Second Yeti restaurant follows in original’s ‘bigfoot’ steps....

Those of you who are fans of owner/chef Narayan Somname’s Yeti in Glen Ellen’s Jack London Village, and those of you who are not, should also try his Santa Rosa venue.

Yeti Santa Rosa was a real surprise when we tried it with Manuel Merjil and Paul Curreri last week.

A former Lyons Restaurant, this Yeti has the exact same layout as does the Breakaway Café here in Sonoma.

The Santa Rosa location definitely offers both Indian and Nepalese cuisine and offers a multi-choice champagne brunch buffet on Saturday and Sunday, served in those beautiful brass and copper food warmers. And the Santa Rosa Yeti has a full bar.

On this occasion we sampled the large samosas filled with potatoes, green peas and bell peppers, spiced with garlic, ginger, and cumin and deep fried, then served with a tamarind and mint sauce. These are practically a meal in themselves.

We also shared the flat prawn pakoras fried in garbanzo flour, and chicken momo, which are minced chicken mixes with Himalayan spices wrapped like a dumpling in flour dough, steamed and served with house mint sauce.

The lamb shank curry and its sauce were delicious, as were the huge servings of garlic naan and olive basil naan. But our pièce de résistance was the lobster masala, lobster tails with a rich coconut cream gravy cooked with onions, tomatoes and mustard seeds, curry leaves, basil, red chili and white wine.

Oh my! Run, don’t walk. Lots of seating, easy parking, immaculate in every way. One can often gauge the overall cleanliness of a restaurant by its restrooms. At least the ladies’ is pristine. $2.99 to $35.99. Open daily 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9:30 p.m. Glen Ellen 14301 Arnold Drive, 996-9930; Santa Rosa 190 Farmers Lane. 521-9608. Yeticuisine.com and yetirestaurant.com.