Priyani Oriental Cafe is tucked into the tiny back corner of a parking lot, wedged between an Indian/Pakistani supermarket and a fence. It's actually a chunk of the supermarket, walled off into a separate space, and lovingly made as cozy as possible. There are leather couches, hanging bamboo mats, red paper lanterns and a flat-screen TV playing softly in the background. But you can still spot the supermarket giveaway -- the floor is that same industrial white linoleum.

But the heart of Priyani Cafe is the intense, lusty, densely flavored Sri Lankan cooking of owner Priyani Dissanayake. It's as if the food were made for you by your grandmother from the old country who also happens to be a professional chef. Because that's exactly what Dissanayake is: an immigrant from Sri Lanka, a former chef at a Beverly Hills hotel and now proprietor of her own Sri Lankan restaurant.....