India’s Oven, on Pico near Fairfax, Los Angeles. Circa 1992.
India’s Oven burned down during the Rodney King riots in 1992. They served great Indian food on paper plates because they had no room for an industrial dishwasher.
If you really wanted it hot, you’d tell the waiter, and he’d say “No no no, you don’t want it that hot!” And if you actually did — your ears would ring with every bite, you’d sweat down the back of your neck, you’d have the most incredibly vivid dreams that night, and an uncomfortable time the next day.
They’ve since moved and rebuilt.