ASCENDANT INDIAN

Ajit and Sukhu Kalra’s culinary love match began at a wedding. “It’s true!” laughs Sukhu. “My sister married Ajit’s brother. And during the festivities, Ajit and I couldn’t stop talking about food—recipes, favorite dishes, and highlights from the lavish wedding feasts. We knew right away we had a special connection.”

That connection has proven to be a boon for Chicago-area diners. The Kalra’s enduring passion for meticulously crafted Indian cuisine resulted in Chicago’s Bhoomi Modern Indian Grill and is now drawing crowds to their new venture, Highland Park’s Indus Progressive Indian.

When we arrived early on a Tuesday night the place was already packed. Couples noshing on small plates, singles dining at the bar, business associates sharing a worknight, all enjoying beautifully plated dishes that bore little resemblance to any Indian fare we’d ever had.

Next to us, a duo perched on the comfy, robin’s-egg blue chairs were enjoying an entree that smelled heavenly. Curious, we asked the couple about the dish and learned it was daal. Daal, that simple, lentil potage? Well, yes … and no. Ordering it, we found that this daal, deeply red and intoxicatingly fragrant, was prepared from black lentils that had been smoked for 12 hours, before joining long-simmered tomato, garlic, ginger, chilies, a medley of freshly ground and toasted spices, and ghee in the dish. The result? The best daal I have eaten.

The surprises kept coming. Jackfruit cakes (Kathal Tikki), with lightly spiced, tender insides and crispy, panko-breaded outsides, came with schmears of “mirchup” (spicy ketchup) made from San Marzano DOP tomatoes and a mint, cilantro, buttermilk Bhoomi sauce. The cakes, artfully displayed on a slate and garnished with flower petals and microgreens, were as pretty as they were tasty.

And the thin and crispy okra fry-up—fresh okra slivered into sticks, spiced and flash fried with onion and tomato bits and dusted with mango powder served with Indus’ chimi-chutney sauce on the side—was crunchy and delicious.

“We are truly a scratch kitchen to an obsessive degree; everything is done in house,” said Ajit as he delivered our mains. “All of our meats are trimmed and cut here from the whole muscle, the spices are all roasted, ground, and blended here, and so much more. It’s very time and labor-intensive but we are very particular about quality and consistency.”

In India, it is common to cook by andaaza or intuition and experience. “However, to have perfection in a restaurant,” Ajit explains, “exact measurements and methods are crucial.”

In search of this perfection, Ajit and Sukhu spent years not just developing the recipes and processes, but intensely training staff and investing in the high-end equipment that would yield the best results for every dish served.

The beverage menu also benefits from the pair’s devotion to quality. As oenophiles themselves with a vast collection in their home cellar, the couple stocked the bar with stellar wine selections, as well as Illinois’ finest collection of Indian whiskeys (14 on offer thus far.)

Many of the dishes take hours to prepare. Indus’ richly crusted and meltingly tender Masala Brisket, for example, is smoked for 20 hours with an Indian spice rub. It’s then served with baby potatoes braised for four hours.

The brilliantly hued Pork Belly Vindaloo, the spiciest of the dishes we tried, features pork belly that has been cured for seven days before slow braising. It’s served over a three-day fermented tawny port wine sauce that is also smoked for 12 hours.

But Ajit and Sukhu take such lengthy measures in stride. “For Indian cuisine to ascend to the level of excellence and acceptance in America it should have, it takes this kind of dedication,” says Ajit.

“We are really carrying on with the culinary goals of our parents before us,” adds Sukhu. Growing up, her family had a farmto- table, organic, pasture-raised philosophy, partnering with local farmers to ensure access to the freshest ingredients. Her mother’s chhole chickpea curry recipe served with puffy, fried poori bread is a menu standout. And Ajit’s father was Indian culinary giant Jiggs Kalra, an influential writer, cookbook author, TV personality, and restaurateur.

“My father was all about proliferating an appreciation for fine Indian cuisine throughout the world,” says Ajit. “We are doing our best at Indus to keep moving that forward.”

For more information or to make reservations, visit eatindus.com.