Artesia’s Pioneer Boulevard Indian food scene thrives as local Pakistani scholar reaches Princeton
Artesia’s Pioneer Boulevard continues to anchor Southern California’s South Asian food culture, drawing visitors on weekends for everything from Chettinad dosas to minty paan along one of the most concentrated stretches of Indian restaurants in the country. Alongside this culinary vitality, the city’s Pakistani community is making academic history: Eric Sarwar, an Artesia-based church planter of Pakistani descent, has become the first global research partner of Pakistani descent in Princeton Theological Seminary’s Overseas Mission Study Center’s one-hundred-year history. Together, these stories reflect a community that is simultaneously celebrating its roots through food and preserving its heritage through scholarship.
Pioneer Boulevard: Artesia’s Indian Food Destination
Artesia’s Pioneer Boulevard stands as the premier South Asian food destination in Southern California, according to Eater Los Angeles, which describes it as a staple destination within the city’s growing Indian food scene. The street is particularly active on Saturdays and Sundays, when visitors arrive from across the Los Angeles region for self-guided food tours and long strolls along the boulevard. Eater LA published a curated guide to 15 Indian restaurants in the area, emphasizing that the list is intentionally selective and not comprehensive, meant as a starting point for exploring the neighborhood’s wide variety of offerings. The guide highlights the breadth of culinary options available: tangy chaat, Chettinad dosas, minty paan, salty farsan, and a wide array of Indian snacks, meals, and sweets spanning multiple regional traditions. Food writer Virali Dave, who authored the guide in May 2023, situates Artesia as part of what Eater calls LA’s Little India. One dish specifically spotlighted in the guide is an egg dosa served in a silver platter alongside two chutneys and sambar, available at Anjappar Chettinad Indian Restaurant. The number and variety of Indian establishments along Pioneer Boulevard make Artesia one of the most culturally significant South Asian food corridors in the United States, drawing both longtime community members and new visitors eager to explore the full range of India’s regional culinary traditions within a few walkable blocks. [3]
Artesia’s Eric Sarwar Becomes First Pakistani Research Partner in Princeton OMSC’s Century-Long History
Eric Sarwar, a Christian Reformed church planter based in Artesia, California, has been named a global partner with Princeton Theological Seminary’s Overseas Mission Study Center as part of its 2023–24 Residential Study Program, making him the first global research partner of Pakistani descent in the center’s one-hundred-year history. Sarwar is a pastor, songwriter, and author with a doctorate in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary, and he was ordained in the Christian Reformed Church in 2016. His research project is titled “Practices of Presbyterian Missions in Pakistan: Decolonizing Missiology in the 21st Century Muslim Context.” Sarwar is writing a comprehensive history of the North Indian Punjab Mission, work he describes as necessary to help the Western church understand and engage with the significant rise of the Indian and Pakistani diaspora globally and locally. His interest in the subject arose during his PhD dissertation on the Punjabi Psalms at Fuller, when he realized the Punjab mission history required its own dedicated research. Sarwar applied to the Princeton OMSC program in November 2022. His research spans historical Presbyterian missionary practices in pre- and post-partition North India and Pakistan, the role of local leadership, and the future of Christian mission in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the global Indo-Pak diaspora. His work traces the Sialkot mission from Andrew Gordon’s founding in 1856 through the mass movement in central Punjab in 1873, which Sarwar describes as having erupted through divine intervention rather than missionary planning. [4]
LA’s Indian and Pakistani Restaurant Scene Highlights Artesia’s Little India
The Infatuation’s guide to Indian and Pakistani dining in Los Angeles, updated in August 2025 and compiled by Brant Cox and Cathy Park, features 20 restaurants across the region and specifically flags a separate guide dedicated to restaurants in Artesia’s Little India neighborhood. The guide opens by recognizing that South Asian food cravings — for dosas, lamb bhuna, aloo gobi, and paratha — are a recurring need for many Angelenos, and describes the collection as essential reading for navigating Indian cuisine across the city. Among the featured spots, Fitoor in Santa Monica is highlighted as a standout. Located at 1755 Ocean Ave, the restaurant is described as upscale, decorated with gold accents, glowing globe lights, and floor-to-ceiling drapes, with an occasional fire dancer performing on weekends. The menu at Fitoor blends traditional curries, including tender lamb shank rogan josh served with naan, with snacky street foods and creative small plates like sweet chili broccoli. The restaurant’s bar is described as the sparkly centerpiece of the room, and the guide particularly recommends the Pluto, a gin cocktail combining white chocolate and lemon described as dessert-like. Fitoor originally opened in San Jose before coming to Santa Monica. The guide’s breadth and its specific acknowledgment of Artesia’s Little India as a distinct destination underscores the continuing centrality of South Asian dining culture to the Los Angeles food scene, with Artesia serving as its most established anchor. [5]
Sources: [3] Eater Los Angeles · [4] thebanner.org · [5] The Infatuation