Good Karma, Good Neighbor

When a restaurant opens a spin-off, it usually locates the new place at least a few miles away from the original. Why compete with yourself?

But the East India Grill has chosen to follow the buddy principle. Its industrial-look spin-off, Karma Cafe, is its new next-door neighbor. There are advantages. One waiter was seen running across the small courtyard that separates the two with a plate of hot nan bread from East India’s tandoor oven for a table of customers eating at the Karma. It was the upscale restaurant equivalent of borrowing a cup of sugar.

Unlike East India, which sticks to, well, Indian food, Karma is wherever you find it--China, Italy, Japan. . . . The restaurant calls its food “Euro-Asian.” That means you might end up eating calamari with a ginger-garlic marinara sauce, or Chinese chicken salad, or a plateful of haka noodles (like Japanese yakisoba), or even a simple grilled steak. Not surprisingly, the best dishes here are Indian-inspired: paratha , which the menu helpfully describes as a whole-wheat Indian “quesadilla,” and potato spring rolls, which (except for their tubular shapes) are a lot like samosas .

Karma Cafe, 345 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 936-8880. Entrees $7.50-$13.