accessAtlanta

THE DOORS OF Madras Saravana Bhavan are often flanked with little paper plates filled with sliced apples and red carnations. They are for the Hindu deity Saravana and his brother, Ganesha, to bring luck and keep away evil spirits.

Inside, in the area to the left of the register, is veneration of a different sort. The walls are practically papered with media reviews praising this South Indian restaurant as the best of its kind in the area.

Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)
It's the spices that make the mutter paneer, cooked in onion and garlic gravy, so hot — and irresistible.
Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)
A loaf of naan, covered in garlic and cilantro.
Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)
Packed with flavor, the spring dosai, a kind of rice-based crepe with carrots, cauliflower and other veggies.
Elissa Eubanks/Staff (ENLARGE)
Rice Idly, served with sambar and chutney.
MOST POPULAR STORIES Police: Jeffrey Donovan arrested, suspected of DUI Report: Abdul's return to 'American Idol' doubtful Beastie Boy Adam Yauch has 'very treatable' cancer Fallon's '7th Floor West' is a silly, soapy treat Chris Brown apologizes for Rihanna beating
EMAIL THIS PRINT THIS MOST POPULAR
Find the restaurant

Madras had its first incarnation years ago on Briarcliff Road, then moved to its present location in 2001, filling the space that a Folks Restaurant occupied. Along the way, it created a craze, for it was here Atlantans found (some of us for the first time) the mysterious, sensual mosaic of South Indian cooking.

Based on rice and vegetables, it was different from the Punjabi cooking of the north with which we had become more familiar. And if it's been a while since you downed a few dosai, it's worth visiting this superlative restaurant again.

Rice is the center of Southern Indian cuisine — it is used to make the crepe-like dosa, filled with vegetables or paneer. It makes the flour that, when mixed with ground dal, creates the tiny steamed cakes of rice called idly. And rice accompanies the many curries of the south, rich with spice and flavor and hotter than most of those in other regions.

And it is, most definitely, Madras Saravana Bhavan's dosai that we all first fell for. It was love at first bite: Soft-centered, crisp-edged with just a hint of sour — these giant pancakes can be filled to make masala dosai, filled with a chunky mixture of mashed potatoes, onions, green peas and bits of carrot. Or my Madras favorite, palak paneer, stuffed with spinach and paneer, a spongy, sweet farmer's cheese. And yes, the restaurant still offers a dosa in the 6-foot long Sam's Club size.

The menu is a little overwrought and, like the standard-issue list at most Chinese-American restaurants, seems to offer the same thing over and over with just one or two differences in the ingredient lineup. But the dishes themselves are as sincere as cooking can get.

And it's the little subtleties that make Madras such an original. I never tire of trying new things here (though there are few left to me), or venturing back to a favorite I find myself craving. Mutter paneer is a perfect curry to come back home to (even though home may be Decatur, not New Delhi) — it has a rich, almost gravy-like consistency, chock full of green peas and cubes of paneer. It is spicy — downright hot — but with depth. Each flavor hits the mouth in an endless succession, each one a little hotter than the last, until finally a bite of the soft cheese squelches the heat.

All the little appetizers, from idly to the crunchy samosa, are mesmerizing. Vadai come in a few renditions, and this deep-fried lentil doughnut is pure nirvana when dipped in the vegetable rasam filled with beans, tomatoes and potatoes.

Service is still as polite as ever, a little kooky and the kitchen can still sometimes seem a little slow. The space feels darker, and perhaps a little dingier than when the restaurant first opened.

But pulling apart a hot, steamy loaf of naan covered in garlic and bits of cilantro, there is little to complain about. If Madras ever closes, I think I will have to move.