I reviewed Traditions when it first opened five years ago, taking over the sad building that used to house Roderick's. The year after, Traditions won for Best Indian Restaurant in our 2010 Best of Issue. It made more Top 10 lists and 100 Favorites since then.
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Now Traditions is closed. A new placed called India Kitchen has put up a banner announcing its take over, which means that, even with Traditions' departure, Tustin's rep as OC's unofficial Little India is still undisputed.
What happened to Traditions? I wish I could tell you. E-mails and calls to owner Sam Gupta have so far been unanswered.
But as far as India Kitchen goes, it seems intent on covering the whole gamut of the entire subcontinent. Where Traditions primarily focused on the cuisine of the North, with all its wonderful breads, India Kitchen looks like it will offer Southern, Northern, and even Indo-Chinese dishes, which usually means chicken and gobi Manchurian, and chilli chicken (yes, with two “L's”).
So, farewell Traditions; looking forward to meeting you, India Kitchen.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.