The Sunnyvale Sun

Dining

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Lord Indian Cuisine, a new restaurant at De Anza and Prospect, features strictly Indian food. Saul Hernandez serves fresh-baked Indian bread to lunch customers Phil Jacklin (left) and Gail Travers.

It's the food, not the floor, that attracts the customers

By SUZANNE CRISTALLO

Every week there is a different color flower at each table. The white linen napkins are folded to resemble fans. Framed art depicts scenes of India. The scent of curry sauce fills the air.

This new and distinctly Indian restaurant at De Anza Boulevard and Prospect Avenue is called Lord Indian Cuisine. Cuisine is northern Indian, meaning lots of dishes broiled in a tandoori oven and served with curry sauces.

"We are a mid-fine restaurant serving strictly Indian food," says owner Aswani Kashyap proudly. He and partner Saul Hernandez opened last November after four months of kitchen remodeling in what had been Formosa restaurant for several years. "It took that long to get past the city, health and fire departments," Kashyap says with a smile. "We had to do a lot of wiring, put in new kitchen floors and a hood, but everything's up to date."

The new floors, however, are not what attract a distinctly cosmopolitan crowd to the place.

Hidden behind a Valero gas station in the rustic shopping center anchored by Coach House Liquors, the eatery is a lure for Indians and Britons alike, who have joined with locals at one of the few fine-dining restaurants serving Indian fare in the county.

For the luncheon crowd, a buffet with two meat and three vegetable entrées, plus salad, bread and condiments, is $9.95. The a la carte dinner menu offers 50 entrées, including the popular chicken tikka masala.

The chicken is infused with a subtle, sweet taste from the mesquite smoke in the tandoori oven and is covered with a mild tomato butter sauce with curry ($13.95).

Prices range from $9.95 to $19.95 for rack of lamb. The lamb is Kashyap's favorite dish. "We call it barra kabob," he says. It's cooked in the tandoori for 20 minutes, then served on sizzling hot metal plates.

The menu is the creation of Kashyap's father, Krishan Lal. Referred to as "la la ji," an Indian term for chef, Lal, 65, has spent a career opening restaurants in Hong Kong, London, Japan, Bangkok and San Francisco. It was in San Francisco that Kashyap, born in Delhi, India, started as a busboy at 16 in a restaurant where his father worked. "I can do A to Z in restaurants," he says. "You tell me to wash dishes, I'm there. Tell me to cook, I'm there."

He says it's the same with his partner, Hernandez. "He's Mexican [from the town of Mijarit near Puerto Vallarta]. I'm Indian. He's our headwaiter. I'm the manager. And he's worked all of his life in restaurants, too." Their friendship evolved while the two worked together as waiters at Gaylord Indian Restaurant in Menlo Park. "He's very customer-oriented."

Lord Indian Cuisine also offers separate banquet facilities--one accommodates 200 guests, and another in a more intimate setting seats 25.

A wine list featuring French, Italian and Napa Valley wines is available. "I'm looking into adding wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains soon," he says.

Lord Indian Cuisine, 1655 S. De Anza Blvd. is open daily for lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and for dinner, 5 to 9:30 p.m., 408.865.0501.