Multigenerational, cheap by any standard, and the food is absolutely amazing. It tastes like you are eating in someone's home, and the welcome you receive upon ordering is just as warm. There's free chai on the Southernmost table, where they stack the napkins, along with sugar and Splenda you can use to sweeten it to taste. Roshona Bilash is the best of what you'd want in a Bangladeshi restaurant, a local haunt, and the spot that replaced an irreplaceable restaurant all at once.
For almost 30 years, I had a favorite LA restaurant. Multi generational, amazing food, they knew my whole family by name and we knew theirs. It felt like home. It was a Thai restaurant, and it was the standard by which I judged other Thai restaurants. But also the standard by which I judged my dates/friends. If they loved the food, they were worthy. If they couldn't see past its humble looks, maybe their taste was a bit suspect.
I stood on the sidewalk crying months ago when I saw the sign for Roshona Bilash that was to replace my it. But tonight I tried the food. And it was amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better replacement of my favorite restaurant.
Little has changed. The door is the same, and there is a sign that they're closed on Mondays hand-written in Sharpie taped to the door. The layout unchanged, save for the elongated counter and the now empty hot table that had housed fried bananas and coconut desserts since before I could drive. Even the white tile with pink flowers in the bathroom that I've known since I was 15 is familiar. Yet amazingly, even though the Sunshine family has moved on, Ibrahim, Jasmine, and their kids (Shaq's smile is the first thing that greets you) carry on the same familial kindness that made its restaurant predecessor so charming.
Bangladeshi food isn't new to the area. There are many others around that have been lauded by critics and as revered and brilliant as the late Jonathan Gold. My family has been eating at the various incarnations of the Halal meat market-come-restaurant on 3rd since the 90s, before the area was dubbed Little Bangladesh, and when you could only get special biryanis on
Wednesdays. We were the kind of family who, rather than being deterred by eating in front of the raw goat head behind the counter, relished instead in knowing our food was that fresh.
It's not Roshona Bilash's fault that they have so much to live up to in my eyes. With all of that history, all of that meaning, loving this new spot was a tall order. But Ibrahim used to own a shop up the street, too. He ate at Sunshine, and asked the building's owner about moving into it when it closed. Like Sunshine, there's something comforting and homey about Roshona Bilash. The biryani isn't dyed. It looks modest, but wafts with cardamom. The chai is rich, and complimentary. Even the Nihari (bone marrow stew) manages to be meaty, rather than slick with oil. I've never had anything like the thick brown chutney they served with the chicken wings, which Shaq proudly told me was special because it had elephant apple in it. What's more amazing than eating something totally new? Fibrous, garlicky, and redolent of something with a horseradish pungency. I couldn't have asked for a more delicious, unpretentious, and satisfying replacement. It's like the location was only made for restaurants that are unassuming, affordable, and absolutely delectable. You'll leave with your belly full and your heart warmed. read more