Naperville restaurant offers 5 cuisines in one place
An Indian restaurant that has no problem cooking up chocolate-chip pancakes, Chinese fried rice and a varied menu of Greek, Italian and American dishes has opened in Naperville.
Ruchi restaurant is all about culture, cuisine, variety and hospitality, co-owner Raju Penumatsa said.
"We can serve everybody according to their taste," he said.
The Naperville spot at 4S040 Route 59 near Hotel Arista and Top Golf is the fourth in a small chain that also includes locations in Chicago, Niles and Peoria. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The diversity of Asian and south Asian populations in the Western suburbs inspired the owners to open in Naperville, where people of Chinese and Indian descent make up 11.3 percent of the city's residents, according to the 2010 census.
At Ruchi, the food, like the region's people, is diverse.
"Everything is a mix of all the communities in the Naperville and Aurora area," Penumatsa said.
But Indian food is the restaurant's specialty, including authentic dum biryani dishes that combine meats and rice with special herbs and spices from India. The restaurant's menu of "biryani delicacies" is 23 items long and includes versions made with goat, chicken, egg, shrimp, fish, vegetables and paneer cheese.
Ruchi Naperville opened in June with about 250 offerings on the menu, including a buffet featuring about 55 of them - mainly of the Indian and Chinese varieties. Owners say the variety of options will cater to multigenerational Indian or Asian families that can't always agree on what to eat.
Maybe the elders want their traditional, ethnic food during a family gathering, the middle generation wants a nice Italian or Greek meal and the youngest members are used to basic American fare. Penumatsa said he's seen situations like this and he's pleased to accommodate everyone.
"We want to target that kind of community," he said, "so all the families can have all the different varieties of cuisine all on one table."