Best Indian Food

Electric Karma

8222 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048 (On 3rd a few blocks west of Crescent Heights)

The best Indian food goes to Electric Karma. Instantly qualifying as an above average restaurant by perfectly cooked chicken. Perfectly cooked chicken is very hard to come by, but when you do...you know it because you realize (sigh) that nearly all other chicken texturally is shameful and overcooked...you just never really think about it because it's nearly always cooked that way. So, while perhaps a bazaar point of judgement, it instantly impresses me. The combination of melt-in-your-mouth textures, richness with out being too heavy, and a very smoothly blended profile is what takes this food to the "Best". The Chicken Tikka Masala is AMAZING...smooth blend with a solid flavor profile. The Sag is also outstanding, also well blended and smooth with great texture. Everything we had was great...some of the best Indian food I've ever had. It's not to heavy, doesn't feel unhealthy, and is just pleasingly wonderful making you smile with glee :)

Opinion:

Dishes should be purposeful; intently affecting each your  senses, not just your taste buds...because truthfully that's how we work. We do not just taste things through taste buds...whether you are fully aware of it, the look, feel (texture), smell, and (occasionally) sounds (ex. sizzling) fully develop and make up the "taste" of anything, and in fact influence your opinion on its taste much more then you may reckon. 

Flavors should generally be either cleanly layered or smoothly blended- for example a salad would have layered flavors while a curries and sauces would have blended flavors. Layered flavor are given a little leeway in that you may not get every "flavor" in one bite, but blended flavors should be the same each bite. There are obviously some exceptions to this, for example if you have a blended (curry) that has chopped bits of chili pepper added in it, then of course bites will differ depending on if you get the chili pepper. From there, you could determine the depth of the flavor profile, blends generally have more impressive depths. A good dish does not have to have great depth in the flavor profile...simple/clean/solid profiles can be equally good, depending on the style of the dish. Example: (Curry)(Blend) A curry could be a single, solid smooth blended flavor and be really outstanding and satisfying OR, a curry could have great depth involving many different layers of flavors (that is interesting to explore and think about..."is that rosemary?" "And I like the subtle mint undertone""That little kick is just enough but not too spicy") and be really great and interesting...either way the curry should be blended...which should on a basic level be obvious just upon looking at it. Does it look the same (hopefully yes)? Is there oil floating on top (not well blended)? Anyway, if it's blended, it should be well blended - stirred, cooked....making all of the components ONE.

images via gotime.com & tripadvisor.com