Jamaica Plain News was on hand today for the opening festivities for Tikki Masala, across the street from the T stop.

Chinese Mirch, which offers a menu with Indian-accented Chinese dishes, is prepping a location at 251 Massachusetts Ave.

Shanti on Washington Street today asked the Boston Licensing Board for a beer and wine license to serve the people who are now getting their Indian food elsewhere because they want something more adult than soda.

"It's rather slow in that location," restaurant attorney Sean Hope told the board. Owner Solmon Chowdhury said he gets four or five calls a day from prospective diners asking whether they can get a beer or glass of wine with their meals at the new restaurant. Chowdhury has long operated another Shanti in Dorchester with a beer and wine license

Shanti goes before the Boston Licensing Board on Wednesday to request a food-serving license for the old Rialto site, 4197 Washington St. Restaurants seeking only food-serving licenses usually only go before the board when they are within a couple of weeks of opening.

Shanti is proposing hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. for what would be Roslindale's only Indian restaurant. Jamaica Plain currently has two Indian restaurants; West Roxbury has one.

The board's hearings start at 10 a.m. in its eighth-flooring hearing room at City Hall.

The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to grant licenses to three new eateries:

Serykah Aggerwhil is seeking city permission to sell Indian food at 185 Devonshire St. She currently operates a catering service in Somerville, and the food would be prepared there and then trucked into Boston for sale.

Pasta Beach, a Newport, RI restaurant that serves pasta and pizza, wants to open an outlet at 30 Rowes Wharf for residents and hotel visitors who don't want to make the long trek over to the North End.

Bukhara to get competition.

Scott Stearns thought he was just stepping into the Kebab Factory for some lunch. He was really stepping into the novel he was reading.

Marc: Classic India in Quincy still rules!

Seth Gitell compares Punjabi Dhaba Roadside Restaurant in Inman Square and Mantra in downtown Boston. He finds Punjabi Dhaba serves good food at good prices, but writes that Mantra is overpriced and seems more concerned with setting a scene than serving food worth the extra cost.

Pocheco explains why she found a painting at Shalimar creepy.

Himalayan Bistro opened yesterday, bringing relief to long suffering Indian-food fans in West Roxbury, Roslindale and East Dedham. It also doubles as the Boston area's first Nepali restaurant.

We stopped by tonight for some takeout. I admit it, I wasn't feeling so adventurous, so I got chicken curry with some naan.

Very good! Only quibble: I'd asked for mild and the curry was relatively hot - which normally I like, except when it's already wicked hot and humid out like it was before the downpour.

The restaurant takes the place of the old Yoo Hoo's ice-cream parlor. It's an amazing transformation. Yoo Hoo's was a narrow space, but Himalayan Bistro is this huge (well, by West Roxbury standards), high-ceilinged, wood-panelled room (with small candles on every table, even).

And, oh my God, they have brunch on both weekdays and weekends. I am SO there.

Himalayan Bistro is at 1735 Centre St., across from West, and a block away from the Holy Name rotary. Map.