Flavor of Indian Love

For the past few weeks, I have seriously been craving Indian food.  Indian is one of my favorite cuisines and I could probably eat it everyday if the bill didn't break my piggy bank and the sauces didn't set my stomach in a tailspin.  So on Saturday night, when I knew the only person I'd be spending some QT with was my big brother, I suggested some tikka madness and my brother found a buy-one-get-one-free coupon for a place in the 'hood.  Love it.  We usually eat at Anarkali off of Melrose and La Brea because it is amazing and I want to bathe in their masala sauce.  This time, due to the coupon, we tried Flavor of India, just west of the Palm off of Santa Monica Blvd.  It's always strange trying a new place, especially when your palate craves specific flavors; the risk, though, was all worth it.  We ordered idli, chicken tandoori, chicken tikka masala (Dolly Parton's favorite), saag paneer, garlic naan, and rice.  Everything was delicious and the total, with the coupon and tip, came to $25 per person.  Valet parking is $5 or else you can test your luck looking for a metered spot along Santa Monica Blvd.

After dinner, we drove down the street to Angelina's for some frozen yogurt (Reminder: Please keep in mind that my brother was my date.  If this were a typical date, neither masala nor fro yo would have been involved).  Angelina's is a great frozen yogurt place, just west of Westbourne Dr. on Santa Monica Blvd.  They have their own parking lot and are open fairly late.  Nice service, great selection of flavors, and, most importantly, they put their toppings on top AND at the bottom of the cup.  Yesss!  The peanut butter is delicious and they have low carb crap for you super healthy overachievers.  This place never lets me down.

Notable mention this week to Oishi sushi.  I went there on a date last night (if any of you are keeping track, this is not the same date as the Lucky Devil night; he's long gone) and it was rather tasty.  Beware, though, there's a roll with crab, salmon, and gobo and that's wrapped in soy paper (something "burrito?").  As a part of its presentation, the roll is also wrapped in regular white paper.  THIS PAPER IS NOT EDIBLE.  Yeah, my new date learned the hard way.  Oh well, I guess it makes for a good first date story.