Here's the high concept behind most chef-driven restaurants: Chef piles together ingredients nobody has thought of piling together before. Chef awaits applause.

Too often, when I encounter this sort of creativity, I look around desperately for a way to slip out of the place unnoticed (just so you know, not before paying the check).

I can't say anything different is going on at Elettaria in Manhattan's West Village, except I'm smitten with the food. Maybe it's because I crave the particular seasonings and spices being utilized here, but I'd prefer to think there's genuine inspiration at work.

Our waitress said she wasn't supposed to point this out, for fear of alarming timid customers, but the chef is predisposed toward Indian flavors. To this I respond: Where have you been all my life? I'm generally not a fan of Indian restaurants—the food to me is too heavy, too gooey, too inflexible—but I am insane about the flavors. I love coriander, cumin, cardamom, all the rest. And of course, everybody enjoys Indian breads.

The chef at Elettaria is Akhtar Nawab—so much for keeping the Indian roots of this restaurant secret. "Elettaria" means "green cardamom" in Latin, which I guess is the chef's way of showing he went to college. I have a few petty complaints: The signature tomato ravioli are too clunky; the piled-up presentations tend to blur the flavors; the no-potato gnocchi remind me of Tater Tots; and the desserts, while tasty and artistic, are a bit too dense and formal.

The frying is brilliant, especially the pan-roasted chicken, the pan-fried sweetbreads and, best of all, the crunchy, juicy, deep-fried quail. Still, it's the exoticness of the Indian influences that uplifts this cooking.

Indian food has always had considerable appeal to vegetarians, and to me the most irresistible item on the menu is diced sunchokes in a smoked sunchoke purée. This accompaniment to the chicken is so savory and toothsome you might suspect it was cooked over a campfire in bacon fat.

Elettaria is on West 8th Street, best known for shoe shops and other low-level commercial enterprises. The intriguing dining room incorporates a little of everything: Victorian, primitive, prairie, flea market, and antique shop. I imagine Frank Lloyd Wright's apartment looking like this when he was a college student.

The wine list is well-conceived, with two particular under-$40 bargains: For a white, the delicious 2007 Zolo, made from Argentina's Torrontes grape, which tastes like a cross between Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. For a red, the medium-bodied 2003 Domaine des Schistes, a blend with impressive acidity and balance.

Elettaria is precisely what I admire, a modern American restaurant with a coherent and confident point of view.

33 West 8th Street, New York, NY; 212.677.3833; elettarianyc.com