Chef Akhtar Nawab attracted attention at Craftbar and E.U. with his sly insinuations of South Asian and Middle Eastern flavor elements into familiar Western dishes. At Elettaria, Mr. Nawab’s own new restaurant, the chef, who was raised in an Indian household in Kentucky, works well beyond the level of insinuation: West and East are on equal footing in a majority of the smartly inventive dishes. The name itself, the Latin word for an Asian spice, sums it up nicely.

The restaurant, incongruously inserted on West 8th Street amid shoe shops and body-piercing emporia, has an appealing, warmly casual vibe, even with its interior helping of wacky, motley kitsch. Tables are so close together as to be communal, the funky-uniformed servers love to chat, and there’s not even a perfunctory boundary between the dining room and the wide-open kitchen.

Despite its carefully constructed look, the restaurant is anything but high-concept; its fixed menu seems to consist of whatever Mr. Nawab decided he would like to cook. The house bread is naan. He serves a pair of firm, sweetly browned scallops ($11) with Meyer lemon, dabs of puréed celery root, and, unexpectedly, a length of rich, braised oxtail. Why garnish bivalves with beef? Why not? The classic difficulty of dissecting a delicious quail with knife and fork is dispatched with similar confidence: The bird is cut into four finger-friendly pieces and batter-fried like chicken ($11). I didn’t spot the Middle Eastern pomegranate molasses that the menu advertises; perhaps it’s in the marinade. At any rate, the quail is exorbitantly juicy and flavorful. In the middle of the plate comes a whole quail egg, coated in the same light batter and with snippets of bacon inserted in its delicate, runny yolk.

Though his inspirations come mainly from a few recognizable spice-route traditions, the chef’s not beyond featuring extracurricular treats, such as an off-the-menu starter of lúgao ($12), Filipino rice porridge flavored with a succulent panoply of pig parts.

He’s not beyond a culinary quip either. A main course of “mattar paneer” (the menu uses quotation marks) is not the familiar North Indian dish of peas and fresh cheese, but rather a more-than-half-Italian demonstration of food’s universality. In a tangy, mildly spiced tomato sauce, fried, fluffy ricotta dumplings take the role of the cheese, and the peas are firm and beautifully fresh ones ($18). But the dish has an austere plainness, as does a filet of striped bass ($22) that’s fine but mild under its seared skin. Its bed of excellently cinnamon-spiced jasmine rice, paved with beet purée, steals the show from the fish.

There’s much more excitement in a full-flavored duck breast ($25), sliced and dusted with plenty of cardamom, and laid in a bed of sweetish ragout made with carrots and minced duck — a fowl version of North India’s keema, traditionally made with ground lamb.

When a restaurant’s bartender has a mustache and a vest, it’s a sure sign that a restaurant takes its cocktails seriously. Elettaria pours a lot of rum, into potent things such as a zombie ($14) and a navy grog ($11), which contain half a dozen rums between them; but there are lighter concoctions as well, made with recherché bitters.

None of the desserts (all $7) were really memorable: not the rich chocolate financier nor the rasmali cheese custard.

Its environment may not suit every taste, but Elettaria’s sense of fun is welcome in a Manhattan dining scene that often seems ponderous and overwrought. Crucially, the cooking doesn’t devolve into triviality; for all the fun, Mr. Nawab has ideas to express, and expresses them well.

Elettaria (33 W. 8th St. at Macdougal Street, 212-677-3833).