To Live and Eat in L.A. – A Vegan Food Photo Blog

Recently one of my intrepid informants, let’s call her Agent Kate, uncovered a hitherto unknown development on the Valley eating front. Valiantly she told of her discovery: a new Indian food restaurant in Woodland Hills featuring both a vegetarian and a full vegan menu (along with a regular menu of animal parts for the Neanderthals among you). Good work Agent! I’ll take it from here…

Copper Chimney Indian food restaurant was recently opened by Chef Dewan Bisht of New Delhi. He has trained and worked at many fancy-schmancy places all over the world and after my first meal there I can solidly say that the southland is lucky to have him right here in our very own backyard. Offering a full menu of tantalizing tandooris and tikkas and curries and vindaloos and you name it… what will you find half way down the menu but the beautiful sight of a separate section labeled Vegan and another named Vegetarian. It also mentions that most of the vegetarian dishes can be made vegan. The vegan section boasts gloriously of exotic dishes like Samber Soup, Kurkuri Bhindi (okra), various Dals (lentils dishes), Mushroom Muttar, Jeera Aloo (potatoes with fenugreek) Tofu Masala, Chana Masala, Began Bharta (eggplant), Aloo Gobi (potato) and much more.

We started our meal with samosas, from which you have a choice of peas & potatoes, corn or green peas. I had the peas & potatoes accompanied by the enticing combined melodies of the chutney trio being displayed for you by one of my lovely assitants up at the top. Sweet, spicy, minty, refreshing… all three delicious, as were the samosas themselves. It was obvious they were freshly prepared, not something that had come out of a freezer or package.

For my main course I went with the Tofu Masala: Tofu sautéed with tomatoes, onions, spices & garnished with cilantro. The masala sauce itself was a revelation, thick with tomatoes and amazing Indian masala spices… tangy and slightly smokey/sweet/sexy… the tofu had been perfectly cooked to a chewy yet still soft consistency which made it an excellent vehicle for the sauce. Even with all the onions (demon vegetable spawn) I loved this dish and would highly recommended it.

This was the Vegetable Biryani: rice cooked with assorted vegetables. Eating it was as enjoyable as looking at it! It seemed like all the dishes served throughout the restaurant were coming out of the kitchen with similar artful and whimsical presentations. It was fun to hear and watch everyone “ooh” and “ah” as the various tables were served.

Everything I ate here was fantastic and my aforementioned Neanderthal eating companions (who, like the cavemen in those insurance commercials, are also ironically hard to please considering the crap they are willing to put in their mouths) enjoyed their meals every bit as much as I did. It’s nice to know there’s not only another Indian restaurant around that understands what vegan means (so that you can order off the menu without fear of hidden ghee or other undesirables in your meal) but where the food is also genuinely delicious.
www.copperchimney-woodlandhills.com