Akasha Richmond takes over Ford’s Filling Station space in Culver City

Akasha Richmond, whose restaurant Akasha helped kick off the culinary revival in Culver City, is getting ready to add to her territory.

She just signed the lease to take over what used to be Ford’s Filling Station and plans to open a new, Indian-influenced restaurant with the working title Spice Box Kitchen.

Look for it to open sometime in early spring.

“It’s not a reconstruction, the kitchen is good and the equipment is good, but we’ll obviously have to do some decor things,” she said. “And of course there’s the food and the menu.”

Richmond says she’s long been fascinated by Indian cuisine and has fantasized about opening a restaurant such as this for years.

“You know how it is when you’re a chef: Sometimes you think you would love to do this or that kind of restaurant and you write up a menu for it and then you file it away,” she said.

“Usually nothing ever happens and even when it does, sometimes the menu winds up being something completely different, so we’ll see how it turns out.”

Richmond describes the food as being “primarily about spices — masalas and masala blends. It’ll be Indian-influenced, but not a typical Indian restaurant. More small plates and street foods focusing on Indian flavors. But also things you eat at home too. Indian comfort food.”

She said there will be a full section of snacks and chats, but also salads, “because it’s California.” There will probably also be an assortment of Indian breads — dosas and pancakes such as uttapams.

Best of all, she says, the new restaurant is right around the corner from Akasha, so she can keep a careful eye on both places.

“It’s 25 steps exactly,” she said. “I already counted. I went to see that movie ‘The Hundred-Foot Journey.’ So I knew I had to count and see.”

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