Chutney Janet, Des Plaines

Chutney Janet
847/ 593-3663
1177 S. Elmhurst Road
(between Algonquin and Dempster)
Des Plaines

We had an incindiary and delicious meal recently at Chutney Janet, which I'm told is one of the few places in Chicagoland to offer Goan-style Indian food.

Indian is probably the cuisine I know least about, but the food we had was all freshly prepared and beautifully seasoned. What I do know about this style is that it's hotter than the Northern Indian food that predominates in this area, yet while very spicy, everything was also flavorful.

We got there at about 9:30 on a Tuesday and the place was empty. They close at 10. I was a little concerned that perhaps they were closing early but they seated us graciously, and brought out pappadums and two nice chutneys.

We started out with chicken "lollipops," chicken wings encased in forcemeat and deep-fried, served with a dipping sauce, pleasant but unexciting. I was even less impressed by the greasy vegetable pakoras.

The entrees, however, were outstanding. We had the pomfret reschade, described on the menu as whole pomfret. Instead, we were served fish fillets, rubbed with a complex blend of spices and sauteed. I didn't mind not having to do my own filleting. The fish was moist, flaky and the seasoning was hot but bursting with flavor rather than pure heat. We also had the lamb pepper fry, chunks of tender lamb in a thick, rich sauce flavored with peppercorns and curry leaves. Mutter paneer, peas with cheese, was as good as anywhere I've had it.

We'd ordered onion kulcha, and it was kind of thin, crisp and uninteresting. We didn't say anything, but partly through the meal, the waiter came out with another basket of bread, saying that it was to replace the overbaked first batch. It was much better, but I'm guessing that breads aren't the restaurant's forte.

We were thinking about mango kulfi for dessert, but as we were still the only patrons in the place and it was well past closing time, we took pity on the staff and left. I'm hoping to go back to try the Goan-style fish curry soon.

If you like spicy Indian food, Chutney Janet is definitely worth visiting. One caution: If you're at all susceptible to acid reflux, stay vertical for some time after eating.

Ha! Finally! I was the only one saying (on the other board) for a long time that,
IMHO, this was the best Indian place in the city Good to see someone
else has tried it (and liked it) too.

It might well be the only one serving authentic Goan/Mangalorean cuisine IMHO.
Much more fish-based than others, probably spicier (though I suppose they
can sometimes make it non-spicy). Have had some excellent meals there.

BTW, the "chicken lollipops" you had are very unusual - I dont think there
is another Indian menu in the city that has them. I think Ive tried it only
once, but liked it quite a bit that one time. As for the pakoras, I never try
the vegetable ones - only the chicken and shrimp ones, and I like both of
them a fair bit usually (the chicken is very good, the shrimp is decent - but
was better and cheaper than Hot Wok's shrimp pakora, the only other
place in Chicago Ive seen it on the menu. However the best shrimp pakoras
Ive had were in this tiny restaurant in Toronto, and these werent at quite
that level IMHO).

Also, you can try their orange-kulfi (I think) the next time - its decent, but
unusual in the sense that it has actual orange rinds surrounding the
ice-cream.

c8w

Goa is known as a Portugese enclave. Does Chutney Janet serve beef or pork?

I took a copy of the carryout menu and promptly mislaid it (in any case it seemed to be an older version of the menu than actually served at the restaurant), so I can't answer definitively.

However, I don't recall any beef or pork on the menu and I think I would have noticed had there been any.

But there were certainly a number of dishes I have not seen elsewhere. As I said, I was most impressed that the food, though quite spicy, wasn't just about the burn. The complexity of flavors stood out.

By the way, I forgot to note that they apparently had a lunch buffet at one time but aren't serving lunch any longer.

JoelF wrote:Goa is known as a Portugese enclave. Does Chutney Janet serve beef or pork?

Have only an old menu from Chutney Janet's on me, and that doesnt seem to
list anything with pork or beef on it.

OTOH, while Goa was Portuguese for a long time, it was also Indian - and
the food is sort of a mixture. And Indians in general dont really do
beef or pork very much at all, in any form of cuisine, really. Goa isnt
all that different - it has a couple of pork dishes that are famous, but thats
about as far as it goes. Beef isnt used all that much in Goa either.

Goa is coastal, with great beaches - thus the really famous Goanese dishes
are almost always seafood. Prawns, pomprets, crabs etc. Chutney Janet's
does those, in several different dishes just as they do in Goa and other
areas in India (Reschade and Peri-Peri and Fish Curry as in Goa, Pepper
Fry as in Kerala etc). There are also several famous Chicken dishes
in Goa, and CJ's does a couple - the Canja de Galina, Vindaloo etc
(plus Coorgi as in Mangalore area cuisine, Pepper Fry from Kerala).

There are only a couple of famous Pork dishes that I can think of in Goa, at
least off the top of my head - Sorpotel, and Pork Vindaloo. However
the Vindaloo can be done with non-Pork ingredients too (which is what
CJ does). They dont do Sorpotel at all - but then Sorpotel is one of those
dishes that most people think should be eaten 2 or 3 days after its
cooked, so it probably isnt ideal for restaurants Similarly CJ's doesnt
do another really famous Goanese dish, Prawn Balchao (another dish
which is supposedly better 2 to 3 days after cooking).

I cant think of any really famous Goanese dishes that use Beef at all - in a
lot of ways that is similar to the rest of India.

But then most of the Indian food in restaurants in the US is sort of adapted
anyway. There are many terrific meat dishes in India, that are on menus
in restaurants in US restaurants - Kadai Ghost, Ghost Muglai, Ghost
Biryani and all the rest of them found in so many restaurants on Devon
and elsewhere. They are almost always served using "Lamb" in
restaurants in the US. In India, however, those same dishes are almost
*never* served using lamb. The meat of choice is almost always "mutton" -
that is, Goat. And, at least in India, Goat Meat fits much much better in
these dishes than lamb or beef does (which is why goat is preferred to
lamb for these dishes. The poor or not so well-off will often be the ones
who will eat these same dishes with Beef instead of Goat - since it is
seen as fitting less well in the dishes, it is consequently much cheaper
than Goat is).

c8w

P.S. When McDonalds opened in India, their "Maharaja Burger", the Indian
version of the Big Mac, was made not with Beef but with Goat meat. It was
something I really looked forward to eating when I made a trip to India.
But it turned out to be not very good at all - while Goat fits far better
than beef in Biryanis and Mughlai Curries, it does not IMHO grill anywhere
near as well as good Beef does, and consequently makes a quite
ordinary burger.

P.P.S. Discovered over the weekend that there is, maybe, one truly authentic
Kerala Cuisine restaurant in the Chicagoland area. It is supposedly in
Westmont of all places - dont recall the name, but this guy told me it
was about 63rd and Cass. Does anyone know of this? Anyone tried it
at all? (It might be close to a grocery store that also sells Kerala-based
stuff - spices, groceries, and videos of movies from Kerala).

c8w wrote:But then most of the Indian food in restaurants in the US is sort of adapted anyway. There are many terrific meat dishes in India, that are on menus in restaurants in US restaurants - Kadai Ghost, Ghost Muglai, Ghost Biryani and all the rest of them found in so many restaurants on Devon and elsewhere. They are almost always served using "Lamb" in restaurants in the US. In India, however, those same dishes are almost *never* served using lamb. The meat of choice is almost always "mutton" - that is, Goat.

Does "mutton" really mean goat in India? In the U.S. and Great Britain, mutton is meat from an adult sheep. I never heard of goat being called anything except "goat," unless it is immature, in which case it is "kid."

I located the misplaced carryout menu. As stated, it's somewhat different from the in-house menu (more extensive, if anything), but it definitely does not contain pork or beef dishes. No goat, either, for that matter.

LAZ wrote:

c8w wrote:But then most of the Indian food in restaurants in the US is sort of adapted anyway. There are many terrific meat dishes in India, that are on menus in restaurants in US restaurants - Kadai Ghost, Ghost Muglai, Ghost Biryani and all the rest of them found in so many restaurants on Devon and elsewhere. They are almost always served using "Lamb" in restaurants in the US. In India, however, those same dishes are almost *never* served using lamb. The meat of choice is almost always "mutton" - that is, Goat.

Does "mutton" really mean goat in India? In the U.S. and Great Britain, mutton is meat from an adult sheep. I never heard of goat being called anything except "goat," unless it is immature, in which case it is "kid."

The word is sometimes used interchangably in Indian restaurants - but thats
still rare. Most of the time, its just a default-type thing - and the default is
usually Goat, unless specified.

For example, if you go to the "cabbie joint" type places in India - that is, places
with often very good biryani etc, but poor service, unkempt look etc - you may
just find "Biryani" on the menu. And it is almost always Goat - almost a given, may
not even be mentioned. If these restaurants have other kinds of biryani (many
will not), they will list "biryani", then "chicken biryani", and, God Forbid, even
"Vegetable biryani".

The more expensive restaurants will often be more specific - and they
might call it "Meat Biryani" or "Mutton Biryani". When they do, they pretty
much always mean Goat. Lamb is really quite rare, and most places will
not serve Beef in a biryani unless it is specified, because beef is just
not considered to be of nearly as good quality for a biryani (if there
is a Beef Biryani, it will always be cheaper - as beef is cheaper to buy
on the market than Goat is, too).

Similar with other items on the menu in restaurants in India, really. If there
is lamb used, it wil usually be specified - and that isnt very often. If you
have a "Dal Ghost" for example, that is pieces of Goat in Dal, you pretty
much have to know this (because not all menus will describe what is
contained in the dish, not unless they have a fair bit of western tourist
clientele). It is understood as the default when not specifically listed. OTOH,
for the same dish in Indian restaurantsin the US, I think the default setting
is almost *never* Goat - just for the availability factor as much as anything
else (also a superior quality of beef, of course).

BTW,the above are all mostly generalizations - and with a country as
big as India things can vary a bit in some areas. The best Biryani, as far
as I know, is almost always Goat meat. Hyderabad does a great
Biryani as well as other specialty dishes, and while IIRCmost of the time
they use Goat for Biryani, they do use more Lamb than the rest of
the country might in other dishes. Nehari, OTOH, is almost always
beef, is supposed to be beef anyway (actually, upper thigh meat from
buffalo's is what Ive heard). Kababs can often be better with beef
than goat, and so often are. But in most of the country, most of the
restaurants that serve "meat gravy dishes" or "meat/mutton rice dishes -
biryanis, pulaos etc" use Goat meat.


c8w

just to add a data point on the goat versus lamb issue, while I think c8w is correct in pointing out that goat is often used as the default "gosht" is most of the cabbie joints, I think lamb is the default in many of the slightly higher priced/non steam table indian spots on devon.

I do know that in kashmir at least, lamb is much preferred for its better texture and less gamy flavor, goat would only be used as a means of economizing. Given this background it may be understandable why I might disagree with the statement that the best biryani is always goat (g)