On a Friday night at 5:30, the smell of fresh baked bread and pungent spices will hit you. This is a small restaurant on Clark Street two blocks north of Parker. Authentic music plays in the background, adding to the tranquil feel to the restaurant. All of the tables are filled.

As time passes, more people begin flowing into the restaurant and waiting near the small front door. There is a variety of people here, from families to individuals wanting to grab a quick but filling bite of authentic Indian food, prepared fresh for each customer. Take out bags line the register area as the phone almost constantly rings with more and more orders.

Hema’s Kitchen is a longstanding restaurant in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. As the area continues to change, the restaurants also change in the area, but Hema’s has remained. “Hema’s has been here for a long time,” one patron said. “It is my spot for a delicious Indian restaurant.”

The small restaurant is owned by Chef Hema Potla, whose first restaurant opened in 1991.

“When I opened my first restaurant on Devon and Oakley, it was  a small one,” Hema said,  “and after five or six years, I expanded.” After the expansion, there were still long lines, and “people used to wait from one door to the main door,” Hema said, “and I thought I should divide people, so I opened the Clark location in 2003.”  

Hema feels that her restaurants have longevity because she cooks with fresh food from scratch. “People like it very much when you make it from scratch,” Hema said. “I used to take the order and cook, and I invited people to watch through a window.” The most popular dishes are the Naan (bread filled with warm butter), the rice plates sprinkled with curry, and the chicken saag (with spinach).

Hema has loyal customers who have been coming for years.  They started as college students, and they now have families and still come to the restaurant. At the Devon location, mainly students and professors are regulars. In Lincoln Park, she has a lot of students who come to the restaurant, including Parker students, teachers, staff, and administrators. “If you have fresh food, they follow you,” Hema said. “You have to treat customers like kings.” A frequent client of Hema’s, a woman who identified herself as Olivia tried Hema’s because her boss, who is Indian, recommended it. “I come here all the time,” Olivia said.  “The food is so fresh.  He was right–this is authentic and delicious.”

When eating at Hema’s, you feel a personalized attention. The hostess greets you immediately and after finding you a table, the waiter keeps asking if you need anything else.  Each of two types of naan took fifteen minutes to bake, but each was worth the wait. “People eat the same thing again and again,” Hema said, but she likes her customers to be adventurous.

“God is good to me,” Hema said. “Once I came to America, I thought I wanted to open a beauty parlor, but then I joined a restaurant as a helper.” After four years, she decided to open her own restaurant.  In India, she was a business woman and wanted to work in Chicago too.  She has enjoyed much success. The television show “Check Please” has featured her twenty-five times. Hema said, “I was the only woman entrepreneur to come on TV so many times.”

Hema may open more restaurants in the future. Hema said, “People always tell me, ‘If you open one, we will follow you.’”