Indian Fare Finds Avid Audience in Oak View

Taste buds in New Delhi are similar to taste buds in Oak View.

That came as a revelation for Vijay Thukral, co-owner of India’s Best restaurant that opened two weeks ago on North Ventura Road in Oak View.

“People are very nice here, they know so much about Indian cuisine,” said Thukral, a native of India. “They come and tell me the different dishes to add to my menu.”

Thukral, who owns the restaurant with her brother-in-law Ravi Thukral, ran a restaurant in New Delhi back in the late 1970s. She said the fast-food style of service and menu of the local restaurant is similar to that of the one back home.

The appetizer list includes samosa (vegetable patties with chutney, $1.99) and dahi-bada (doughnuts made with lentil flour served in yogurt and topped with chutney, $1.50).

For main courses the restaurant’s offerings include a vegetarian meal of basmati rice with curried garbanzo beans and vegetables ($3.50), and a meal for meat eaters of basmati rice, chicken curry or tandoori chicken and vegetables ($4.25).

Dishes priced at $3.25 each include: sauted breast of chicken with broccoli and tomatoes wrapped in wheat chapati; sauted chicken with black-eye peas and tomatoes in chapati; basmati rice, beans and vegetables in chapati; and basmati rice, chicken breast and tomatoes in chapati.

Side orders of chicken curry, tandoori chicken, garbanzo beans, vegetables and salad are also available. The dessert list includes gulab jamun (a milk-and-cake mix soaked in rose water, 90 cents) and carrot halwa (shredded carrots cooked in milk with almonds and coconut, $1.85).

“It’s basically North Indian style,” said Thukral, who shares the cooking with her mother, Amrit Rani. “It’s something that people need that’s different from deep-fried food. People are more health aware here and I’m glad they are.”

India’s Best is at 11420 N. Ventura Ave. It is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

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Rose Burtchby will present her first special dinner Saturday as new owner of Ventura’s City Bakery.

The five-course Moroccan meal will open with an almond rice b’steeya appetizer served with fava bean spread and Moroccan bread. Next will come a spicy pumpkin and chick pea soup, followed by a trio of Moroccan-style salads of beets, carrots and eggplant.

For the entree, Burtchby and her staff will prepare a choice of chicken with olives and lemons or vegetable tajine (stew) in phyllo dough, both served with couscous and vegetables. Dessert will be a mix of Moroccan cookies, fresh fruit, dates and nuts, served with coffee or tea.

Seatings will be at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Cost is $30. For reservations call 643-0861. City Bakery is at 2358 E. Main St.

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For those planning ahead, reservations also are being accepted for a wine-tasting dinner Nov. 12 at Cafe Provencal in Thousand Oaks.

First up is a shrimp salad, to be followed by a goat cheese ravioli. After a palate-washing rosemary sorbet will come the main course--a beef medallion in black peppercorn sauce. A pear feiullete--a layered puff pastry--will be served for dessert.

Throughout the meal, Cafe Provencal will serve wines from the Napa Valley’s De Loach Vineyards. Cost is $55. Reservations: 496-7121. The restaurant is at 2310 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.