A little shy of bliss

The owners of the Bombay Palace in Beverly Hills have been itching to get hold of the bar-lounge across the street and turn it into something more exciting than their sedate Indian restaurant. Recently they did just that.

Buddha is the key. The pan-Asian restaurant-club White Lotus in Hollywood and Koi, a fashionable sushi restaurant in West Hollywood, among others, have drafted Buddha as their good luck charm. Nirvana carries the theme even further.

The entrance, a carved wood door, is an image of the Buddha, whose face splits open to admit a hipster crowd with an unusual mix of age and ethnicities. Just inside is an outdoor patio fitted with banquettes and long tables with a fireplace at the far end.

A turbaned maitre d’ asks if you have a reservation and leads you down a glass path. Beneath your feet is a stream with darting koi. The red dining room, lined with elaborate paintings depicting buff gods and svelte maidens in semi-erotic postures, features a fireplace too. There’s another in the bar, where lucky guests sprawl on canopied beds, sipping fanciful cocktails and nibbling little dishes set out on low tables. A huge stone Buddha head lurks at the back of the bar, water coursing down his face.

The light is low, the atmosphere very mellow. If only someone would vacate one of those fabulous beds. Not likely. So it’s off to the dining room, only to find that Nirvana’s strength is in those nibbles and first courses, not in a full-on dinner.

The menu baffles with categories like “foreplay -- whettin’ the appetite,” “the flirtation” (appetizers) and “loss of innocence” (entrees). Desserts are titled “sensuous pleasures -- sin committed, but quickly forgiven.” Wince.

The food doesn’t seem to be Indian so much as contemporary Californian with an Indian twist. Most of the exoticism, sad to say, is in the decor. The kitchen tries hard not to scare anybody off, so descriptions of dishes highlight familiar-sounding ingredients. You’ve got, for example, “lollipop” chicken wings marinated in yogurt and spices and served with a tomato salsa (OK, that’s something everybody would recognize).

They’re actually pretty good. And grilled strips of lamb are pink and juicy, delicious with a lemon garlic dipping sauce.

Another appealing appetizer is the quail stuffed with diced chicken and cheese. Spinach and potato cakes sound as if they might be samosas, but no, they’re just potato and spinach cakes.

But tandoori paneer, now that’s an interesting idea: cheese smoked in the tandoori oven and doused in yogurt and mint. Scooped into swatches of basil-scented nan, here dubbed “Buddha’s breads,” this vegetarian appetizer is made for sharing.

One of the lighter and more delightful main courses is charbroiled prawns marinated in yogurt and spices. Our waiter raves about the whole charbroiled leg of lamb so much we have to try it. The sliced lamb is good, but not transcendent, and optimistically priced at $39. Venison and wild boar chops carry the same price tag. Smoked lobster tail -- the best of the lot -- does too.

From the comments of everyone at the next table over, we must have ordered all the wrong dishes. Crying out “divine,” “marvelous,” “genius,” every other bite, they seemed to have achieved a certain nirvana.

I wish I could say the same. We weren’t feeling too blissful when the bill came and it turned out we’d spent more than $70 per person, before adding a tip. That’s what makes nibbling all the more appealing at this glam Indian lounge.

*

Nirvana

Where: 8689 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills

When: 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily

Cost: Appetizers, $9 to $22; main courses, $18 to $39; desserts, $7 to $9

Info: (310) 657-5040