Sukhu Kalra is the beautiful soul behind Highland Park’s first destination dining experience, Indus Progressive Indian. Together with her husband and restaurant partner, Ajit Kalra, so much thought, passion, love and energy has gone into the creation and launch of the “big city” concept, and equally serene and artful restaurant interior, which was designed entirely by Sukhu. In our exclusive spotlight, learn about the very real, raw and selfless reasons why Sukhu and her husband picked Highland Park to launch their second and quite successful restaurant, the modern cooking techniques and progressive dishes such as smoked masala brisket, pork belly vindaloo that requires over seven days for curing, lamb shank curry, and Wagyu steak all perfectly, almost scientifically, paired with fresh craft cocktails, and an expansive wine list. Then make that dinner reservation to see for yourself! Oh, and let’s not forget to mention it’s one of the few upscale restaurants on the North Shore open late on the weekends! Hungry yet? Welcome, Sukhu and Indus Progressive Indian!
Please introduce yourself. Where are you from originally? What city do you live in now? What brought you to Highland Park?
Hi there, this is Sukhu Kalra, a Highland Park mom of 2 elementary aged children, the co-owner of Indus Progressive Indian, the new fine dining Indian concept on the north shore.
Originally from Chandigarh, India, I moved to the US 15 years ago. Ravinia music festival, the beach, the close proximity to the Chicago Botanic Garden, and the charm of the Highland Park neighborhoods were the reasons we decided to buy a home in HP.
We love Highland Park for those reasons, too! What are one or two fun facts to know about you?
I have always been a lover of all forms of art and design. That allowed me the confidence to design the entire space for my new restaurant, Indus, without having any professional training or background in the field. It was equal parts fun and it was daunting.
It brings me great joy to bring our community together – I started the first of its kind, “Holi” festival of colors on the North Shore two years ago which sold out within 24 hrs of opening up the tickets. This year, we hosted over 500 guests for the Holi spring festival, right here in Highland Park.
Congratulations on the recent opening of Indus Progressive Indian! What inspired you to open this fine dining establishment, and how does it differ from your first restaurant, Bhoomi Modern Indian Grill?
Indus Progressive Indian is something we were looking to do to satiate our culinary appetite for an elevated full service concept (as compared to Bhoomi which is an organic, artisanal Indian kebab concept located in a food hall in the theater district in the heart of the loop). Our original plans were to open in Chicago and our pivot to Highland Park happened after the tragic events of July 4, 2022. It inculcated in us a deep desire to invest our intellectual capital and energy in our own hometown / community, instead of opening in Chicago, and work to revitalize the Highland Park downtown area. We know that it has to be an investment from us – the HP residents – that will allow us to overcome the tragedy from two years ago and build art and excitement throughout the downtown area. This is why we specifically picked “ground zero” to start rebuilding and placed Indus in the very center of our downtown district.
Can you elaborate on the concept of “progressive Indian cuisine” and how it is reflected in the menu at Indus?
Progressive, in our mind, is simply any expression of food that is new and contemporary, while building upon what we call the classics. Technically, all food that exists today is a progressive expression of a previous version of that cuisine – humans have been around for quite a while cooking some incredible foods!
At Indus, we certainly give a nod to Indian classics like curries, daal, kebabs, and biryani, made using traditional techniques while layering in new technologies such as indoor smokers, and vapor cookers, steam infused combination ovens to enhance the quality and consistency of these beloved foods.
Moreover, we’ve introduced stunning new modern aesthetics and plating styles that are visually dazzling and dramatically elevate the visual appeal of Indian food.
Finally, we have introduced some first of their kind foods that marry our love for Americana and Indian cuisines in the form of smoked masala brisket, pork belly vindaloo, lamb shank curry, and Wagyu steak with Indian compound butters and chutneys that showcase the creativity and techniques the Indus menu. Our beverage program with massively creative, made-in-house-from-scratch cocktails, and the most expansive wine list of any Indian restaurant further push the envelope with progressive Indian cuisine.
How does your personal background and Ajit’s heritage, being the son of culinary giant Jiggs Kalra, influence the culinary direction and vision of Indus?
Ajit’s heritage via his dad will always be the spark and driver for our entrance into the restaurant/fine dining space. Our shared love for ultra fine dining, global cuisine, and advanced cooking is what brought Ajit and I together as a couple and has inspired us to journey together with Indus – a husband and wife led, family operated small business. Jiggs’ recipes and ideas are layered into several dishes on the introductory menu of Bhoomi (risotto, biryani, etc.), and will be featured even more conspicuously in fall when we introduce truly elite ingredients like morel mushrooms, salmon kebabs, and more. Jiggs brought elevated Indian dining to the world, and we are inspired to further his opus by adopting it as ours – bringing elevated Indian dining to the US.
What are some signature dishes at Indus that you believe best represent your vision of modern, elevated Indian fare?
Pork belly vindaloo is a highly complex dish that requires over seven days for curing the belly, a day of smoking, another day of braising and a 3 day fermentation of Kashmiri chilis to get the perfect vindaloo sauce. The 10 days it takes to bring the food from start of pre to our diner’s plate is so worth the final product. One of our diners – a Highland Parker who dined with us for the first time in July – recently remarked that the pork belly vindaloo was his favorite dish of all time in any restaurant across the globe, regardless of cuisine, ever.
The smoked masala (spiced) brisket is another incredibly successful dish on our menu that combines our love for southern style smoked meats with Indian spices and dried herbs. The dish also features our Indus BBQ chutney which is made from scratch in a classic Texas style with infusion of carefully curated and layered Indian fresh roasted spices. Our diners, who are lifelong aficionados of brisket, have often gushed over it saying it’s the best version of brisket they’ve ever had.
How do you balance catering to traditional Indian food lovers while also appealing to those who are new to Indian cuisine?
That was always the challenge – how to balance classic with modern Indian cooking while appealing to the indian food aficionados and Indian diaspora while also being inviting to the uninitiated US/global community here in Chicagoland. We were very careful in our menu creation to achieve that balance with features like chicken tikka masala, daal, and goat biriyani for the classic food tastes contrasted against summer melon salads, eggplant mousse, smoked wings, and other dishes for a most accessible introduction to Indian fare.
In what ways do you engage with the local community, such as through Food Truck Thursdays in Ravinia, and how important is this local connection to your business?
We started showcasing our organic, pasture raised, artisanal kebabs from Bhoomi at the Food truck Thursdays in Ravinia (at Jens Jensen park right behind our own home) two seasons ago, owing to repeated requests by our neighbors and friends here in the North Shore. We don’t have a food truck business so opted to simply put up a tent and drive in freshly prepared food from Bhoomi in the city. We bring only 100 portions each week, and – to maintain optimal freshness – close up once we sell out.
Is there anything else you’d like us to know about the passion behind Indus?
We have great confidence in Indus as a world class concept that brings a unique, contemporary concept to the segment of globally inspired, ultra upscale dining. This is a concept that was designed for success in a large scale global city like Chicago. But we also realized that the time to invest in our home town of Highland Park was now, and so we took the design and menu for what was to be our restaurant in Chicago and moved it here to the North Shore.
We believe that we can always recreate this successful concept in Chicago once the HP location has become a stable favorite of the North Shore. We are a small restaurant with a waiting list for prime dinner time reservations for every weekend and almost every weeknight. That indicates that the demand for our concept will allow for expansion into chicago with relative facility and ease as we continue to invest in our quality of food, cocktails, wines, and exceptional service.
Are brunch plans in the works?
Yes, we also plan to introduce an exciting new brunch menu for weekends, and an elegant and upscale afternoon tea service this fall, that will be available for reservations on certain days of the month.
How does it feel to be one of the first destination restaurants in Highland Park?
We are so proud to be able to make Indus an exciting and vibrant part of Highland Park, a community that is the poster child for what a diverse upscale American neighborhood can be (even outside of NYC and San Francisco). It is not lost upon us the responsibility we bear having created the model for Highland Park’s first true destination dining restaurant (one in every three diners at Indus is coming in from way beyond the North Shore), and we will always strive to over deliver with food, libations, and service every single night. We are hopeful that this will inspire other family run business and new entrepreneurs to bring their concepts to Highland Park, and make it a culinary dining destination on the North Shore!
About our Meet of Mom Sponsor
A very heartfelt thank you to CNSM Meet a Mom sponsor, Lake Forest mom of three and owner of Gifford Law, a solo Estate Planning Firm (wills and trusts). Mary, we appreciate your support of local moms in our North Shore communities! Learn more about Mary by visiting her Meet a Mom spotlight here! Contact Mary directly here: [email protected].
