I’m not sure why there is such a current uptick in the number of fine new Indian restaurants around town and outside of the traditional Indian neighborhoods like Jackson Heights and Curry Hill, but I could hardly be happier to find them showing more and more regional and contemporary flair than in the past. Baazi , meaning “bet” in Hindi (as well as the name of a Bollywood action movie ), is a significant entry and a departure, which is what I’ve come to expect from chef/owner Gaurav Anand, who for the past dozen years has opened a slew of restaurants both here and in New Delhi and Goa. In New York they have included Bhatti Indian Grill, Awadh and Moti Mahal Deluxe (which still does the best butter chicken anywhere).
Anand is an ebullient fellow, bounding from the kitchen to the front door (there is outside dining) and from table to table, genially assisted by the engaging and lovely general manager Abla Atoubi. Baazi is set on two levels in a motif of blue and yellow, with a live olive tree inside and a wall of flowers. The bar is a smart place for Upper West Siders to meet, and, for once, I actually enjoyed the spiced-up cocktails here, like the Old Monk Daiquiri with Old Monk 7-year aged Indian rum, pomegranate, lime, and a Spicy Ginger Margarita.
The size of the menu makes perfect sense, just as the size of old-line Indian restaurants’ do not, filled with columns of dishes offering beef, lamb, chicken or shrimp cooked up in the same five sauces. At Baazi you find what you do not elsewhere, so the number of dishes—12 appetizers ($15-$26) and an equal number of main courses ($22-$29), all easy enough to share—allow the kitchen to take the time focusing on their individuality.
Peruse the menu and you’ll find dishes wholly new to New York, beginning with kali kachori ($15), a snack dish from Uttar Pradesh, made with a charcoal cracker plumped up as moist lentil dumplings, along with chickpeas with aromatic mint, thick yogurt and pomegranate pearls. Shakarkandi ($15) has nothing to do with the “Sharknado” comedies or candy: it is a chaat dish of crispy yams and fingerling potatoes dusted with chili lime and a sweet sour tamarind emulsion. If you like Indian paneer cheese dishes the ke sholey ($15) is a form of bread roll made with house made cottage cheese stuffed with raisins and a more cheese that is grilled. Papad kebab ($15) is presented in an elegant wooden box as a bite-size morsel of lentil cracker crusted with tangy Greek yogurt and a saffron aïoli.
The only way I like to eat cauliflower is at Indian restaurants as aloo gobi ($16), a classic vegetarian dish at Baazi served with a sweet coating and onion seeds. Chicken cafreal ($19), whose origins in Goa derive from Portuguese merchants, is quite hearty for an appetizer, made with juicy Cornish hen marinated in mint and coriander. So, too, the lamb ribs ($26) are delectably glazed with a sticky sweet tamarind-based sauce and the surprise of a coriander-sesame crunch. There are of course meat kebabs, here minced lamb patties breaded with papadum cracker crumbs with Greek tzatziki yogurt, pickle onions and the Tamil Nadu street bread paratha($20).
Although popular in India, you don’t expect to find cod (rohu) on an Indian menu in New York, but here it is as koliwada ($22), a Mumbai specialty of beautiful, succulent white cod with a salty and crispy okra and tartar sauce, while shrimp balchou is another Goan dish pan-seared prawn dish with a very spicy, hot with chili pickle ($22).
Anand does a vegetarian twist on butter chicken with his butter kala ($16) made with mushrooms and chickpeas. Butternut squash kofta with sweet corn curry, toasted pepitas and pumpkin oil ($16) is a gorgeous dish and will persuade any carnivore of the unique excellence of Indian vegetable curries.
Onion kulcha ($5) with whole wheat flour makes for a good side dish, and the basmati rice ($4) is flavored with lemon.
Desserts, too, are far from the usual Indian sweets: a jalebi sandwich is a turn on the pastry funnel cake here with masala chai ice cream; Coconut sago payasam is a luscious dish of shaved roasted coconut, soft tapioca pearls, honey and served with mango sorbet.
Baazi’s food by any name would be exciting, and as Indian food goes in New York Anand is expanding the palette of the myriad styles of cuisine in the South with color, dash and tantalizing aromas, all served with exceptional grace.
BAAZI
2588 Broadway
646-861-3859
Open nightly for dinner.
