Neela Paniz
Owner, Cookbook Author
Bombay Cafe
Los Angeles, California
Food forecasters have predicted that Indian cuisine is a hot trend for the new millennium. Thanks to Neela Paniz, along with partner David Chaparro, Los Angeles area diners have a more than ten year head start on enjoying this exciting, delicious, and healthy cuisine.
The Bombay Cafe's inspired Indian cuisine originated during Neela's childhood in Bombay, where the family cook, Chandan, made each day a culinary experience. A morning trip to the local market, and the careful selection of the freshest ingredients was the foundation for the day's recipes. Fragrant spices, vibrant vegetables, fresh Indian cheese, rice and lentils were the staples of Chandan's marketing, the family's pantry, and now of Neela's highly regarded Los Angeles restaurant.
Neela Paniz pays homage to her homeland while creating her own personal adaptations of traditional Indian favorites. After arriving in the U.S. in the late 60's, Neela was introduced to the kitchen and came to understand Indian spices in the home of her aunt. Marrying a fellow student at Columbia College for Television and Cinema Arts in 1969, Neela returned to Indian to give birth to her son and took that opportunity to study more formally with Chandan, this time memorizing techniques and copying down recipes. Chandan taught her to rely on her own senses of touch, smell and sight to know when a dish is complete. Returning to California, Neela opened her first restaurant in 1985 and four years later opened up Bombay Cafe and Catering with partner Chaparro, to rave reviews. Since then, the restaurant has been acclaimed in publications such as Gourmet, Los Angeles, and Bon Appetit magazines.
The setting at Bombay Cafe is casual and comfortable, with jewel-toned colors, dark walnut floors, and walls decorated with madhubani drawings of the Zodiac, watercolors painted by Neela's mother, Kiki Deva, and Indian prints from old art books. Whether you choose the beautiful 25-seat bar area or the main dining room (which seats 75), you should start your meal at the Bombay Cafe with a refreshing specialty drink and several of Neela's lively versions of the famous chats (snacks) served by vendors on the streets of Bombay. Moving on from this array of Savouries, you can continue on to a selection of soups and salads which clearly reflect Neela's style of incorporating local non-Indian ingredients. Entrees from the Tandoor, daily lunch and dinner specialties, and Frankies, the favorite food on Bombay's Breach Candy Beach, can be very filling, but leave room for all the other traditional Indian favorites: the daily fresh made Paneer (India's farmer or cottage style cheese), the variety of cooked vegetables, side dish staples including dals, raita, and chutneys, and the must have famous Indian breads - naan, chapatis, and more. While fresh fruit is the most traditional Indian dessert, and in India sweets are typically reserved for a special occasion, dining at the Bombay Cafe is a special occasion, so treat yourself to one of Neela's fresh ice creams, sorbets or puddings to properly finish your meal.
Published in 1998, Neela's first book, appropriately titled The Bombay Cafe (Ten Speed Press), allows regular customers who are fortunate to live close enough to the real thing, and those of us who aren't, the opportunity to enjoy her wonderful versions of so many of our favorite Indian recipes. Years of living in California have influenced Neela to take full advantage of fresh and exciting ingredients not found in India. Combined with the traditions she learned from Chandan and her aunt, and her own acute senses, the cuisine of Neela Paniz and the Bombay Cafe goes well beyond what many of us thought of as Indian food - in the most positive and delicious ways.
THE BOMBAY CAFE is located at 12021 W. Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles, California. Open Tuesday through Friday for lunch, and Tuesday through Sunday for dinner. For reservations and additional information please call (310) 473-3388.
Click on the title to learn more about The Bombay Cafe Cookbook from Amazon.com.
