Name of restaurant: Zafran Pot. The name says exactly what the restaurant is about. Zafran is saffron. And pot is, well, a pot — a big one in which the restaurant’s specialty, Hyderabadi dum biryani, is cooked. The saffron’s job is to color the biryani rice yellow.
Where you’re eating: In a corner mall on Venice Boulevard in Culver City. This strip of Venice has become a center of serious Indian regional food — the Kerala restaurant Mayura (a regular on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list) is next door, and just east is the Chennai vegetarian restaurant Annapurna. Zafran Pot opened in May, taking over a Punjabi restaurant.
