Shayona Cafe, Tucked Inside a Chino Hills Mandir, Is a Portal to India | Eater LA

"Rising east of Carbon Canyon against the backdrop of Mt. Baldy and the San Bernardino mountains, the mandir is built of hand-carved pink sandstone and marble, with gold-tipped shikharas marking inner sanctums that glint in the sunlight and invite prayer and reflection; clearly visible from Highway 71, it feels pulled straight from India while sitting firmly in Southern California. As a place of worship for the Swaminarayan sect, it supports daily devotional food practices — including multicourse thals offered to the deities — and follows the sect’s vegetarian and Ayurvedic dietary principles (with prohibitions on meat, eggs, certain pungent ingredients, and mind-altering foods). The complex is one of eight BAPS mandirs in North America (the sect counts more than 20 million followers worldwide) and serves as a peaceful, deeply moving community space where food and ritual intertwine. The site has also been named in an ongoing lawsuit alleging labor abuses at multiple BAPS locations (an allegation the organization has denied); Eater updated the story to reflect those pending legal claims." - Nandita Godbole