What would an adventurous and gifted local architect and pulmonary specialist/pharmaceutical researcher do in their spare time? Lucky for the rivertowns, they decided to open an Indian restaurant.

Orissa, which specializes in modern Indian dishes inspired by traditional Indian regional cuisines, has made its debut in Dobbs Ferry. Architect Niall Cain and his scientist wife, Cynthia Caracta, fulfilled a lifelong dream when they realized that their hometown needed an Indian restaurant.

“We wanted to do something for our local downtown,” Cynthia said.

Orissa’s consultant chef, Hari Nayak has worked with Cain and Caracta to create a menu rich in regional specialties but also filled with inviting modern takes on basic preparations. Dishes are redolent of fragrant traditional Indian spices, such as turmeric, ginger, nutmeg, fenugreek and cardamom, but many also incorporate flavors from Latin America, Europe or the Mediterranean. For starters, a fresh tomato soup with cilantro cream is a delicate blend of organic tomatoes, fennel cumin, mild chilies and herbs. Carrot and cucumber salad with spiced mustard dressing is a refreshing slaw of English cucumber, carrots, mangoes, and radish with mint and mustard. Both are flavorful presentations that embody the best of fusion-style preparations.

It’s always hard to resist a samosa trio or tandoori sampler, including Orissa’s mouth-watering lamb seek kebab – ground lamb infused with spices, wrapped around skewers and cooked on a charcoal grill. Accompany your appetizers with a chutney sampler and garlic naan with herbs, for the full treatment, a veritable profusion of harmonizing tastes. Raita, that distinctively inviting cold yogurt condiment that is a ubiquitous complement to multiple Indian appetizers and entrees, gets a unique treatment here with the addition of avocado. It is an inspired touch.

Nayak has trained his chef, Mohammed Alauddin, and tandoor chef Emran Meah, so that whether you enjoy a silken, vindaloo - the goan hot and sour stew with red chilies – or the chicken tikka masala, a tandoori grilled chicken simmered in a tomato cream reduction, or a home-style curry, you will be savoring Indian regional cooking at its best. But, Orissa is fast becoming known for its signature dishes: the Bison Burger with green chili chutney and crispy okra, fennel infused tandoor baked lamb chops with tomato chutney, or the Orissa Signature Paella (for two or four), a Valencian specialty transformed by the Indian treatment – basmati rice, saffron, delicately marinated chicken, mussels, shrimp and calamari.

Chef Alauddin’s vegetarian commitment is exemplified by an addictive bhindi amchoor – crispy okra, sliced very thin, dusted with salt and dry mango powder and tossed with just the right amount of onion slivers. A half-dozen or so additional vegetable offerings are equally enticing.

Unusual choices that typify Orissa’s modern take on Indian cuisine are on display with the NY Strip Steak, rubbed with Indian spices, and served with a garlic, spinach and cauliflower mash. Fish of the day, depending upon what is freshest, is slathered with coconut hara masala (spice paste) and steamed in a banana leaf.

Dessert isn’t limited to kulfi, that refreshing Indian ice cream flavored with cardamom, or kheer, the Indian comfort food – rice pudding topped with chopped pistachios. Spice truffles make a perfect “sweet” with which to end the meal.

Children are well taken care of by Orissa’s kids menu – they can choose from grilled chicken kebabs, a signature naan pizza (plain or chicken), or the bison burger on a toasted roll.

Indian beers are the perfect accompaniment for any menu choice at Orissa, but I recommend Orissa’s distinctive and moderately priced Indian wines, particularly Sula Dindori Reserve Shiraz, 2007, smooth tasting, with a rich berry flavor that pairs nicely with Orissa’s modern Indian cuisine.

As principal owner of his local architecture firm, NcC Studio, Cain has designed a clean, contemporary space, both comfortable and relaxing, and refreshingly different from a typical Westchester restaurant interior. It feels more like SoHo, with its zebrawood and dark walnut formed chairs, large glass, mahogony-framed doors that will open to the sidewalk when weather permits, and decorative resin panels patterned with bamboo or waves of seaweed. Orissa’s back room houses a boutique, displaying the decorative and elegant tableware of Indian designer Mukul Goyal as well as Indian jewelry and Tuscan pottery.

Cain and Caracta have taken great care to select fresh, seasonal ingredients revealing a love of Indian food that melds with their expert chefs’ talents. But beyond that, they are creating community through food, through design, and by bringing their natural curiosity about the wider world into a local context for friends and neighbors to share. Orissa is a unique and welcome experience in the rivertowns.