Two new spots, Ancho & Agave and Tollywood Lounge, are joining south Naperville’s dining scene Monday. Here’s what you need to know before grabbing a table.
Ancho & Agave, 2860 Showplace Drive
Mexican restaurant Ancho & Agave is taking over the former Houlihan’s space at the Naperville Crossings shopping center off Route 59. The Naperville location will be the sixth in the Midwest for the Illinois-based chain, according to its website.
Most of the food is made from scratch, Vice President of Operations Kevin Reed said. That includes everything from the salsas and guacamoles to the corn tortillas used for chips and tacos.
“We usually get about 20 bushels of corn twice a week that we used to make our esquites. We put them in salsas, we roast them and put them in burritos,” Reed said. “I think we may need to build a little bit bigger extension to our cooler because everything is just so fresh.”
One menu item Reed highlighted was the restaurant’s taco board.
“The taco board is your choice of any of our 14 tacos, but you could get three of one and two of something else,” he said. “It comes out on a board the size of a snow ski … and it’s pretty cool to see that on a table and guests sharing them and mixing and matching them.”
Margaritas are also a popular item at the restaurant, with fresh-squeezed juice and Milagro tequila used to make the drinks, Reed said.
Ancho & Agave is owned by the same company that owns Biaggi’s Ristorante Italiano, which has 16 locations across the country.
“We just love Illinois. … We’ve got a Biaggi’s right in (the Naperville Crossings) center that we’re in,” said Reed, who also oversees operations for Biaggi’s, said. “We were very happy with the community with regards to Biaggi’s and thought we would explore the possibility of opening our second concept in Naperville.”
Ancho & Agave is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Tollywood Lounge, 1975 Springbrook Square Drive
Srihari Jasti is no stranger to the Indian food scene in Naperville, having dined at many of those restaurants himself. But as a customer, he the area lacked some form of “vibrant entertainment.”
“We do have Indian restaurants in Naperville, but we don’t have any sports bar which represents India,” Jasti said. “We have only franchises or small types of bars like Buffalo Wild Wings, Bar Louie, those types of things. So we want to serve the Indian style of food around the sports bar environment.”
And that’s exactly what he plans on doing with his new movie and sports bar-themed restaurant Tollywood Lounge.
Jasti is taking over the space formerly occupied by Aurelio’s Pizza in the Springbrook Square strip center off Route 59, which closed last year after operating in Naperville for more than a decade.
Tollywood Lounge takes inspiration from the Telugu-language film industry Tollywood, Jasti said. India is home to a wide variety of languages, with the South Indian language being one of them. In recent years, the U.S. has seen a rise in Telugu speakers.
The restaurant will be serving both a mix of authentic Indian food and Indian-American fusion food. That includes everything from South Indian breakfasts and biryanis to chicken tenders and wings with Indian flavors. Customers can also enjoy various Indian alcohols such as Mansion House brandy and Kingfisher beers.
Beyond food, Jasti envisions that the restaurant will be a community gathering spot for people in the Naperville area to watch football games and cricket matches. As a sports bar, he said he particularly hopes to engage the local athletes and coaches at nearby high schools and colleges.
Jasti also plans to add a dance floor to the space, which he said should be in place in the next couple of weeks. Once it’s installed, customers can look forward to dancing the night away to music from both the U.S. and India.
While Naperville is the first Tollywood Lounge location, Jasti hopes he can expand the brand to other parts of the country. He currently owns two other restaurants, Curry Naanstop Indian Grill in Arlington Heights and Astoria Biryani House in Omaha, Nebraska.
Tollywood Lounge hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday.
cstein@chicagotribune.com