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Robo Eats – Paradise Biryani Pointe

Dec03

Location: 7231 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Canoga Park, CA 91303. (818) 348-4454

Date: April 4, 2023

Cuisine: Indian

Rating: decent, but not amazing

During my son’s robotics team meetings I have a chance to explore random spots in the Western San Fernando Valley, so I’m nicking naming this the “Robo Eats” series. This one a FB friend recommended.

This is located on Topanga a few miles north of Ventura in a fairly sketchy part of Canoga Park.

The interior is drop ceiling box meets old school Indian boothes and next to know “decor.”

Extensive menu.

Chili Fish. Boneless Fish sautéed red chili sauce and topped with spring onions. Kind of salty and spicy — but not that spicy. Probably a bit fried. Pretty tasty, but not great.

Chicken Tikka Masala. Boneless chicken pieces roasted in tandoor clay oven cooked with Indian spices in a creamy tomato sauce. This was a solid CTM. It’s NOWHERE near as good as Akbar’s, but it was one of the best I’ve had otherwise in LA. It was a bit sweet, and certainly tangy, but with mild curry flavor. The chicken was tender. it wasn’t spicy at all.

Bagara Baingan. Tandoor roasted eggplant blended with fresh tomatoes and onion followed with simmering with ground peanut paste and spices. I didn’t taste the peanuts but the eggplant was nicely cooked and this had a good, if mild, flavor. A touch smoky and quite salty.

Mutton Rogan Josh. kashmiri style curry brimming with flavors of fennel, ginger and marked by the striking red hue. The color wasn’t that striking, and the mutton was boney as hell with sharp shards breaking off in my mouth. I even swallowed one. Gulp. The flavor was mild but pretty good. You could taste the fennel and ginger.

Overall, this was the best Indian I’ve yet had in my Robo Eats explorations, but it wasn’t amazing and it’s still certainly no Akbar. Service was nice but a bit slow considering I was the ONLY dine in customer and there were just two others waiting for takeout. There appeared to be one front of house employee working the phones, take out packing, and the tables.

For more dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: curry, Indian cuisine, Paradise Biryani Pointe, Robo Eats, SFV

Robo Eats – Lucille’s

May08

Restaurant: Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que

Location: Westfield Topanga. 6220 CA-27 Suite 1480, Woodland Hills, CA 91367

Date: September 21, 2022

Cuisine: BBQ

Rating: Not bad for a giant chain

As I eat over in Woodland Hills fairly frequently (by myself) I was googling around for lower carb options and found this place. I actually had no idea it was a chain, or even worse, in a mall. I just picked it from Yelp because it was nearby and BBQ (which offers lots of meat).

I hate when restaurants are attached to mall complexes. I don’t shop retail — 95% online — so I find malls to be annoying, crowded, and vestigial remnants of the 20th century. Parking was a PITA.

Interior is large. The menu can be found here. I forgot to photo it but it was structurally very interesting as it’s kinda modular and you can expand, modify, or add on to the basic components. I actually really liked this as it suits my ordering style (different and large).

Smoked Jalapeño Cheddar Cornbread. I couldn’t resist this carb.

This was a three meat “Build your own Bar-B-Que Combo,” including baby back ribs, pulled pork, and rib tips! Sides were Creamy Coleslaw and Southern Braised Greens. The BBQ was pretty good. Sauces were a touch sweet for my diet, very classic American BBQ, but pretty well cooked. At a lot of chain places it might have been dry. It wasn’t.

I was surprised that Lucille’s was decent (for a chain). As I mentioned, I hate chains and malls, and this was good enough that I would go back again — better off hours though when the mall parking isn’t so jammed up and one can actually park nearby.

For more Italian dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: bbq, chain, Lucille, Mall, Robo Eats, SFV

Robo Eats – Agra Tandoori

Apr03

Restaurant: Agra Tandoori

Location: 19560 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana, CA 91356. (818) 342-2290

Date: August 26, 2022

Cuisine: Indian

Rating: Fine, but old school

Continuing my explorations of random valley ethnic places during my son’s robotics classes…

Located in a typical Ventura Blvd strip mall.

Classic interior — but at least it’s not a drop ceiling.

Big menu.

Papadum to start.

Chicken Tikka Masala. Pretty good, but still a bit too sweet and tomato sauce like.

Coconut Lamb Curry. Not bad, but slightly sweet.

Saag Shrimp. Good.

Paratha. I intended to order Bhartha but they heard me wrong. Ended up working.

Overall, an old school “fine” Indian, and slightly better than Anarbagh, but certainly no Akbar.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Agra, Robo Eats

Robo Eats – Khaosan

Apr01

Restaurant: Khaosan Thai Street Food

Location: 19801 Ventura Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 91364. (818) 932-9845

Date: August 8, 2022 and many times after

Cuisine: Thai Street Food

Rating: Very good small dish Thai place

This was actually the first — and most frequent — restaurant I visited while waiting for my son at robotics in the valley.

It’s located right on Ventura in Tarzana / Woodland Hills. They have a mostly digital menu (which I’m not a fan of).

Fried fish balls with sweet sauce. Delicious.

Papaya Salad. Very good

Thom Yom. Nice version of the tangy soup. I almost always get this.

Khao Soi chicken. Excellent version. I really love the strong coconut curry flavor and the mixture of textures.

Stir fry curry with fish. Relatively light, but creamy. Nice.

Marinated Beef Salad. A bit salty but nice chili lime thing.

Beef Prik King.

Chicken Laarb. Solid.

Khaosan has a smallish menu and certainly isn’t up there with Jitlada, Pailin and the like, but what they do do, they do very well and it’s certainly great for a quick one person meal or takeout (if you like takeout, which I don’t). This is really way better than most of the Americanized Thais in the city. Lots of flavor and I’ve been here at least half a dozen times.

Service is very efficient and friendly. The space itself is small with only a couple of tables. Most of their business is takeout.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Khaosan, Robo Eats, SFV, Thai cuisine, Thai Street Food

Robo Eats – Szechuan Place

Mar25

Restaurant: Szechuan Place

Location: 9250 Reseda Blvd, Northridge, CA 91324. (818) 280-5355

Date: August 17, 2022

Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese

Rating: Just okay

I was excited to find a “real” Szechuan restaurant not too far from my son’s robotics.

Typical mini-mall location.

They made some effort to decorate.

Chongqing Cold Flat Noodle. Unfortunately fairly bland.

Spicy Wonton Soup. Dumplings were good but the broth needed more flavor.

Special Chinese Lettuce in casserole. This can be a great dish but this version was a little soggy.

Twice Cooked Potato Slice. I really wanted twice cooked pork. This actually tasted great — it was the best dish — but potato is so carby.

Pickled Chinese Cabbage & Riby Beef in Special Szechuan Chili. This was a bit sour and the meat is certainly “fatty.”

Overall, Szechuan Place had a menu with all the regular goodies but the flavors were a bit bland and flat. I was hoping for more GuYi type quality. One of these days I’ll have to go back and try it again.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

For more LA Chinese dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Robo Eats, SGV, Sichuan Cuisine, spicy, Szechuan Place

Robo Eats – Anarbagh

Mar19

Restaurant: Anarbagh

Location: 22721 Ventura Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91364. (818) 224-3929

Date: September 20, 2022

Cuisine: Indian

Rating: Ok old fashioned Indian

During my son’s robotics team meetings I have a chance to explore random spots in the Western San Fernando Valley, so I’m nicking naming this the “Robo Eats” series.

Anarbagh is a well rated Indian with several branches.

Obviously this location was once some kind of mid century restaurant.

Inside it has that drop ceiling and booth “classic” Indian restaurant vibe. Part of the classic style has always seemed a near absence of customers. I guess most people order takeout.

Papadam and chutney’s to start.

Chicken Tikka Masala. A little heat, fairly sweet. Decent, but not savory enough. Nowhere near as good as at Akbar.

Lamb Korma. Decent, but still not enough flavor.

Shrimp Sag. Pretty good.

Eggplant Bharta. Also pretty good, but not the best I’ve had.

Free bit of Persian-style sweet.

Anarbagh is fine, but it’s that kind of old school Indian where all the curries are vaguely similar, vaguely sweet, and pretty thin. They don’t have a lot of personality. They are heavy, and it’s still enjoyable, but it’s so hard to find really good Indian restaurants in LA. Akbar is my favorite and a few others — like Mandovi — are at least much more interesting.

For more LA dining reviews click here.