There are few restaurants in Long Beach that better embody the idea that tradition and innovation are not opposing forces than Appu’s Cafe.
For more than a decade, Chef Vinod “V.R.” Venkataraman has quietly built one of the city’s most beloved culinary success stories, beginning in an unlikely place: a tiny café tucked inside the Woodruff Medical Offices. He transformed what was essentially a medical office breakroom into a destination restaurant, marrying the flavors of his South Indian upbringing with Mexican, American, and broader Californian influences while maintaining an unwavering commitment to vegetarian cooking and wellness.
The concept proved so compelling that Appu’s became a perennial Yelp! Top 100 restaurant. It also earned national recognition for its Maharaja Burrito. And, in 2023, expanded into a full brick-and-mortar restaurant on Palo Verde Avenue, giving Chef VR the larger kitchen and open-concept space he’d long envisioned.
Appu’s Cafe and its evolution have never been about abandoning Indian cuisine. Quite the opposite.
For many diners, “fusion” has become synonymous with dilution. And, in a sense, there is a realness to that, as it can be a softening of traditions in favor of broad appeal. Appu’s Cafe has always rejected that notion.
Instead, Chef VR treats Indian cuisine as a living culinary language, one capable of conversing with tortillas, burritos, sandwiches, and salads without losing its grammar. The spices remain unmistakably Indian. The techniques remain rooted in generations of cooking. The flavors remain deeply familiar to those who grew up with them, even when presented inside a burrito or folded into a taco.
That’s precisely why spaces like Appu’s Cafe matter.
Traditional restaurants preserve culinary heritage. Fusion restaurants—when executed with intention rather than novelty—demonstrate that heritage is alive enough to evolve. Especially for cuisines as diverse and frequently misunderstood as India’s, giving chefs permission to experiment ultimately broadens appreciation for the classics themselves. A diner may arrive for a paneer burrito and leave curious about regional Indian cooking. Accessibility becomes the doorway rather than the destination.
That makes Appu’s first-ever thali dinner for Long Beach Food Scene Week, running July 31 through Aug. 9, feel particularly meaningful.
While the restaurant built its reputation on playful cross-cultural creations, this special prix fixe experience shifts the spotlight back toward one of India’s most celebrated dining traditions.
A thali is less a single dish than an edible curation of offerings. It’s a collection of complementary preparations served simultaneously so that contrasting flavors, textures, and temperatures create a complete meal. Sweet balances spicy. Creamy offsets acidic. Crisp accompanies soft. Rather than asking diners to choose one entrée, the thali encourages exploration across a wide spectrum of flavors, textures, and styles.
Chef VR’s interpretation begins with a first for his culinary career: a cream of cabbage soup. From there, you have a charred cauliflower salad. Falafels and samosas—some of the most recognizable Indian foods this side of the world—sit next to an array of bowls of Chef VR’s vegetable malai, chana masala, and aloo jalfrezi. They each offer a different expression of spice, texture, and aromatics. Basmati rice anchors the meal, giving diners the opportunity to experience each curry independently before inevitably combining them—as every good thali encourages.
Dessert arrives as cream of wheat payasam, the fragrant South Indian pudding perfumed with cardamom that provides a gentle, comforting finish rather than an overly sweet one. Guests can also add a “Mindful Pairing” of wellness-focused refreshments, an extension of Chef VR’s longtime philosophy that food should nourish as much as it delights.
In many ways, the dinner encapsulates the journey Appu’s Cafe has taken.
A restaurant that became famous by stretching expectations of what Indian food could be is now inviting diners to experience one of the cuisine’s oldest and most cherished formats. It isn’t a departure from Appu’s identity—it is the foundation beneath it.
Long Beach Food Scene Week has always been less about discounts than about chefs taking creative risks, telling stories and giving diners experiences they can’t get the other 355 days of the year. Appu’s first thali dinner fits that mission perfectly: a celebration of Indian culinary tradition presented by one of Long Beach’s most inventive chefs, reminding us that honoring heritage and embracing evolution have never been mutually exclusive.
Appu’s Cafe is located at 2211 Palo Verde Ave. To view Appu’s Cafe’s entire LBFSW menu, click here. To make a reservation for Chef VR’s thali-style dinner, click here.
