Best Indian restaurants in the suburbs?

Hello my fellow foodies,

I live in the NW suburbs and was just looking to try new Indian restaurants. I tend to frequent Taste of Himalayas in St. Charles (DELICIOUS. Plus they have a great lunch buffet 6 days a week), but would love to try some new places.

Any suggestions?

Hi AshleyBb -

I'm not calling you out or anything, but I'm just wondering since your profile / post have conflicting info.
Just trying to help if you posted in error. You say you live in the NW burbs, but you frequent a place in St Charles, and your profile location says Naperville. Nw Burbs are different places than St. Charles or Naperville. Just making sure - not trying to cause waves or anything - but anyway, to start things off, in the NW burbs, tho I've never been, a joint named The Peacock in Vernon Hills gets plenty of love:
http://www.peacockindianrestaurant.com/

You might also wanna give a try to India House in Buffalo Grove. I've never ordered off the menu, but the lunch buffet usually has one or two really good things on it.

Mildly Northwest, a vegetarian Indian friend of mine swears by India House Schaumburg.

If you are in the NW burbs, but you are traveling to St Charles for your Indian Fixes, Westmont, Downers, and Naperville should have plenty of places for you to investigate. Closer to the NW burbs, Schaumburg and Arlington Heights seem to have a lot of Indo/pak joints as well.

If you wanna come south east a little bit, My favorite west burb DIVE for Pakistani food is in Lombard. Desi Grill:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=17196

Also in Vernon Hills and in my opinion better than Peacock is

Saffron
270 Hawthorn Village Common
Vernon Hills, IL 60061
(847) 247-0898

Again in Vernon Hills and best described as Indian tapas:

Spicy Bites
139 East Townline Road
Vernon Hills, IL 60061
(847) 549-0099

If the northern burbs work for you, consider Mount Everest in Evanston, and Curry Hut in Highwood.

I'm with wesuilmo on preferring Saffron over Peacock lately.

But then I'm still nursing a grudge against Peacock for rolling its eyes and doing its dangedest to try to talk me into ordering something for carry-out that they already had made, rather than the thing that I wanted.

Hi- I highly recommend the New Delhi in Schamburg. It is at Mechum and Schamburg Roads in the smal strip mall on the west side of the street. Excellent food, nice lunch buffet and the prices are very reasonable. Enjoy!!

Linda-O wrote:Hi- I highly recommend the New Delhi in Schamburg. It is at Mechum and Schamburg Roads in the smal strip mall on the west side of the street. Excellent food, nice lunch buffet and the prices are very reasonable. Enjoy!!

My Indian in-laws stand by New Delhi as their favorite in the area for authentic cuisine. I've had many meals there in the past few years since they discovered it, and it's definitely wortwhile.

Ordering from the menu will generally get you a better meal than the buffet though. The buffet is fine if extremely hungry, but not the ideal way to go.

I really enjoy Vishnu in Palatine (on Algonquin, near the intersection with Quentin).

nsxtasy wrote:If the northern burbs work for you, consider Mount Everest in Evanston, and Curry Hut in Highwood.

Just had my first meal at Curry Hut. (Thank you, Groupon.) I must say that the restaurant is far more elegant than the name suggests.

Momos (Nepalese dumplings) were delicious, though the dough was a tiny bit dry on top. The kachumber salad was fresh and bright, but was less to my taste than the version at India House. (At Curry Hut, they serve the salad dry with a bit of surprisingly uninteresting raita on the side. At India House, the veggies come dressed with a light vinaigrette, and the flavor is much better.)

However, the main courses were outstanding.

Kadhai Lamb - Boneless lamb cooked with fresh tomatoes , onions, garlic and mild spice garnished with fresh cilantro and ginger.

Chicken Lahsuni Kabab -- Boneless tandoori-cooked chicken pieces in garlic with blended spices. (Interestingly, though it says "in garlic," the sauce was served on the side. Would have liked a little more sauce, but the flavor of the chicken was so big, it was still wonderful even when the sauce ran out.)

Both were sensationally good, but the chicken was particularly noteworthy.

This is not in a convenient location for me, and there are good-enough places close by, so I won't be a regular, but I'd definitely go again. I'd especially like to go back sometime for their luncheon buffet.

Just had dinner at Peacock after about five years away. I didn't have any grudge, like Katie, but it just wasn't convenient. That said, there used to be something of a hard sell at dinner, so I can see where Katie might be coming from. However, it seems to be dramatically different now, so maybe they got the message. Service was cordial to the point of being almost loving. There was no hard sell and no effort to talk me into anything. The only comment, made after I'd ordered, was that the waiter particularly loved the appetizer I'd ordered.

The appetizer -- Hari Bari Tikki -- is mashed potatoes with herbs and spices, formed into a pattie and fried. What's not to love. They were, in fact delicious, which I was pleased to report to the waiter.

The other dishes we shared included Murg Kurma (chicken in a creamy sauce of almonds, cashews, and spices), gosht kadai (lamb in a dark, spicy sauce with chopped onions, tomatoes, and peppers), and vegetable biryani. All three dishes were wonderful. The chicken was meltingly tender and the nut sauce rich, creamy, and subtle. The lamb dish was a bit more spicy and with stronger flavors. I appreciated the fact that I didn't have to spit out any lumps of fat or gristle, which seems common in many places. Every bite was tender and all meat. The biryani was very flavorful.

The chai tea had a cleaner flavor with stronger tea taste than at most places. The mango ice cream was cut into large dice and drizzled with a tiny bit of cinnamon sauce, which was perfect.

I enjoyed the food tremendously, but the service was even better than the food.

I just noticed on the take-home menu that they have both sweet and salty lassi -- I haven't had salty lassi since I was in India seven years ago. I have to keep that in mind. I also noticed that the number of serving pieces for the lunch buffet had increased in number since I was last there for lunch. So lots of reasons to go back. Oh -- and someday, I want to try the tandoori lobster.

Peacock has been open for 21 years. I'm hoping it survives the current economic downturn, as I'd like to see them there for a long time to come. The food is good, and at least tonight, the people were genuinely gracious.

Even the handful of fennel seeds at the door were better than the usual -- tasted like they were sprinkled with rose water.

A lovely dinner. I won't wait long this time to go back -- even if I just go back for Hari Bari Tikki and a glass of lassi. Mmmm.

Peacock
700 N. Milwaukee Avenue, #130
Vernon Hills, IL 60061
847-816-3100
http://www.peacockindianrestaurant.com

And not to forget -- if you're in Vernon Hills for Indian food, head up to the strip mall just SE of the intersection of 60 and 45, to United Grocers, a really huge, well-stocked Indian grocery store. Bigger than most (if not all) of the stores on Devon. A fun place to shop for ingredients or ready-made Indian fare -- or even incense and Indian beauty products. I'd like to see them do well, as it's nice to have a place where you can get just about everything, including fresh vegetables.

Glad to see you enjoyed Peacock, Cynthia; you've inspired me to go there again soon. I do like their murgh kurma, among other things. I really am fortunate to have Peacock and Saffron and United Grocers all so close. I should add that the Mundelein Garden Fresh Market has recently greatly expanded its inventory of Indian foodstuffs.

Had dinner yesterday at India House in Buffalo Grove. I usually go for the lunch buffet, but I've had some amazing dishes off the menu, so I do try to go for dinner on occasion. The "Tour of Bombay" is a fun, multi-dish meal for $18.99. But yesterday, I ordered the Bombay Lamb. Oh, my, was this wonderful. Beautiful, twin lamb chops (had to be twin, so you have somewhere to poke the skewer) marinated and then tandoori-cooked to smokey, flavorful perfection. The lamb chops were small but very meaty and incredibly tender. No "medium rate" here, as the tandoor doesn't really give you that option, but so full of flavor you don't mind. This comes with a tossed salad (we passed on the thousand island dressing and used some of the cilantro chili dip on the table), a basket full of naan, rice, and a side dish of lamb curry.

If you're a lamb lover, you'll be in heaven.

The dish is $23.99, but you get 8 lamb chops, plus the side of lamb curry. So not a bad value, either.

I will dream about those lamb chops for a while. Definitely not the French rack of lamb experience, but a mighty fine meal if you enjoy tandoori offerings.

Count me in as another huge fan of India House in Buffalo Grove. Used to love the Peacock as well, but since we can walk to India House, I don't think we've been to Peacock in several years. We did visit Saffron once recently, and it was wonderful as well.

Cynthia wrote:
If you're a lamb lover, you'll be in heaven.

And it's nice that all the lamb lovers in the NW suburbs have a reliable go-to now that Diora has gone out of business. (Somewhat of an inside joke, referring to this thread: http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=28306&hilit=diora#p318820)

Check out Tava in Morton Grove. I only ate there once, but enjoyed it a lot. I eat regularly at Aroma, Peacock and India House, but would add Tava to the rotation, but it is a little far from my hood. It has a more upscale atmosphere and the food was very good.

Four of us went to Tava on Saturday. I'd put it as very good, but perhaps a bit pricier than Devon. Final bill was $86 for four entrees, one order of rice, a rather large breadbasket and one (large) appetizer. Decor is very nice, service outstanding.

Vegetarian Chaat as an appetizer was exactly what I expected: spicy, delicious glop. Chickpeas and crumbled samosa with chutneys, yogurt and other stuff.

Chicken Makhani was a little different from elsewhere. There was a smokiness to the dish and a bit of sweetness, almost making it like a creamy barbecue sauce. We liked it quite a bit.

Lamb Vindaloo was listed on the menu as "volcano hot" and I must say it was decently spicy. Far from being inedibly so, and not as hot as some Sichuan and Thai dishes I've had... but probably one of the spicier dishes in the burbs.

Paneer Bhurjee was listed as mild, but had a decent amount of fresh chiles giving it some kick. It's a shredded cheese dish, less rich than the two above but more of a fresh vegetable component.

Dal Tadka was a pretty ordinary lentil dish. Tasty, but nothing to write home about. The roasted kale listed was just a few crisp leaves on top, not a major component.

The bread basket was 5 large breads cut into quarters, each piece bigger than my hand (and I've got pretty big hands). Definitely too much bread for two, but about right for four.

I enjoyed, I'll probably be back, but I can't say that it's higher on my list than Himalaya or Sankalp for suburban subcontinental cuisine (yes, they're different: Himalaya has a number of Nepali dishes, Sankalp is South Indian). The food is definitely of higher quality than my fallback "Indian Cuisine" at Oakton and Elmhurst, but we've only eaten the buffet there.

This is Jimmy the co-owner of the Indian restaurant TAVA in Morton Grove. We value our customers opinion and thank you all for the tremendous support. Having said that we're in the process of conducting a poll on LTHforum to learn and improve our services direct from our customers. We have a poll posed on the "Professional Forum" to listen to our customers.

We wanted to change the idea of typical Indian dining experience with a bit more upscale, contemporary ambiance at Tava. But at the same time doing justice to the century old recipes, we want to provide authentic Indian food to our customers. Tava has recently enabled online ordering capability thru our website (www.tavadining.com) as well as thru our FB page. Select your order from the click of a button from our page or from your facebook page......
Thank you for all your reviews on Yelp, which makes us thrive towards excellence every day.

7172 Dempster Street
Mortong Grove, IL 60053
847-966-TAVA (8282)

Online: www.tavadining.com
Like Us: www.facebook.com/TavaIndianRestaurant
Tweet: https://twitter.com/TAVARestaurant

There doesn't seem to be a dedicated thread for Tava, where the Evanston and North LTH Lunch Groups met yesterday.

Tava's lunch buffet was very good, but not great. It's been a long time since I've gone down to Devon for lunch, but I remember more variety.

The tandoori chicken was probably the best thing there: fresh, juicy and flavorful, it beats most of the versions I've had. The accompanying naan (I think it was naan) was soft and chewy: who can refuse fresh bread?

The korma dish (which I think was vegetarian, but I don't remember) was quite tasty, lots of nutty flavors from cashew, creamy sauce.

Other items I was less fond of: The chicken curry was quite salty. The goat was much better, and while I don't mind on-the-bone curry dishes, finding tiny sharp flakes of bone is a concern, as who knows if I swallowed some? The yellow dal was OK, but nothing special. The vada was served with a channa (chickpea curry) -- better than the dal, but a little chunky to serve as the sauce for a pretty tasteless vada.

I'm not saying I disliked the place, only that ordering may need to be selective. It's a bright, clean, modern looking place (my mother would have approved), and there are some very tasty dishes there.

The company, as always, was excellent.

Tava's buffet is a bit smaller than some others, especially some favorites on Devon. And the selection varies pretty widely by day. So, some days it's awesome and some days, it's not quite as wonderful. Some days the Tava itself contains something terrific, some days, it's less exciting, as it was at our recent lunch when it contained a very basic aloo dish. But they seem to always have the chole bhature, which is terrific. Another thing I really love about Tava is the fact that the tandoori chicken gets delivered hot, on a sizzle platter, right to the table. It doesn't sit around on the buffet drying out.

Most of my co-workers seem to favor the lunch buffet at Himalayan in Niles. I prefer Tava but Himalayan is certainly more in the Devon Avenue style. That said, like most other Indian lunch buffets, the selections vary by day and some days are better than others. The tandoori chicken at Himalayan is part of the buffet and IMO it suffers because of it.

=R=

nsxtasy wrote:If the northern burbs work for you, consider Mount Everest in Evanston, and Curry Hut in Highwood.

Mount Everest is my go-to place for Indian food, including their lunch buffet. (It's been a while since I've been to Curry Hut.) I like the lunch buffet at Mount Everest because it usually has my favorite Indian dishes, including tandoori chicken (on the buffet, frequently replenished so it's freshly made and doesn't have a chance to sit for long - whereas at places where it's made to order, you only get one small piece), butter chicken, papadoms, the spinach dish whose name I forget, and kheer (rice pudding) for dessert.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Tava's buffet is a bit smaller than some others, especially some favorites on Devon. And the selection varies pretty widely by day. So, some days it's awesome and some days, it's not quite as wonderful. Some days the Tava itself contains something terrific, some days, it's less exciting, as it was at our recent lunch when it contained a very basic aloo dish. But they seem to always have the chole bhature, which is terrific.

I agree with this -- I've been to Tava several times and like it quite a bit. The buffet generally contains 2-3 items that you don't often see in other buffets. Also, the goat curry has meat that is tender and not dried-out, which is unusual for buffets (although perhaps this is a function of me hitting them at just the right time). My one objection (aside from my general objection to the existence of buffets) is that they seem to have a very light hand with spices.