No meat is allowed in Udupi Palace, a Hindu restaurant on Devon Avenue. But forget about a sense of abstinence or self-denial–Udupi Palace offers food up as a celebration. There are simmering curries, giant rice crepes filled with sumptuous vegetables, and puffy fried bread accompanied by jubilant chickpeas. Clearly something joyous of the culinary kind is transpiring amid the long rows of tables, the unobtrusive opulence of the marble wall tiles, and the shimmering yet discreet chandeliers.
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Named after a south Indian town famous for its Hindu priests’ cooking, Udupi is the brainchild of Jagdish Khatwani, who knew nothing about the restaurant business when he started. He still leaves the kitchen to his three south Indian chefs, who guard the mysteries of their spice mixtures with a vigilance that amuses even their employer. Khatwani is poised to open another Udupi in Schaumburg in January, and he also runs India Sari Palace and the restaurant Tiffin, both a stone’s throw from Udupi. Khatwani can switch from Indian fashion to Indian food in a flash, but he’s a quiet force whose ability to hopscotch through business landscapes is a lesson in the power of his Sindhi background.
In 1985, after a stint in New York, he came to Chicago to manage the India Sari Palace, which his uncle started in Hong Kong before the Second World War; the Chicago branch opened in 1972. Khatwani opened Udupi in 1993, studied restaurant administration at DePaul for a year, then opened Tiffin in 1995. “If you really work hard and have the heart for it, I think success is there,” he says. “From fabric, I went into restaurants. I don’t know where I am going next.”
“If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit, or water, I will accept it,” reads a line from the Bhagavad Gita. In these difficult times, every act of nourishment is a gift.
