First Indian restaurant within 70-mile radius of Quincy opening soon in former Elder’s building

QUINCY — Masala, curry and tandoori connoisseurs rejoice. Indian Grillhouse is opening soon in the former Elder’s and Lucky Dogs building on the corner of 18th and State.

“By the end of this month or early next month, (the restaurant) should be (open),” restaurant owner Aravind Yepuri said.

After several years of experiencing the hustle and bustle of city life, moving to Quincy left Yepuri and his brother-in-law, Krishna Gogineni, with more free time than they were used to. Yepuri is a software engineer and Gogineni runs his own IT business from home. Their wives are radiologists at Blessing Hospital.

“I am from Virginia, and he’s from Chicago — it’s all busy life all the time,” Gogineni said. “So when we both moved here, we (had) plenty of empty time. So then (Yepuri) was like, ‘What can we do here?’”

Yepuri and his family moved to Quincy in 2021 from the Chicago suburbs, where they owned a restaurant before it closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gogineni’s family moved to town the same year but from the Washington, D.C., area of Virginia, where they opened a restaurant called Pista House. It’s still going strong and is operated by a family member.

Given the family’s experience in the industry, the answer to Yepuri’s question seemed clear. After about a year of searching for the right location, he landed at the southeast corner of 18th and State. 

Various restaurants have been in the building since the 1940s. Elder’s, which opened in 1970 and operated until June 2019, the longest-standing tenant. 

Charles Hull bought the building in spring of 2021, and by late summer, a hot dog parlor owned by Scott Frese called Lucky Dogs occupied the space. It closed in June 2024.

The duo is finally nearing the end of several months spent bringing the restaurant to life. Both plan on being heavily involved with the restaurant once it’s open, with Yepuri fulfilling the duties of general manager and Gogineni lending a helping hand.

It will be the only Indian restaurant within a 70-mile radius.

Curiosity for the building’s new tenants has been building since their signage went up in late November 2024.

Zayne Feely shared his excitement in a “local happenings” social media group and asked if anyone had more information about the new restaurant. He’d seen a sign in front of the building. No additional information was offered, but dozens of comments shared his enthusiasm for the possibility that Indian cuisine would soon be offered in Quincy.

“I’ve been waiting to see an Indian restaurant in Quincy for years. It’s my favorite food, probably out of anything,” Feely said.

A daily lunch buffet at a restaurant called Little India got Feely “hooked” on the cuisine while he was living in Colorado (he estimated he was there three times per week), and a three-month exploration of India only intensified his appreciation.

“I got a lot of authentic cuisine,” Feely said. “The culture and everything about it — I was just super into it.”

Yepuri and Gogineni hail from South India, known for its intensely spicy cuisine. The offerings of Indian Grillhouse will be representative of the country’s cuisine as a whole, though, and the spice level can be adjusted based on a guest’s preference.

“The food will be mild,” Gogineni said. “If somebody comes here and says, ‘I love spicy stuff,’ then we can add more spice and customize the dish for them.”

The restaurant will offer a variety of curries (‘curry’ is a general term that refers to a dish with meat, vegetables and/or tofu in a spiced sauce served over rice or bread), such as:

• chicken tikka masala, a dish with marinated and smoked chicken and a rich, tangy, spicy sauce;
• paneer tikka, a vegetarian variation of chicken tikka masala with vegetables and cubes of paneer cheese, similar to cottage cheese;
• aloo gobi, another vegetarian dish with cauliflower, potatoes and traditional spices; and
• dal, a curried dish made with lentils and various spices.

Tandoori chicken, another popular traditional dish with marinated chicken on skewers, also will be served at the restaurant. The chicken is placed vertically in a tandoor oven — a cylindrical oven traditionally heated with wood or charcoal with a clay pot inside that allows for cooking temperatures much higher than regular ovens and often results in a distinctively smoky flavor. The chicken is heated by the walls of the pot. 

The traditional Indian style of bread, a soft and chewy flatbread made with yogurt called naan, also is baked in the tandoor oven. It’s often served on the side of curry dishes to scoop up every last bit of sauce.

“We used bread mostly for utensils,” Feely said of his time in India.

The restaurant also will serve alcohol. In addition to domestic offerings, the owners are exploring the possibility of adding a few Indian beers and Scotch varietals to the menu.

For those who haven’t yet tried Indian food, Yepuri and Gogineni have a recommendation — and it happens to be Feely’s favorite.

“Two words: butter chicken,” Feely said.

It’s one of the most popular traditional Indian dishes. It is known for its decadent pairing of juicy, marinated grilled chicken with a rich, creamy, slightly sweet and, of course, buttery tomato sauce. 

“I hope (Quincyans) respond well,” Feely said. “I know around here we like our bar food and our Mexican food … I think there is a scene that would be intrigued by (Indian food), you know, something to kind of switch it up.”