The tag line under the Veerasway name reads "Fresh Indian." The restaurant is brought to us by Angela Lee (Sushi Wabi and De Cero), who is carving out a small eating empire for herself in the West Loop Market District.

The idea of "Fresh Indian" might have something to do with the tidiness of the menu, which has but seven choices of what the restaurant notes as "In Tradition." Look for the likes of chicken tikka, lamb rogan josh, tandoor chicken, basmati rice and naan.

There are six choices listed under "Indo-American creations," which include "Bollywood lollipops," crab cakes, coconut scallops and chicken kabobs. There is no all-you-can-eat buffet; it's not that kind of Indian restaurant.

A basket of wafer-thin pappadum crackers with three dipping sauces (mildly hot, hot, cool) arrived at about the same time as the menu, which was a nice calling card. But there were some issues.

I had some excellent dishes, and I also had a couple that were either furtively contrived or gravely overpriced. The okra chatt fry, for example; a small bowl filled with finely shredded fried okra. The okra was desperately seeking flavor relief from onions and cilantro, but that didn't happen. The menu noted that chat masala (a spice blend) was part of the deal, but you could have fooled me.

Onto the overpriced matter. I have trouble wrapping my head around paying $14 for mutter paneer, which is nothing more than a dish of curried green peas mixing it up in a bowl with chunks of cheese and a bit of tomato gravy. How can peas and cheese cost that much? OK, at least it did come with basmati rice.

The value/price/quality equation came out just right with the lemon tandoor chicken. Three small pieces of roasted chicken (thigh portion) were so deliciously flavored with spices, lemon, onion and a yogurt sauce that the $15 price, regardless of the rather small portion, went down quite easily.

I would point out the same situation with the lamb rogan josh, which is priced at $16. This is a simple lamb curry dish in which chunky pieces and shreds of braised lamb shank got wrapped up in a curry gravy (yogurt and a lot of spices playing an important role). It was delicious and deftly seasoned. A puffy, bubbly round of naan made the perfect foil for scooping up the remnants of the curry gravy.

"Hot Bollywood lollipops" -- contrived or inspired? A little of both. The deal is that fussed-with chicken drumsticks -- three to an order -- are pushed up to look like lollipops. The idea has been around for a while, but if you like hot wings, you will like these. A ranch/dill sauce served as a fire extinguisher.

Desserts are but four, but that's enough. The only one tried was the Indian rice pudding, which was lush and creamy, texture coming from pistachios and golden raisins.

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