, in yogurt seasoned with black mustard seed) and breads that can garnish any curried dish, and the basic rule is the more the merrier. Dinners include a few complimentary garnishes (such as grated coconut and fresh tomato chutney), but by all means order the sweet mango chutney and the hot, excellent lime pickle that Desmond’s prepares for guests in the know (it’s not on the menu). And although plates include a couple of triangles of brittle and delicious pappad (paper thin fried breads made from lentil flour), it is as well to try a paratha, a fat, flaky flat bread served burning hot from the griddle.

Desmond’s entree list runs from the intriguingly mundane kofta nargisi (more about this later) to various beef, lamb, chicken and seafood curries, and finally to a selection of well-executed kebabs. By and large, the kitchen uses a conservative hand when spicing, although it will tailor dishes to suit individual tastes if requested to do so. One dish not susceptible to alteration is the lamb vindaloo, which the menu bills as “a meal very few crave for--HOT.” This dish sounded tempting, but a waiter warned against it, and it thus remains a possibility to be tried on a day when caution is deemed expendable.

Like many Indian restaurants, Desmond’s employs an all-purpose curry sauce that it alters to fit the individual dish. Thus the vermilion sauce used in the shrimp curry was relatively mild, so as not to force the main ingredient into anonymity; sweet spices added character, and yogurt smoothness, to the rogan josh, a special type of lamb curry; and extra hotness was added to the sauce that moistened the kofta nargisi. This curious dish, which has cousins in Italian and Scottish cuisines, consists of hard-boiled eggs wrapped in a paste of ground beef. Served two per order, these little footballs do have their moments, especially in the interesting interplay between bland egg, spicy beef and hot sauce. Other typical curries would be the keema matar (ground beef with peas) and the murgh korma, or chicken in spiced yogurt sauce.

Kebabs belong to quite a different tradition than curries, being something of an import brought from the Arab world by Moslem conquerors. Desmond’s offers quite a variety, including an especially nice lamb skewer in which the marinated meat is beautifully crusted by the grill, and a ground lamb seekh kebab, which is exactly the type eaten daily in millions of households from Istanbul to Dacca. The chicken tikka, marinated in yogurt and herbs before being consigned to the grill, is a mildly seasoned alternative to the stronger red meat preparations.

DESMOND’S

613 Pearl St., La Jolla

454-8022

Dinner served nightly.

Credit cards accepted.

Dinner for two, with a glass of house wine each, tax and tip, $25 to $45.