The Upper West Side has long been a destination for Indian dining, offering mainly Punjabi fare in white-tablecloth restaurants. Along comes Baazi, which has more in common with downtown spots like GupShup, with a menu featuring regional specialties elegantly plated, a cocktail list, and a two-story space painted bright blue with seating in a number of areas that give groups a modicum of privacy.

This elegant Hell’s Kitchen restaurant opened earlier this year sometimes puts an Anglo-Indian spin on the cuisine, with many dishes — including luscious marinated lamb chops — done in the tandoori oven. Vegetarian and meat-bearing curries are available including a particularly lively navratna korma with freshly made paneer. Full bar with craft cocktails available, some of them spicy.

This East Side specialist in vegetarian (and mainly vegan) South Indian cuisine pulls out all the stops when it comes to plate-flopping dosas and uttapams, with 25 examples, including the rocket dosa with potato masala on the side; gunpowder dosa with red chile and mustard powders (kebam!); and the Ooty spring dosa filled with a wealth of vegetables. Rice dishes like ghee pongal also abound.

Kailash Parbat is a restaurant founded in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1952, reflecting the Sindhi cuisine of what is now Pakistan. It has become an international chain. The food is strictly vegetarian, and the menu contains lots of festive snacks in addition to a marvelous spinach biryani. The dining room is filled with colorful photo murals and latticed wood.

Mithaas is one of the most popular vegetarian restaurants in Jersey City’s India Square neighborhood, thronged with families on the weekends. Regional thalis are available, with a particular region of the country often represented by specials. An added attraction is the expansive sweets counter, sometimes prepared on the spot at a portable station.

The diaspora of the 19th and early 20th century took many Indians to Trinidad and Guyana, and it has created its own foodways — adding African and Spanish elements. In Richmond Hill, Singh’s is almost like a clubhouse, with a sturdy steam table on which curries, doubles, bakes, and rotis are displayed and prepared, and the dining room has Indo Caribbean vibes and plenty of room to spread out.

The chef is from Goa, and the menu features food from that state, including several Portuguese-influenced dishes. But it also ventures beyond, including a chaat festively decorated with gold foil and coconut shrimp. The dining room is down a few steps from the street, colored blue and decorated with hanging brass lamps.

If you haven’t been to the conjoined towns of Edison and Iselin, especially along Oak Tree Road, you’re missing one of the best concentrations of Indian restaurants in the metropolitan area — easily accessible from Amtrak’s Metropark Station. Among the 50 or so restaurants there, find Sukhadia’s, which specializes in Gujarati thalis and other vegetarian fare. It’s also a place for Indian sweets, such as halwa and barfi.