66382 Sat Feb 05 00:45:03 -0800 2005 2 2 Los Angeles Area 0 358827 Any recommendations for a good Sri Lankan restaurant? I've heard that the Curry House in SFV is good - anyone been? Like to ideally get my hands (and tastebuds) on some good hoppers. :=) Thanks. Sat Feb 05 00:45:03 -0800 2005 0 ipse dixit 1 359120 I wrote a feature article that wound up as the cover story for American Way magazine a couple years back called "Education of an LA Chowhound" in which I revealed a minor scoop on Sri Lankan food. It was Sri Lanka Cafe in Tarzana near Encino. I subsequently queried both LATimes and LAWeekly to write a review for them, got no takers. Such is life. But the food at Sri Lanka Cafe is so good I can't stay mad. Sri Lankan Cafe 19662 Ventura Bl Tarzana 818-343-0828 I've just tried to call them, but can't get an answer. If anyone nearby can check for us, maybe they're just busy with a lunch rush and haven't (pray god) closed. FWIW, here's the relevant excerpt from my article: "I was for years bereft of pol sambol (ground coconut, shrimp and white-hot red chiles) before I spotted an entry on my favorite food Web site alerting me to the Sri Lankan Cafe in Tarzana (The website, www.chowhound.com, is a dining enthusiast's best friend. This non-commercial, content-driven gem hosts bulletin boards of food-enthusiast chat covering 19 regions across North America.) Excited, I braved the traffic, located the tiny cafe in a corner of an unremarkable strip mall, slipped into its eensy counter for four and dug in. One bite of the green-banana curry and the Sense Memory Express took me back to the southern tip of India, overlooking the impossibly blue stretch of ocean between the subcontinent and the Sri Lankan coast, where I'd dragged my husband (yes, kicking and screaming) for a last exotic jaunt while expecting our first child. Despite the standard-issue counter decor, everything on the menu at Sri Lankan Cafe is delicious, from the stuffed chiles, buns and meat pastries to the string hopper packets. Space is at such a premium in this cafe that the proprietors prepare their meals into takeout packets, though they 're happy to warm themup so you can dine at their tiny counter. The string hopper packets sport curly white and red rice noodles, kiri hodi (lime-green coconut sauce with whole curry leaves and a hardboiled egg) and explosive pol sambol. The mesmerizing lamprais packets are foil-wrapped envelopes of rice and curries steamed in banana leaves. Here you find banana-leaf tinged rice, little piles of seeni sambol (red-onion curry) xxtu curry (fried, then baked, eggplant) pol sambol and green-banana curry -- all for $7.50. I wash it down with Elephant-brand ginger beer, top it off with a sticky-sweet Sri Lankan iced coffee, and light a candle to the patron saint of strip malls, because I know I've just taken a bite out of the real LA." --America West magazine 10/02 by Lisa Moricoli Latham. Check out lisalatham.com. Link: http://www.lisalatham.com Mon Feb 07 16:20:51 -0800 2005 358827 0 Liser 1 361747 The Sri Lankan cafe has been sold and is now called the curry bowl. It's in the same location and it's still a Sri Lankan restaurant. The food is excellent but, I think it was better with the previous owners. The new phone number is 818-609-7683. Fri Feb 18 22:24:34 -0800 2005 358827 0 somi