For a decade I’ve been raving about chef Srijith “Sri” Gopinathan’s cooking, even before he became the only Indian chef in the U.S. with a two Michelin-starred restaurant for Indian fine dining at Taj Campton Place, San Francisco. I dined there after he started in 2008, when he started showing his range in his Spice Route menu, as he garnered a Michelin star, and again as he moved to two stars. Here, more than anywhere in the nation, I could experience the level of creative Indian cuisine I’ve relished for 23 years visiting London — and long to dig into in India.
Then chef Sri opened Ettan in Palo Alto with Ayesha Thapar in the brutal year of 2020. I drove down a couple of times to write about it over 2020 and 2021. Chef’s food was, again, delicious, more casual, still inspired. But a good 45 minutes drive south of SF, I wished I could visit more often.
I was thrilled to hear of Thapar and Gopinathan back in SF, taking over the former Dosa on Fillmore to open Copra Restaurant (named after a coconut’s dried flesh, elemental in southern coastal Indian food) focused on the coastal cuisines of India’s southern states, including chef Sri’s home state of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where he grew up. There are also influences from neighboring island nation Sri Lanka (a delicious hopper!)
My partner, Dan (“The Renaissance Man”), and I walked into Copra on a Tuesday night in March, not long after the restaurant’s February 18th opening. It was packed and buzzy. It did my heart good to see the lofty space alive again, and especially good to see its upscale-casual Indian history remain intact. I regularly dined at Dosa on Fillmore since first attending its media opening, already a longtime fan of the original Dosa in the Mission, until it sadly closed in 2020. The long bar from Dosa days remains but otherwise, Copra looks completely different, including the upstairs mezzanine with fireplace. The Schoos Design-designed space is now white, bright and downright tropical. Think leafy plants and vines everywhere, a separate, covered dining area under vines and strands of rope, neutral-toned chairs and a pop of dark green in a little couch and chair lounge area.
Cool design aside, chef Sri’s inspired Cal-Indian is the main draw. To enjoy his food in more casual form than fine dining Campton Place means you can just come in for bites with cocktails at the bar or for a full-on feast. Believe me, you can FEAST here, with plenty for vegans, vegetarians and the gluten-free.
We kicked off with the “chutney palette” of four chutneys: classic coconut green sambal to vibrant wild gooseberry chutney, scooped up with papadum and quinoa crisps. My faves were the funky burnt chili-tamarind chutney and crazy-good ghost chili chutney with actual burn removed. It tastes just like ghost chilies without burning your face off. Mouths a-tingling, we were certain we were in for a good night.
In the opposite direction is a refreshing shinko pear sundal salad of fresh mango, Persian cucumber, red onion, black chickpeas and nasturtium petals, tossed tableside. You might breeze by mamu kola urundal over lemon raita at the top of the menu. Don’t. These are chef Sri’s brilliantly meaty fermented mushroom-onion meatless meatballs he has been perfecting. Savory and gratifying for meat and vegetarian eaters alike.
I’ve long been crazy about pani puri: round, hollow shells of bowl-like crispy puri, filled a la minute with lively flavored waters and sometimes a mash cradled inside, eaten swiftly in one bite before they soak through. Chef Sri’s rasam poori did not disappoint, particularly featuring an energetic juice of passionfruit, mint and chilis, laced with sprouted chickpeas and radish. Poured into the puri, it explodes in the mouth like a tropical burst of sun.
Alternately, on the not-spicy side, thayir vadai chaat is a popular dessert of lentil fritters in sweet-savory yogurt sauce. Here, it’s a cooling madras mixture (a south Indian snack popular during Diwali) of balls of dried fruits, nuts, spices in yogurt with plump grapes, citrus, cashews, chilies and date chutney. Chef Sri’s hometown of Trivandrum is represented in deboned Thattukada fried chicken, crusted in chilies, fennel seeds, black pepper, masala crumbs and shallots. You can do both, but I slightly preferred plump shrimp vennai roast (listed as a “Chef Sri Favorite”), aromatic in chili chutney, brown butter and curry leaves. Give the four shrimp a squeeze of lime and the dish pops.
Oh, did I mention we haven’t even gotten to the large plates yet? Needless to say, given just me and Dan and trying to cover as much ground as possible, this is far more food than two people can reasonably eat (we brought home hella leftovers). Even then, we only tried a portion of the deep menu. My priority on returning would be the “vegetable of the day” section inspired by mothers of Copra’s kitchen staff. Each vegetarian entree sounds nurturing. I also would dig into the mysore masala dosa, already a fan of that style of rice lentil south Indian “crepe.”
This visit we chose a comforting vegetarian cauliflower-green apple-coconut curry, and the killer Konkan crab curry, which was messy but so worth it (yes, they do serve wipes). It’s partnered with an egg appam, a crepe-thin bowl of fermented rice batter and centered by an egg — just like Sri Lankan hoppers (modern Sri Lankan restaurant, 1601, has long served hoppers in SF). We made a mess cracking crab soaked in roasted coconut-coriander-tamarind curry, but sopped it up with the appam (hopper), dreaming of the curry’s savory, unctuous flavors the next day.
The other “wow” large plate was a varuval spice-crusted hamachi collar, a Chettinad-style spice fry common on chicken in Tamil Nadu, where chef Sri grew up. The black mustard-accented fish is flaky-fresh in lush fish head gravy, with sides of basmati-esque coconut rice and snow peas in shaved coconut. I think the crab curry and hamachi collar have to duke it out for the winning entree… until I try more.
As with any restaurant bound for greatness, drink is as important as food, not just from a pairing standpoint but an entire experience. Thankfully, Copra partnered with some of the best. On the wine side, it’s wine maven, Biondivino’s Ceri Smith, whose unique wine list here features roughly 30 producers, just two per page, offering 2–5 wines per producer and a story for each. Weaving from California to Italy, Georgia to France, the majority are under $100 a bottle.
I was delighted to see sections from producers I love like Emilia-Romagna, Italy’s, Cà de Noci Lambrusco, or Sonoma’s Wavy Wines (I dig their lean NRG Pet Nat). I love Eric Kamm’s “anarchist punk” wine goodness from Alsace, France, but had never tried his zippy, lean “A Chacun Sa Bulle” white wine. I was even more delighted to discover and taste (under “ciders and co-ferments”) Æblerov’s Okapi 2020 cider-wine-beer hybrid from Denmark.
The cocktail menu was created by my pals at West Bev Consulting (Nora Furst, Stephanie Gonnet, Christopher Longoria — Longoria was my chosen partner in the current projects we are doing creating cocktail menus for Dominique Crenn’s Crenn Dining Group). They partnered with Kerala bartender Varun Sudhakar to make the India connection complete, utilizing Indian spirits and ingredients.
I gravitate straight to a Clarified Lassi Punch with a rum and Scotch whisky base, and to start, a breezy Turmeric Spritz, featuring local Treasure Island-produced Olehna Turmeric Spirit (an AAPI family business) and orange-forward Accompani’s Mari Gold Amaro. Harvest & Happiness is a tall Collins glass of vodka seamlessly melding with bianco vermouth, a spritz of absinthe, cucumber and celery in a drink that doesn’t turn out like many cucumber-celery cocktails, tasting more celery seed-forward. Likewise, Lemon Chili is served up, martini-style — with a gin and Accompani Flora Green alpine liqueur base, integrated subtly with lemongrass, mint, Thai chilies and a welcome whisper of vegetal funk from Batavia Arrack.
While the Jaggery Sour (bourbon, local Brucato Orchard Amaro, orgeat, lemon, bitters, chocolate shavings, gently sweetened by jaggery), spoke “dessert” to me, my favorite of the 6 (out of 8 alcoholic plus 3 non-alcoholic) cocktails I tasted was unexpectedly From the Ground Up. I thought I knew what to expect reading this on the menu: rye whiskey, tamarind, pear, coconut, curry leaf, winter spices and orange. Thankfully, our savvy and kind server turned me on to it, the drink surprising me with an almost creamy, tart, spiced and bright melange that paired beautifully with spicy dishes.
No, there was no room for dessert… so we tried two. Gracious AGM (assistant general manager), Dannie Harrison, a former chef herself from Philly by way of NYC and beyond, recommended the semi-frozen bay leaf slice, like an elegant ice cream bar marked by kumquats and sugarcane syrup. It was sweet and aromatic with the bay leaf. The star dessert moment was “God’s Own” coconut variation, not only for its shaved ice-reminiscent “coconut water crystals” contrasted by sabja (basil seeds, common in Indian falooda and Persian faloodeh), but its bright, crispy hit of mango and candied basmati rice puffs.
If it’s not clear by now, Copra is not only the whole package — a place as hip and fun as it is delicious — it’s one of the most exciting new Indian restaurants in the country. But with this team behind it, I already knew it would be.
// 1700 Fillmore Street, www.coprarestaurant.com
