Review: Given time, Persis Indian Grill’s menu, and wings, are taking flight
The first time I ate at Persis, a few weeks after the restaurant opened last summer, I was seated towards the back of the dining room. Directly in front of me, a large poster told the history of biryani and described regional variations of India’s most famous rice dish.
Taking the hint, I decided to order for lunch the chicken biryani — only to be told that chicken biryani wasn’t available that day. Nor was either of the other two variations listed under the Biryani heading — a surprisingly modest selection, it struck me, of a dish that the poster had led me to believe was a house specialty. The entire menu, for that matter, was unusually limited — barely half the number of listings you’d typically find on the menu at an Indian restaurant.
So I went for Plan B. I ordered cut mirchi for a starter, followed by lamb vindaloo and an order of naan. The mirchi was a respectable rendition of the classic fritter, though the rings of hot green pepper inside their crisp batter casing were dry. The vindaloo came closer to the mark, with chunks of lean, tender lamb and potatoes in a thick bronze sauce that fell a bit short of authentic spice levels but delivered on the hallmark vinegar tang of the dish. The naan was over-baked to the point that it was cracker-like at the edges.
Factor in service that was well-meaning but disjointed, and it was clear that Persis was not yet ready for prime time. Still, the food showed flashes of promise, and the airy contemporary decor was a refreshing change from the norm. I’d give the place a few months to settle in, then come back.
When I returned in the spring, it was immediately obvious that the restaurant’s owners hadn’t been sitting idle.
The Cary Persis is owned by four partners. (Technically the restaurant is part of a chain, but each location is run independently and has its own distinct personality.) All have full-time jobs in IT, but are actively involved in running the restaurant. Managing partner Sudhakar Upadhyaya, a hobby photographer and painter, designed the restaurant’s decor and displays some of his works near the entrance.
By the time I returned with my wife (a good sport as always, who came along in spite of my less-than-glowing report on my first solo visit), the menu had changed dramatically. Chef Malai Rajendran, a veteran of more than 15 years in restaurants from Bangalore to Detroit, had expanded the offering to include dozens of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, and added a broad sampling of Southern Indian and Indo-Chinese specialties. The biryani selection had doubled, and now included all the usual suspects, from chicken (boneless or bone-in) to egg to goat.
We started with idli vada, a popular Southern Indian pairing of pale, pillowy rice cakes (idli) and a donut-shaped, cilantro- and chile-flecked fritters (vada). Served on a banana leaf with the traditional accompaniments of sambar (an earthy lentil soup) and coconut chutney (plus a bonus of tomato chutney), the presentation was exemplary.
So was another starter of shrimp Vepudu, which lived up to its house specialty billing with jumbo shrimp deep-fried to a snappy turn in a translucent, chile-reddened batter. So far, we were off to a great start. Would the entrees live up to the promise of the first round?
Indeed it would. Boneless chicken biryani — this time it was available — delivered the goods in the form of moist cubes of chicken buried beneath an avalanche of spice-fragrant, lemon-tinged basmati rice. Lamb curry could be faulted only for being a shade less spicy than I had requested.
Clearly, this called for a third visit — a tiebreaker, if you will.
So we returned just a few weeks ago, and found the menu expanded once again. The list now ran to well over a hundred items, causing me to wonder whether the kitchen might have overreached.
Judging by the meal that followed, I needn’t have worried. Kheema samosas, crispy pyramids of pastry filled with a ginger-and-green chile-spiked hash of minced lamb, are among the best you’ll find in these parts.
Peanut masala is one of the recent additions to the menu, which describes the shareable starter as “roasted peanuts tossed with tomato, onions, green chilies and chef’s special masala sauce. Great with beer!” The description is on the money, including the part about beer.
Tandoori-grilled Lahsuni wings are billed as another chef specialty, and no wonder. Succulent in their char-mottled skins (flat and drum are left together in a single piece, helping to keep the meat moist in the extreme heat of the tandoor), they arrive on a sizzling bed of peppers and onions on a cast iron platter.
Mushroom makhni, one of two dozen listings under the “Veg Entree” heading, serves up mushrooms and peas in a spice-perfumed tomato sauce reminiscent of chicken tikka masala. It’s another winner.
So is saag lamb, though like the curry on the previous visit, the heat level was a bit tamer than I had asked for. More significantly, it wasn’t the dish I had ordered. I had ordered gongura lamb, having been tantalized by a menu description of “lamb meat cooked in a sauce made of red sorrel leaves known as gongura to get a tangy taste.”
Seems the server misunderstood me, though I had pointed to the gongura lamb listing on the menu as I ordered it. Not an unforgivable mistake by any means, but it was one of a few small missteps confirming that, while service has improved, it still has a ways to go to catch up the kitchen’s impressive performance.
That third visit took place on a sunny summer evening, and sunlight was bouncing off the restaurant’s tomato red patio umbrellas and spilling in through floor-to-ceiling windows into the dining room. Filtered through a lattice partition wall, the light glinted off the iridescent wings of an enormous butterfly, one of several metal sculptures mounted against a backdrop of vertical pine boards whose staggered heights form an artful skyline spanning one wall.
The scene was aptly symbolic, I thought, of a restaurant that is clearly beginning to spread its wings.
Persis Indian Grill
1116 Parkside Main St., Cary
919-378-1819
Cuisine: Indian
Rating: 3 1/2 stars
Prices: $
Atmosphere: casual, contemporary, airy
Noise level: low
Service: well-meaning, sometimes disjointed, improving
Recommended: peanut masala, kheema samosas, shrimp Vepudu, Lahsuni wings, mushroom mutter makhni
Open: Lunch and dinner daily.
Reservations: accepted
Other: beer and wine; accommodates children; excellent vegetarian selection; patio; parking in lot.
The N&O’s critic dines anonymously; the newspaper pays for all meals. We rank restaurants in five categories: 5 stars: Extraordinary. 4 stars: Excellent. 3 stars: Above average. 2 stars: Average. 1 star: Fair.
The dollar signs defined: $ Entrees average less than $10. $ Entrees $11 to $20. $$ Entrees $21 to $30. $$ Entrees more than $30.
This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 12:00 AM.