Indienne
Indienne lands at twenty because Sarkar has done something structurally important for Indian cooking in this city — made it impossible to dismiss as anything other than world-class.
On West Huron in River North, Indienne earned its Michelin star within a year of opening, making it Chicago's first starred Indian restaurant and registering something long overdue. Chef Sujan Sarkar, who trained in London's Michelin-starred kitchens after growing up in Kolkata, builds a six-course tasting menu that is elegant, confident, and entirely uninterested in making Indian flavors legible to a Western palate at the expense of their integrity. The spice work is precise, not decorative; the vegetarian, pescatarian, and non-vegetarian progressions are thoughtfully parallel.
The room is calm and spare, the service is well-drilled, and the wine pairings lean toward French bottles that complement rather than overwhelm. Indienne sits just below the Omakase Room not because of any deficiency but because the tasting menu format at this price demands near-perfection, and the Omakase Room's format has a longer track record. The potential here, though, is clear.
- Chef's tasting menu
- Spice-forward vegetable courses
- Sarkar's signature fish preparations
