It’s Harvest Time

By Naperville Magazine
January 2023 View more Table for Two

By Phil Vettel

Naperville Indian restaurant serves up authentic food from its vast menu

Later this year, the Indian Harvest will celebrate its 25th anniversary, and if that milestone surprises you, it may be because partner Sanjeev Pandey’s restaurant spent its first 10 years in relative obscurity.

The restaurant opened in 1998—on a shoestring budget, per Pandey—in a 2,300-square-foot space. “It wasn’t visible from the street,” Pandey says, the street in question being Ogden Avenue. “You had to know where we were to find us.”

But enough people did just that, making the restaurant successful enough to move, in 2008, to a freestanding building within the Cress Creek Square center, giving Pandey nearly twice as much dining space; a 45-seat event room; and a small, water-view patio.

And it’s safe to say that the visibility issue has been resolved. Not only can the restaurant boast nearly a quarter century of success, but Indian Harvest also has won Naperville magazine’s reader poll as best Indian restaurant multiple times. I wouldn’t bet against future accolades.

The restaurant is warm and intimate, a soothing blend of burgundy, black, and cream colors. Intricate carved panels break up the large dining room into visually cozy segments. Clever wall treatments give an arched look to what would otherwise be straightforward rectangular windows. Carpeted floors keep the dining room quiet; even the Indian music overhead plays at a gentle level. “When we were building the restaurant, we were fortunate to collaborate with an architect who had spent three to four years in India and had good insights into what we wanted,” Pandey says. “So the interior has an authentic Indian feel; it’s not just some paintings on the wall.”

The menu is authentic as well, and, in an effort to convey the huge range of Indian cuisine, enormous, listing more than 100 items. One could spend a whole day perusing the various meat, seafood, and vegetarian options.

Here’s a shortcut: When you see “Harvest” in front of a dish, it’s likely to be one of the kitchen’s strongest efforts. Harvest Fish Masala, Harvest Combination Platter (vegetarian), Harvest Lamb, Harvest Shrimp—no wrong choices here.

My friends and I dug into the Harvest Non-Vegetarian Feast ($25.95) and were rewarded with a surfeit of tastes: saag paneer (cooked spinach with cubes of fried paneer cheese); lamb rogan josh (boneless lamb in a fragrant sauce of cardamom and clove); and assorted kebabs, including chicken tikka and ground lamb, along with basmati rice, naan, and even a small dessert (which varies, but is likely to be gulab jamun, fried dough balls soaked in sweet saffron syrup).

I’ve had tandoori chicken in a number of restaurants, with uneven results. Not so here; Indian Harvest offers the chicken in four- or eight-piece portions, and the white and dark meat were uniformly moist and delicious. (Pandey credits his crew, many of whom have been with the restaurant for more than eight years, for the kitchen’s consistency.)

Though the Harvest Feast included naan, we couldn’t resist an additional order of the garlic naan (what’s another $3.95?); plain naan is fine, but this garlic-laced version, flecked with fresh cilantro, is terrific. For starters, we went for pakora (vegetable fritters), which arrived hot, crispy, and beautifully golden brown (choose from spinach, potato, onion, or cauliflower pakora, or better still, mix and match two or three).

Slow-simmered dal makhani (lentils in a sauce of tomato, onion, garlic, and ginger) are another good bet and pair especially well to that garlic naan. Aloo tikki, potato patties served with a lively chutney, are like potato pancakes with an exotic accent.

Pandey himself does most of the cooking these days (co-owner Anu Hora oversees the dining room). “When we lost our chef, I stepped into the kitchen, and so far I’ve not been able to get out,” Pandey says. “I’m a very hands-on person.”

Credit his daughter, Vasu, with the restaurant’s surprisingly good cocktail list; under the heading “Quarantini Cocktails” (she developed them during the pandemic, which interrupted her college studies), drinks with names such as Cup of Karma, Chai Not?, and Lychee Bazaar meld classic cocktails with Eastern flavors. I recommend the Gin and Paanic, a gin and tonic with the inclusion of paan liqueur, which contributes sweet, spiced, and nutty flavors; and the Masalarita, a spicy mango margarita whose rim is dusted with a mix of sambal powder, Tajin, and salt. This drink packs a punch, but it’s delicious.

Lunch, served six days a week (Indian Harvest is closed Tuesdays), includes buffet dining as well as individual sampler platters. Carryout service, which sustained the operation during the COVID shutdown, has remained an important part of the business, thanks to a streamlined online ordering service. Once you get through the menu, that is.

Photos courtesy of Vasu Pandey, Phil Linke (tandoori chicken), and Will Crockett (interiors)