![]() ![]() A staple of Sri Lankan cuisine, hoppers are typically formed as bowl-shaped pancakes with thin, crisped edges, made with fermented rice flour and coconut milk. Household Sri Lankan snacks, from buttery fish buns (maalu paan) to fish patties, are also popular for takeout.īefore the pandemic, on weekdays, Baja Subs primarily served a lunch buffet of curry and rice - no longer available since the advent of COVID-19 - but the best time to visit has always been on Friday and Saturday evenings, when the kitchen prepares hoppers and dosas to soak up offerings like mackerel curry, dhal, and other dishes laid out for the night. ![]() Rice and meat curry is accompanied by a rotation of vegetable sides which may include dhal, beet curry, kale mallung (kale and coconut salad). Sri Lankan cuisine is heavily influenced by its neighboring regions of South India and Malaysia. He remains unsure when they will reopen for dine-in service with a newborn baby at home, he’s not taking unnecessary health risks.įortunately, Baja Subs’ business has always been takeout-heavy. ![]() While Baja Subs doesn’t do delivery, if a customer over 50 lives within five miles of the store, Premil will personally drive over the food so they don’t have to go outside. In recent months, Premil has delivered all the way to San Diego and Lancaster. “Sometimes they order food even though they can make it at home,” he says gratefully.Ĭonsidering how difficult it is to find Sri Lankan food in the area - a handful of Sri Lankan places in LA are scattered through the San Fernando Valley - Baja Subs gets customers from all over Southern California. Premil says that business is down to 30 to 40 percent of what it used to be, but his customers - three-quarters of whom were fellow Sri Lankans in the pre-pandemic times - have continued to show their support during this difficult time. “Some days you only make $10, $15,” says Premil, “but you keep going.” Business picked back up over time with takeout, but it dropped again in the wake of curfews as protests protests swept the city in late May to early June. In the early months of the pandemic, their business was hit hard. Not only did the pandemic slow down their business before the government completely shut down dining rooms, but Premil and Koshalie welcomed a new baby. March was an unusually fateful month for the Jayasinghes. Now, as Premil takes care of the front of house operations, his cousin and brother prepare the food full-time in the kitchen. They started with a few dishes on the weekends for the local Sri Lankan community, but as word of mouth spread, they decided to offer Sri Lankan food throughout the week. While the original owners served mostly Mexican food, the Jayasinghes have slowly expanded Baja’s Sri Lankan menu over the last four years. ![]() Owners Premil Jayasinghe and his wife Koshalie have been running Baja Subs since 2016, taking over from the Sri Lankan family that had been running the business for fifteen years prior. Eventually, your eyes would find their way to a small handwritten board on the wall confirming that this particular store also happens to serve some of the most remarkable Sri Lankan food in Los Angeles. Then maybe you’d notice that some customers who initially stumbled in looking for tacos were eating what looked like curry or a fish bun. The menu on the back wall offers a variety of tacos and burritos, and at lunchtime, you’d see workers might be plating carne asada with rice and beans - nothing out of a place that says it’s a Mexican grill on the outdoor signage. Walk into Baja Subs Market & Deli in Northridge and you’ll find the sandwiches, groceries, and tacos, as well as fridges full of Arizona iced tea and beer that you would expect at any corner store. ![]()
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