John O’ Groats

I read your Sept. 22 article by Jonathan Gold in praise of the outstanding Westside restaurant John O’ Groats with great interest, having enjoyed many of its excellent vegetarian dishes myself. Therefore, it was most surprising to find a typical Sikh diner so inaccurately described as a “hamburger-ordering Sikh.”

The American Sikh community is highly visible and recognizable, because we usually dress in white, and both men and women wear turbans. For more than 25 years many of us in Los Angeles have frequented Westside restaurants, and it is generally known and respected that we are vegetarians. Paul Tyler, whose family owns John O’ Groats and who himself spends much of his time there, told me he had never seen a Sikh order a hamburger and that he too was surprised at Gold’s use of the words hamburger-ordering to describe a Sikh. (Veggie-burger, maybe, but hamburger ? I don’t think so!)

--SAT BACHAN

KAUR KHALSA

Sikh Dharma

Los Angeles