Samosa House
3200 West Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles
Tel: 310-398-6766
Designer: DIGBAR

In designing the third installment of the popular Indian restaurant Samosa House, Culver City firm DIGBAR kept the modern Indian aesthetic they had started with and upped the amperage. The key move was bringing in their friend, mural artist Jay Fisher, who has created scenes everywhere from Dubai to Las Vegas, to paint the exterior walls and the main interior wall. Fisher’s yellow and orange patterns riff on traditional Indian henna and mehndi motifs, making an impressive impact. “The mural was a big step for them,” said DIGBAR principal Deborah Gregory of the restaurant’s owners, who let the firm get a little more creative than in their past efforts.

Outside the architects kept things (comparatively) simple. They reused the chairs (spray painting them blue), barstools, booths, floors, and moldings from the former proprietor, a French restaurant called Dusty’s, and installed new tables, new 8-foot LED strip lights, and patterned cylindrical chandeliers. More details—from a print called the “painted ladies,” to a colorful Ganesh sculpture, to bright walls riffing on the restaurant’s spices, to Dewali flowers—make the restaurant an energetic, eclectic place inspired by the eatery’s intricate offerings. “Before we had that something was missing. We always need colorful, playful elements. I love that stuff,” said Gregory.