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Silver Lake’s genre-bending, raucous, modern-Indian sports bar is always worth a visit, no matter how invested you are in baseball, football, basketball or hockey. That’s because the kitchen, helmed by chef Miles Shorey, currently turns out some of the most exciting pastas, pizzas and bar fare in L.A. Owner Avish Naran built a singular spot that’s big on simply having fun with it all: The ranch is flavored with curry leaf, the chicken tenders get a serious spin on the classics (jaggery and tamarind for the barbecue, achaari for the buffalo), and the onion rings come gloriously browned and puffy thanks to the dosa batter that serves as the breading. Even the cocktails are a notch above the usual sports bar sips, with options for “chai-rish coffee,” house-made mango lassi with mezcal, blood orange negronis, and amaro that’s scented with black and green cardamom. While the Indian-leaning takes on classic bar bites are always a win for game day, the pastas and pizzas — namely the signatures of Malai rigatoni and green-chutney pijja — are requisites no matter the occasion. This year Pijja Palace is celebrating the Super Bowl with an all-afternoon viewing party complete with team-inspired food and drink specials. In lieu of tickets, seats can be reserved online with prepaid food and drink minimums ($120 per person); in addition to the restaurant’s menu of modern-Indian hits, the team will offer items such as Kansas City Ice Water and Horsefeather cocktails, and perhaps the Martinez and the Cable Car to represent San Francisco. The game day event begins at 2:30 p.m.
