It's a spring afternoon in an Echo Park shopping center. The jasmine is in bloom. Along Sunset Boulevard, bars are packed with Dodger fans. A man in a Clayton Kershaw T-shirt walks out of Leo Market with a plastic bag full of homemade curry, chicken tikka and a pack of American Spirits.
Inside, Kajari Ghatak is behind the counter, selling creamy curries and biryani. He may be one of the few people in the neighborhood who has little interest in Shohei Ohtani. And yet, his mom-and-pop shop has become an unlikely destination for some of the most sought-after Indian dishes in the area, which may not exactly be known for its excellent Indian food.
“It's a good neighborhood and people like us,” he says with a shrug.
Kajari and Amat hold containers of chicken curry and biryani that they sell at Leo Market.
(Joshua Cullen / For The Times)
At the counter, a smiling woman hands Kajari's husband, Amit Ghatak, a lottery-winning scratcher. “Sorry, we're out of money,” he says with a mischievous wink before handing over the bills.
The woman is left asking about the food. Kajari leans forward, enthusiastically guiding her through each dish, her face lighting up as she speaks.
Moments later, a man enters the Super 8 Motel store across the street. After a moment, he asks, “Do they sell Indian food here?”
In the neighborhood, Kajari and her husband are known simply as mom and dad. Since 2021, the couple has run the convenience store together, a narrow, fluorescent-lit space whose shelves are filled with the usual fare: Doritos, condoms, beer, michelada mix and scratching posts.
In the back, however, Kajari promises a less common offering: homemade Indian meals, advertised on a neon-lettered menu designed by one of his regulars.
Kajari Ghatak's son bought Leo Market in 2020 and she began offering free samples of her food. “All these people come in, take the plate and eat it,” he says. “They like it.”
(Joshua Cullen / For The Times)
When his son purchased Leo Market in 2021, Kajari began looking for ways to incorporate his cooking into the business. He started by offering free samples. The praise was immediate.
“All these people come in, take the plate and eat it,” he says. “They like it.”
On Sundays he prepares biryani, coconut shrimp and spicy curries, as well as vegetarian variations at the request of his regular customers. Each dish is cooked in advance, the result of four hours in their kitchen.
On days when the Dodgers play, Kajari sells out his plates before noon. The effort has earned her a quiet but loyal following, turning her into a local celebrity. “The whole neighborhood knows me,” he says.
Even at the neighboring sports bar, the Douglas, its food has caused a stir, drawing people between entrances to visit Leo Market. Last fall, the bar was the epicenter of the Dodgers' World Series championship festivities.
“If you go to the Douglas, all the people sitting there always come to get cigarettes and my food.”
Kajari Ghatak helps a customer at the counter of her store, which sells the usual convenience store products: Doritos, condoms, michelada mix and lottery scratchers.
(Joshua Cullen / For The Times)
Kajari and Amit aren't exactly Dodger fans. Still, a flat-screen TV in the back broadcasts Dodger games so die-hard fans don't miss a single pitch or stolen base. Next to him a neon palm tree hums.
Despite working less than a mile from Dodger Stadium during the team's recent championships, Kajari remains largely indifferent. “I am Indian,” she says. “I like cricket.”
On a typical Sunday, he serves 16 to 20 meals a day. Sometimes, he says, the smell of hot curry wafting through the store is enough to attract new customers.
Along a stretch of Sunset Boulevard packed with modern lunch options, she believes her food is distinguished by its simplicity. He uses a few ingredients: he cuts coconuts by hand and squeezes them into juice.
Each shrimp is carefully cleaned and then sautéed with cumin, coriander and masala. He points out that all flavors work in harmony. “Mine is different from the restaurant,” he says. “It's not greasy at all.”
Kajari Ghatak learned to cook in Kolkata and says she serves 16 to 20 meals on a typical Sunday. Sometimes, he says, the smell of hot curry wafting through the store is enough to attract new customers. (Joshua Cullen / For The Times)
Kajari learned to cook in Calcutta, where, after getting married, her mother-in-law taught her the dishes she still prepares today. “I learned all those things from her,” he says of his characteristic flavors.
She cooks by instinct, based on techniques inherited from her mother-in-law. When she emigrated to the San Fernando Valley in 1999, she brought those recipes with her, carrying forward a tradition shaped by generations of women. Kajari still has a strong connection with India and had planned a trip to visit his 91-year-old mother this year, which was thwarted due to the ongoing war with Iran.
For her signature chicken tikka dish, Kajari marinates the chicken for four hours in yogurt, turmeric, ginger-garlic paste, and chili powder. The flavor of curry paste is attributed to bay leaves and dried red chillies.
Cashew cream is a key ingredient in their chicken tikka. It uses Kashmiri chili for its color and fruity flavor. Spices are added to the marinated chicken with golden fried onion, turmeric powder, cumin powder, salt, cardamom and cinnamon imported from India.
(Joshua Cullen / For The Times)
Kajari has experimented with recipes sourced from the Internet, but always returns to recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation in her family, and explains that cooking keeps the memory of the women in her family alive. “I prefer to keep our own recipe, our own experience,” he says.
His cuisine has become known beyond Leo Market. At his Hindu temple in the San Fernando Valley, Kajari prepares meals for a community of 200 members who have come to love his food. At home he speaks Bengali with his family; On Fridays she goes to work in a sari adorned with traditional jewellery. “I love wearing my Indian jewelry all the time,” she says.
With his son's help, he hopes to open his own restaurant, perhaps in the shopping center that has become his home. She says: “Some people told me: you should open the restaurant.”
(Joshua Cullen / For The Times)
