FARING WELL AT SALOMI DELICIOUS ASSORTMENT OF BANGLADESH AND INDIAN FOOD HAS MADE RESTAURANT A VALLEY FIXTURE.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

Marjory and Abdul Kadir opened their first Bangladesh-Indian restaurant in England in 1965, she as chef and her husband running the front as waiter-maitre d'.

They called their first place in Birmingham Curry House. Within a year they were in Exeter, Devon, with another restaurant called Taj Mahal.

Before winding up in North Hollywood with their Salomi Bangladesh-Indian restaurant on Lankershim Boulevard in the late '70s, they operated similar restaurants in Canada in both Peterborough and Toronto. Those were also called Salomi.

The Kadirs' first Salomi was, they insist, the first Indian restaurant in the San Fernando Valley.

Now, of course, there are many, but Salomi dances on, continuing to lure both the novice and the experienced Indian food diner to its grandiose confines.

Name: Salomi Indian & Bangladesh Restaurant.

Address: 5225 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.

Phone: [phone].

When we last reviewed: Nov. 15, 1990.

How long in business: Opened in January 1979. Moved to new, lavishly decorated location on the same street in April 1984.

Menu/cuisine changes: Many of the major menu changes have occurred this year.

Fish curry and tandoor fish are new. Swordfish and salmon, each cooked in the tandoor oven or served as a hot vindaloo curry dish, are now served regularly.

Indian iron pot cooking, noticeably the Balti and Karahi styles, both popular in England, now appear on Salomi's regular menu.

Although mild versions of normally spicy dishes are always obtainable, Salomi has never deviated from authentic measures of peppery heat. Vindaloo translates into spicy hot curry - and here it is. But because Salomi's clientele includes numerous transplanted Brits who like their curries extra hot, a new category of ``volcano'' curries (vegetable, chicken, beef and shrimp renditions priced from $9.95 to $13.50) appears on the regular menu.

Decor/physical changes: The maroon-and-white-toned dining room replete with mirrors, gilt wall adornments, swag drapes and a row of set-back booths behind curved arches lets the light in. In 1999, a partition wall was pulled out in front and glass doors installed.

Personnel changes: Founder-owners Marjory and Abdul Kadir retired from a full-time involvement in the restaurant, turning the supervision of the kitchen and the overall restaurant management over last year to nephew Kabir Ahmed, who shares cooking duties with Abdul Kibria.

Recommendable dishes: Recently enjoyed here were two types of samosas (vegetable and ground meat); an onion bhaji, tandoor-baked chicken wings; two soups (mulligatawny and dal); the thick Balti lamb dish; a nice version of chicken tikka masala; a sizzling tandoor-baked swordfish dish with yellow tomatoes and onions; and beef Bhuna with tomato, onion and bell pepper.

Service quality: Attentive waiters and servers bustle back and forth noiselessly on the carpeted floor.

Pricing: Prices have gone up as costs have risen since the debut of Salomi at the end of the '70s. Today, though, there are still appetizers and soups as low as $2 each and most entrees stay under $12. All desserts are $3 each and breads range from $2.50 to $3.50. More expensive complete meal platters, called ``thalis,'' run from $16 to $22.

Wine list/service: Indian beers (Salomi carries at least four) provide the beverage of choice here, but there is also a small list of wines ($14 to $55 per bottle, lacking vintage dates) with Inglenook house wines by the glass and carafe ($4 to $10).

Policies worth mentioning: You can still get a gold-leaf-topped biriyani dish here if you ask, and there's a Bangladesh-style rack of lamb offering at only $13.95. Delivery service is available within a three-mile radius.

Miscellaneous comments: Across the street from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and not far from Universal Studios, Salomi gets its share of show-biz customers both at lunch and dinner.

Our latest ratings: Three and one half stars for food; two stars for wine; three stars for service.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) Marjory Kadir, left, co-owner of Salomi Indian & Bangladesh Restaurant in North Hollywood, displays entrees with manager and cook Kabir Ahmed.

(2) The tandoori platter includes three kinds of chicken.

(3) Spicy aloo gobi mixes cauliflower and potatoes.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer