Philadelphia Weekly

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You don't have to be an ace epicure to notice Philly suffers from a serious dearth of midrange Indian eateries. So when Gayborhood co-captains Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran announced modern Indian as the concept for their new restaurant, it seemed like a godsend. Meet Bindi--named after the forehead jewels favored by India's fairer sex and not the ubiquitous sorbet-in-the-fruit-shell company.

Patterned draperies, lanterns and tinkling Punjabi chant music evoke the Far East, while track lighting, exposed ductwork and leather banquettes keep the storefront stylish and urban. If you're expecting North Philly's Tiffin, you're in the wrong place.

Though Turney trained with cookbook author Julie Sahni, the dishes aren't particularly traditional. The menu is a romantic marriage of Indian ideas and American ingredients, producing offspring like samosas stuffed with parsnip and paneer, and yellow dal soup enriched with Green Meadow Farm butternut squash.

Fans of Lolita--Turney and Safran's Mexipolitan flagship--will notice parallels: the cash-only policy; the youthful staff sporting all black; the exotic BYOB mixers, like lip-puckering pomegranate lemonade and summery cardamom-spiced mango sharbat; and a tendency to go a little crazy with spice and sauce.

In some Mumbai spice market, there's a wanted poster with Turney's picture on it. She has 30 blends in her repertoire, utilizing everything from anise to zahtar. These confident flavors produce twangy tamarind-glazed Japanese eggplant with cumin, fennel and coriander, and the harmonious papadi chaat--a refreshing mille-feuille of shaved granny smith, radish, mango and chickpea crisps dressed with cilantro, yogurt and more tamarind.

Poised over turmeric-roasted Yukon golds, the brick-sized short rib is so tender it almost shreds apart on its own. The braising liquid of red wine, cumin, coriander, cayenne and jaggery (raw Southeast Asian sugar) is strained and reduced into a dynamic sweet-and-sour sauce that's great sopped up with any of Bindi's nicely elastic, griddle-charred roti.

In other dishes, the 10-car-pile-up of tastes makes you forget what it is you're eating. Outgoing and well-versed with the menu, the servers are happy to clarify.

That's roasted duck in the pani puri, rubbed with Bengali five-spice (fennel, cumin, nigella, fenugreek and black mustard seeds), buried under granny smith-and-golden raisin chutney, and splashed with cranberry firewater. Cilantro-mint chutney, Boondi raita and sweet-and-savory mango-mustard chutney mask the parsnip-paneer filling of those crisp golden samosas. Bobbing in a little cast-iron hot tub of tomato, yogurt and fresh fenugreek, the mini-meatballs of cinnamon-spiced lamb known as kofta are hard to distinguish.

The chutney trio, sold separately for $5, only confounds the situation. Creamy coconut-cilantro; pulpy, tart fig-kumquat; smoky tomato-and-black mustard seed are all delish, but superfluous with so much flavor already on the plate. The pickle plate is tandoorable, though also a $5 treat. Tangy beet and fennel, gingered mango and Cry Baby-sour lemon peel balanced by sweet dates do a nice job punching up the flavor of Bindi's tamer dishes.

Despite plenty of cumin, chili and turmeric, the shrimp sambar with rainbow chard is one-note, while the pork loin vindaloo doesn't pack enough heat to be called vindaloo, even though the waitress claims it's the spiciest dish. I want tongue-blazing, throat-burning, remember-the-Titans teary-eyed heat. On a one-to-10 scale, this barely hits five.

Rubbed with black mustard, black cardamom, black peppercorn and black cumin, the juicy pig is, however, flavorful and perfectly seared, and the accompanying quick-pickled maitake mushrooms are tender and meaty. Sides of buttery pureed cauliflower and super-salty sauteed spinach are Western conceits.

Beneath an unevenly caramelized crust, chai creme brulee is gelatinous and pitted with warm and cold spots. The Kheerni--coconut rice pudding--is so firm it's like over- refrigerated Kozy Shack. A sorbet-in-a-shell would almost be preferable.

Bindi's better desserts toe the line between sweet and savory. Pistachio lends salty nuttiness to a log of kulfi. Cardamom invades fresh whipped cream and fluffy sponge cake. Red chili, madras curry, star anise and cinnamon spike a decadent chocolate pot de creme.

It's spice done right.