In a bleary, blighted section of Santa Monica Blvd, there’s a diamond in the rough. It’s in an area of Hollywood where trash blows freely in the wind, where the traffic is so bad that drivers will die of old age and become dust before the lights turn green, where I once walked into a Del Taco and discovered a 30-something black tranny hooker sitting in a booth and shaving her adam’s apple – a sight that caused me to stop frequenting Del Taco, and tranny hookers, for almost two weeks.

But when people talk about “diamonds in the rough”, you’ll do well not to underestimate either side of that equation. The diamond in this case is called Crown of India — and it’s the best kept secret in the pantheon of LA curry houses.

Crown of India sits in a gritty mini-mall, flanked by a pawn shop and the kind of liquor store where they sell glass pipe-shaped “air fresheners” at the counter. You walk in and it’s a different world — clean, cozy, candle-lit. You’re instantly hit with the fragrant scent of basmati rice cooking in a hot kitchen. I’ve been going for years, and have never seen it crowded, and I’m always the only white dude in the place. The staff brims with happiness at seeing a returning face — I’ve never been greeted with anything but familial exuberance. Then again, with the level of cuisine they serve here, they could get away with welcoming me with a “Sup, fatty?” or a “Bitch please, I’m on the phone” and I’d still come back. Here’s why…

The vegetable samosas are served extra crispy, stuffed with steaming, savory chick-pea paste; the shrimp pakora tastes about one enterprising restaurateur away becoming the next Kogi-truck phenomenon; the papadams — usually an afterthought, like chips at a Mexican restaurant — are spicy as hell and totally worth the $1.95 a pop. The lamb coconut curry has the perfect amount of sweetness to offset the robust umami of the meat. The vindaloo delivers a potent, chili-pepper kick amidst soft mounds of steamed potatoes. The saag paneer strikes a glorious balance of spinach and hearty milk-cheese.

And finally — me being a guy who has spent the past seven years on a “Kung Fu”-style quest to find the greatest chicken tikka masala in Los Angeles, let me say that I can lay down my sword at Crown of India. It comes out bubbling hot, the sauce a burnt-orange color like a Venice Beach sunset. It’s thick and rich and complex, not even the slightest bit watered down, with tomato paste, cream, tumeric, onion and sinus-triggering spice all competing for supremacy. The chunks of chicken, marinated in spices and yogurt then baked in a clay oven, are rimmed with carbonized edges of smoky tandoori flavor. It’ll leave you a sweaty, pale mess, like Robert Downey Jr in the 80’s. It’s a must-try.

Forget the rough. Enjoy the diamond.

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WHAT: Terrific, hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant
WHEN: Sun-Thursday 11 AM- 9:45 PM, Fri-Sat 11 AM- 10:45 PM
WHERE: Crown of India
$$$: Plates range from $10-$16

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 1:38 pm and is filed under food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.