Biryani could easily be the delicacy that holds the crown of universal love and praise. When off from home, the South Asian community misses this dish the most, and after they see it anywhere, it brings a wave of nostalgia.
Biryani communicates a sense of home and reminds people of their belonging. Biriyani holds the memory of home. It tastes of culture, South Asia, and being desi, and smells like the fondest memory. Therefore, if you are craving this delicacy and looking for restaurants serving this dish, you have stumbled upon the right article; we have curated some of the best biriyani restaurants in the US.
1. What Makes Biryani Special?
Biryani rice has layers of flavors, spices, and traditional meat. What’s the key to biryani? Rice is the base for this dish. Long grains are used for Biriyani, the conventional choice being Basmati rice. Plain white rice grains won’t cut. The traditional biryani recipe includes meat; however, if we make vegetable biryani here, you can use all kinds of vegetables, including potatoes, cauliflower, beans, and carrots. Green peas, mushrooms, and paneer could also be the ideal ingredients.
Make sure to include a lot of spices, as it will provide that umami flavor.
There is a big difference between traditional biryani and the restaurant version. For traditional biriyani, put them on the stove and close the window. Classic biryanis are cooked over a stove or on an earthen fire. Building fire is also not strictly allowed in restaurants. A restaurant needs to have repeated usability. It is equipped with an oven. You can cook many servings in one bowl over the stove.
2. Best Biriyani Restaurants
2.1. Annapurna Restaurant
Annapurna Cuisine Vegetable Biryani may sound dull, but after eating at this South Indian vegetarian restaurant, you will disagree. Chef Bala Murugan from Chennai offers you biryani, which is both spicy and rich. A dozen rough spices, fresh mint, cilantro, and green chiles enhance the combination of carrots, cauliflower, potato, green beans, peas, basmati rice, and fried onions. When the biryani is prepared, butter is placed on top to seep through the different layers.
If one is in India, the biryani gets cooked with heat, but the biryani restaurants of the US do not allow that, unfortunately; however, rest assured, you will get the taste of biriyani like back home. For relief from the spicy flavors, Annapurna provides raitas made with cucumbers, pomegranate arils, pineapple, and boondi soaked within the yogurt. This restaurant is among some of the best biryani restaurants in the US.
- Address: 10200 Venice Blvd., No. 101, Culver City
- Telephone: (310) 204-5500
- Website: www.annapurnacuisine.com
2.2. Biryani Factory
A very small restaurant among different biryani restaurants, which hardly seems like a factory, offers many South Indian biryanis with authentic taste, including three Hyderabadi dum biryanis and a nizam biryani. Bezawada biryani, named after a city in Andhra Pradesh, incorporates fiery, fried red chicken. Some rice grains are broken, but the biryani is charmingly presented with love in a lined copper pot.
The accompaniments are raita and coconut-flavored gravy. On Saturdays and Sundays, the restaurant offers Avakai biryani, supported by an Andhra-style mango pickle, which tastes amazing. The opposite is Ulavacharu biryani, made with horse gram for vegetarians.
2.3. India’s oven
Among the four biryanis, this Westside restaurant, India’s oven, has the best primrose, like any other biryani restaurant provides in the US. One must-try is the Muradabadi biriyani from Uttar Pradesh, made by the chief chef Dewan Bisht, hailing from Muradabad. He makes the dish with lamb marinated for several hours with yogurt, red chiles, garlic, ginger, and turmeric. While the meat cooks, he adds more spices, cilantro, mint, and fresh green chiles.
Then, he layers the meat with partly cooked rice and places the sealed pot in the oven. The result of this dish is buttery, tender lamb. The other three biryanis are prawn, vegetable, and Hyderabadi chicken. All the meats are halal and assured, and Bisht, who has over 40 years of experience, prepares a distinct spice masala for every dish.
- Address: 11645 Wilshire Blvd., second floor, l.a.,
- Telephone: (310) 207-5522
- Website: www.indiasoven.com
2.4. Pickles Indian Cuisine
This restaurant offers a total of 18 variations of biryani. Owner Mr. Kavita Potla is from Amaravati; thus, Amaravati chicken biryani is on the menu. Hyderabadi dum biryanis, made with lamb, goat, or shrimp, is also considered the star dish on the menu.
Other specialties include Chicken 65 biryani, a spicy mixture of rice and intensely red chicken, and Thalappakatti biryani from Chennai made with short-grained jeera samba rice, goat or chicken, mint, and curry leaves. The biryanis include raita, a perfect accomplishment, not pickles, despite the restaurant’s name.
- Address: 11688 South St., Suite 107, Artesia
- Telephone: (562) 860-3999
- Website: www.picklesindiancuisine.com
Bottom Line
There are seldom a few people we meet who do not like a good plate of biriyani. On the bad days, there’s nothing more comforting than a hot plate filled to the brim with delicious and fragrant biryani. A perfect combination of Indian spices and rice accompanied by the rich aroma of meat or vegetables is hard to resist.
This dish has a rich glory that holds a significant history of royalty. If you are a true biryani lover and foodie, it will be hard to resist masalas’ aroma and authentic taste in this Indian dish. I hope this article will solve your biriyani cravings; explore the different biryani restaurants in your locality, and do not get deprived of this delicacy.
Last Updated on by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology
