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You may have heard of chef Chetan Shetty from his decade at Indian Accent, working both kitchens here and in Delhi, or from his work at Michelin-awarded Rania in Washington D.C. But if you don’t know him yet, you will soon because chef Shetty is back in NYC, this time preparing regional Indian fare through a modern-day lens.
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Debuting on November 1, which coincided with the first day of Diwali, Passerine (36 East 20th Street) opened in the Flatiron District. Much like fellow Indian restaurants in New York, including Dhamaka, Semma and Bungalow, Passerine is about showcasing regional Indian cuisine that has no bounds. Meaning, no, you won’t find butter chicken here. Instead, you will find unexpected dishes, seasoned with spice blends personally grounded and shipped by chef Shetty's mother in Pune, India.
Taking over the former Sona space, the 65-seat restaurant is divided into two sections—the drawing room and the dining room. The drawing room invites with a moody floral wallpaper and couches for snacking on small plates and sipping cocktails. Larger appetites can walk past the bar to enter the dining room, painted a dark emerald green with wooden elements, rust-colored leather chairs and tan dining lamps overlooking it all.
No matter where you sit, chef Shetty has created a menu aiming to entice and surprise. Take the Scallion Uttapam found on the small plates menu. A traditional South Indian breakfast pancake, this fermented dosa is fried and shaped like a taco, filled with spiced potatoes, turmeric onions and topping of Kaluga caviar for extra indulgence. Meanwhile, Shetty cooks his lamb every which way here, found in the 18-hour braised Beef Nihari, the 14-day dry aged lamb loin with Kashmiri yakhni and the Lamb Cheela, a chickpea flour-based pancake that wraps shredded lamb, housemade red onion pickle and a cooling yogurt inside.
General manager and wine director April Busch—who is also Chef Shetty's wife—curates the wine list here, running 300 varieties deep. Meanwhile, bar director Mario Castro handles the cocktails. Taking notes from the menu, the cocktails include the Jungle Myna, a carbonated drink made with a blend of single malt whiskey from India and Suntory Whisky Toki balanced with mango tea, and the Green Magpie with rum, saffron and green cardamom.