If you need a goat biryani fix--and who doesn't, now and then--go straight to Bangla Bazar.
This restaurant in Little Bangladesh is renowned for its biryani--an innocent looking pile of rice (at top) that explodes with a wild rush of seasonings--big, dark cardamoms, thick cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and tiny hot chiles to fire up your mouth if you accidentally bite into one.
And then there's the goat--bony, gamy and so much more interesting than the alternative, chicken biryani. Check out what else is in the counter (above). There will be other goat and chicken dishes, perhaps a fish curry, vegetables, samosas, curry puffs, sweets, and a dispenser of hot chai.
Bangladeshis around you will be eating with their hands, but plastic cutlery is available if you haven't mastered that technique.
The serving of biryani is huge. Get a vegetable on the side, perhaps eggplant tinted with turmeric (above), and you'll have enough to satisfy a big appetite or to share with a friend, at a price so modest you'll want to make eating at Bangla a habit.
Bangla Bazar & Restaurant, 4205 1/2 W. Third St., Los Angeles, CA 90020. Tel: (213) 380-4070.
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