Copra

Chef/Owner Srijith “Sri” Gopinathan and restaurateur Ayesha Thapar created a new standard for Cal-Indian cuisine when they opened Ettan in Palo Alto. Now, this team has brought their formidable talents to Copra, in San Francisco’s Fillmore District. Gopinathan is celebrated for bridging Indian cuisine and Californian influences. This new restaurant project is his most personal yet. Copra pays homage to the coastal cuisines of India’s southern states: Kerala where Gopinathan was born and Tamil Nadu where he grew up, and will also look across the Palk Strait to the island nation of Sri Lanka, a short distance from his hometown of Kanyakumari, mainland India’s southernmost city. Copra shares its name with the dried flesh of a coconut, an essential ingredient across the southern coast of India, as well as in nearby Sri Lanka. Forming the base of many dishes, the coconut is a fitting symbol for our restaurant that celebrates the similarities and differences between the cuisines.