Indian Recs for the adventurous

Some friends and I want to head out to devon tonight, I was hoping for some recs. I spent a fair amount of time searching here. but it gets a little confusing - sometimes one place looks good, and then you find in a later thread its gone, or renovated.

So sorry if this has been done.

We're looking for something pretty authentic. We like the spicy. Northern might be prefered for the heartiness of it, but we're open. A sit-down BYOB "taxi-cab" place would be fantastic, but anything into the medium price range is fine. We like to order lots of things and share it all, so a place with a fairly solid menu is good - and staff that will tell you what they like.

Suggestions appreciated - report to follow, will attempt pictures too

Thanks!

-Erik

A sit-down BYOB "taxi-cab" place would be fantastic


http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=5501
I've never been yet, but I think Ghareeb Nawaz is going to be recommended by a few here. I have an Indian friend at work who likes it a lot for being a VERY INFORMAL taxi cab style place with good eats.

Welcome to LTHForum.

You might also want to consider Hyderabad House.

Adventurous? Try the brain masala at Sabri Nehari, recently closed by fire but now open in a smaller temporary location across the street.

Also, consider Khan BBQ, which has some of my favorite food on Devon, now open on the SW corner of Devon and Western.

Best,
Michael

I've eaten up and down Devon, and I keep coming back to Hema's Kitchen. It's not at all fancy, but the food is consistently wonderful. Bring some Indian beer and don't fail to order samosas. If you don't mind losing radio contact with your face, try her vindaloo.

Hema's Kitchen
6406 N Oakley Ave.
(773) 338-1627

Also, check out Gary's reports from Shan. That might interest the adventurous. (Though it's on Sheridan just south of Foster. Out of the imeediate Devon area.)

eatchicago wrote:Welcome to LTHForum.

You might also want to consider Hyderabad House.

Adventurous? Try the brain masala at Sabri Nehari, recently closed by fire but now open in a smaller temporary location across the street.

Also, consider Khan BBQ, which has some of my favorite food on Devon, now open on the SW corner of Devon and Western.

Best,
Michael

Um humm. The OP asked for a "sit-down, cabbie joint, BYOB place". As far
as I know, that doesnt exist

None of the above spots are BYOB - none of them serve alcohol obviously,
but they will also not let you bring alcohol into their premises. You cannot
eat there and BYOB. The only BYOB's I can think of are Hema's Kitchen
and Bhabi's Kitchen (and I personally wouldnt eat at either, as far as
food is concerned

Anyway. If it isnt BYOB youre searching for... Id still say my own personal
faves are probably Usmaniya, Chopal and Khan's for the best food. For more
economical cabbie-joint style food - Hyderabad House, probably. (All
these are Northern/Pakistani/meat-based. Not "Indian" per se, but more
subcontinental).

c8w

c8w wrote:

eatchicago wrote:Welcome to LTHForum.

You might also want to consider Hyderabad House.

Adventurous? Try the brain masala at Sabri Nehari, recently closed by fire but now open in a smaller temporary location across the street.

Also, consider Khan BBQ, which has some of my favorite food on Devon, now open on the SW corner of Devon and Western.

Best,
Michael

Um humm. The OP asked for a "sit-down, cabbie joint, BYOB place". As far
as I know, that doesnt exist

Erik wrote:...but anything into the medium price range is fine...

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:

c8w wrote:

eatchicago wrote:Welcome to LTHForum.


Um humm. The OP asked for a "sit-down, cabbie joint, BYOB place". As far
as I know, that doesnt exist

Erik wrote:...but anything into the medium price range is fine...

Best,
Michael

I know - was merely providing a warning that the OP shouldnt expect to
walk into any of the rec'd spots bearing bottles of wine... or else they would
be turned away

Also was using your post to piggyback some of my own suggestions onto
(sorry, wasnt trying to be contradictory above, even if it might have come
across that way).

c8w

I would second the recommendations for Usmaniya and Chopal, but they definitely will not let you bring alcohol. East of Western, I think only Bhabi's and Hema's will let you bring in alcohol. Ghareeb Nawaz has been recommended by some, but I have not been that impressed. Also, Shan in the strip mall on Sheridan north of Foster has been receommended. BTW, strange as it sounds, I think Raj Darbar in Lincoln Park is pretty fair.

I like Bhabi's myself. Good food, cheap, almost greasless bhindi massala, great nan, and Mr. Syed is a gas. Also, they do a yummy dish called 'Haleem' made of shreaded beef and bulgar wheat - haven't found anything else like it on Devon.

They fill up quick so go before 7pm.

Bhabi's Kitchen
6352 N. Oakley
773-764-7007

By far, Khan's should be the first choice, then Usmaniya. Chopal is way too inconsistent IMHO.

I think I've expressed my likes and dislikes on this probably far too much already but I'd say go to khan's (though without the booze)

eatchicago wrote:Adventurous? Try the brain masala at Sabri Nehari, recently closed by fire but now open in a smaller temporary location across the street.

I think the brain masala much better at Shan (It was one of things I loved best on the 24-hour a thon a long long time ago in another virtual place)

Agreed on Khan and Usmania. I live just around the corner from Ghareeb Nawaz, and so I go there quite a bit. You have to know what to order. Their naan is delicious, and a real deal at $.50 apiece. The frontier beef is very good. They are known for their biryani. A lot of the chicken dishes have bones in them and can be kind of gristly, so order with care.

We received a very good piece of advice from a cabbie one time. We were talking to him about good Pakistani places on Devon, and he admonished us never to order vegetarian food (he was speaking specifically of Ghareeb Nawaz, but I'd imagine this holds true for most places) because Pakistanis love to eat meat, the meat dishes are the best and freshest things on the menu, whereas veggie stuff just kind of sits there. This bit of wisdom has proved itself to me time and again on Devon

Ahhh so! I am a vegetarian (a sloppy one, but still), and the food I'm thinking of at Ghareeb Nawaz that was not great was, in fact, vegetarian. So your dictum seems to hold true. However, the veggie stuff I've had at Usmaniya, Bhabi's, and Chopal has been usually excellent, so perhaps the moral is: at the cheaper cabbie places, don't eat vegetarian?

its not really a cabbie thing per se so much as a hindu/muslim thing. For reasons too long to go into here most of the cabbies here are muslim and frequent either hyderbadi muslim or pakistani places. observant hindus are often vegetarian and so will have more and better vegetarian choices while islam without strictures against meat will have more meat based meals.

that said, my own personal opinion is that the veggie offerings at bhabi's and usmania aren't that great, though I do like the few veggies at chopal (especially the saag), but even at the sit down pakistani places in general I wouldn't order veggies (this is rather annoying for me, given my carnivorous tastes and my wife's vegetarian stance)

I've enjoyed the okra at Chopal once or twice. It was quite good, though I hear they are inconsistent. I also really liked the lentil fry at Usmania, but none of the other veggie stuff we had floated our boats. Really, it makes sense to order the specialty of the house - I can't hold so-so veggie food against Usmania, since they do their meat dishes so beautifully.

I used to stick to veggie food when a Devon establishment looked to be of dubious cleanliness, but past experience has taught me that is not necessarily a preventative against food poisoning I have never actually gotten sick off of a meat dish from anywhere on Devon, so.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:I've enjoyed the okra at Chopal once or twice. It was quite good, though I hear they are inconsistent. I also really liked the lentil fry at Usmania, but none of the other veggie stuff we had floated our boats. Really, it makes sense to order the specialty of the house - I can't hold so-so veggie food against Usmania, since they do their meat dishes so beautifully.

I think most of the Pakistani places still make very good Dal and Okra (for the veggies). After that, I generally would not recommend trying to order a full-on veggie meal. I'm sure there are exceptions, many of the places may do a specific vegetable dish well, but I'm not going to slog through the menus trying to find them, although I'm sure it might be worthwhile for the vegetarians.

I think the variety of all the recs was a good sign that all the places would be at least worth trying.

We decided to favor food over beer (and make up the difference at the Long Room). We were shooting for Khan's but didn't immediately locate its temporary location. Cold and increasingly hungry, Usmania's bright light beckoned us inside.

We ordered:

- Usmania Platter
- Nehari
- Daal Fry
- Biryani Chicken
- a few different Naans

We had all had similiar things before but weren't experts.

It was all pretty good - nothing blew my mind, but if Usmania was next door I'd easily eat there all the time. The Nehari was really good, and the Daal Fry quite surprising (we had ordered it as a "just in case we're still hungry" veggie dish). Actually the Daal Fry had an odd very smokey taste that was really interesting.

Our waiter was nice but shy; he would kinda mumble some things and point around, I think recommending different types of Naan for the dishes, and then disappear. It seemed that the non-rices dishes really needed to be eaten with the Naan - is the proper way to do this to reach into the dishes with a piece of naan and pinch some food, ethiopian style, or combine it on your own plate.

Devon is pretty out of the way for me, so I hadn't really tried a lot of things. I think for the sake of furthuring my knowledge I owe it to myself to try a few more places. Maybe....all of them. And it make take a few tries each

I wish some of these places would deliver 4 miles

So, thanks again!

-Erik

My experience at these BBQ places is that if you're lucky,there will be one veggie dish, a dal or a dal palak. Two and you've hit the jackpot. Chopal has 3. I like Chopal's sag and dal fry very much, (though once they didn't wash the saag well and it was like eating grit), the okra also pretty good. I also like the dal fry and dal palak at Usmaniya (2). But at Hyderabad and Ghareeb Nawaz - slim pickings.

Erik wrote: It seemed that the non-rices dishes really needed to be eaten with the Naan - is the proper way to do this to reach into the dishes with a piece of naan and pinch some food, ethiopian style, or combine it on your own plate.

Either way is fine, depends on your comfort level with your dining companions. I'm glad you got the daal fry, that was one of my favorite things. The flavor is kind of insidious - I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but then I started to crave it.

mellonhead wrote:I like Bhabi's myself. Good food, cheap, almost greasless bhindi massala, great nan, and Mr. Syed is a gas. Also, they do a yummy dish called 'Haleem' made of shreaded beef and bulgar wheat - haven't found anything else like it on Devon.

They fill up quick so go before 7pm.

Well, Ive expressed my (not-so-positive) opinions on Bhabi's before,
so I wont repeat myself However...

The yummy dish called Haleem is actually available in several other
spots around Devon (in what I personally believe are better versions,
but YMMV obviously). The "Muslim sit-down" places will all carry
it, obviously - that is, Usmaniya, Sabri Nehari etc. (BY which I mean,
they will carry it every day of the week). I have had the Haleem at
Usmaniya often enough, and enjoyed it.

In addition, Haleem is a big item in Hyderabad, India on "religious-ish"
occasions. Thus, most of the cabbie joints (Daata Durbar, Hyderabad
House) will do "Haleem Specials" every Friday through the entire
year, and every day of the month during Ramadan. (Last Ramadan,
Chopal also did a Haleem special every day of the month - Iam,
however, not sure they do a Friday-special Haleem, if they do I
havent tried it).

If youre really looking for Haleem elsewhere on Devon, it wont be
hard to find. I havent been to Ravi Kabab Houe in a while - but Iam
sure they do Haleem too, at least some days of the week. Zam-Zam
might as well. I believe JK Kabab House does it as a special sometimes
too. It is definitely not restricted to only one restaurant, at any rate.
(Even Ghareeb Nawaz does Haleem I believe, though I wouldnt
swear to it being much good - it is, probably, a 3 or 4 buck Haleem
after all, so they are likely to skimp on the meat

c8w

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:I've enjoyed the okra at Chopal once or twice. It was quite good, though I hear they are inconsistent. I also really liked the lentil fry at Usmania, but none of the other veggie stuff we had floated our boats. Really, it makes sense to order the specialty of the house - I can't hold so-so veggie food against Usmania, since they do their meat dishes so beautifully.

I used to stick to veggie food when a Devon establishment looked to be of dubious cleanliness, but past experience has taught me that is not necessarily a preventative against food poisoning I have never actually gotten sick off of a meat dish from anywhere on Devon, so.

Chopal is kind of a Hyderabadi-ish place (at least, one of their owners
is Hyderabadi).. so maybe they pay a touch more attention to the veggies
The reports on their sarson-ka-saag have been very very good, for
instance. But they, too, have about 3 veggie times on their menu.

At a place like Usmaniya... Ive eaten there literally dozens of times I
believe, and never once come close to ordering a veggie dish. I just
wouldnt do it - not the kind of place for it, IMHO. When there are
veggie friends who accompany me to Devon, we dont ever go to
Usmaniya - they just wouldnt have anything to eat. It is kind
of accepted (simlarly, we wouldnt go to Khan's, or Sabri either.
They do have 2 or 3 reasonable veggie dishes each, but they are
really not places *for* vegetarians, except in a pinch).

As for the places that arent particularly clean... Id actually recommend
meat dishes there, I think Mostly because theyre mostly cabbie
joints, and thus specialize heavily in meat-oriented dishes, with
the veggies being a bit of an afterthought ... and thus the veggies
are likely to be not-so-fresh, and in general sittnig around for periods.
At the very least the meat dishes will be in constant rotation IMHO.

If you want veggie dishes... Iam no expert, but Id suggest sticking to
the more "mainstream" areas of Devon, the Indian-part (ie west
of Western). Places like Udipi and Mysore Woodlands are great
for vegetarians, and I suppose places like India House or Tiffin
make an attempt at reasonable food of both kinds

c8w

Erik wrote:We ordered:

- Usmania Platter
- Nehari
- Daal Fry
- Biryani Chicken
- a few different Naans

We had all had similiar things before but weren't experts.

It was all pretty good - nothing blew my mind, but if Usmania was next door I'd easily eat there all the time. The Nehari was really good, and the Daal Fry quite surprising (we had ordered it as a "just in case we're still hungry" veggie dish). Actually the Daal Fry had an odd very smokey taste that was really interesting.

Our waiter was nice but shy; he would kinda mumble some things and point around, I think recommending different types of Naan for the dishes, and then disappear. It seemed that the non-rices dishes really needed to be eaten with the Naan - is the proper way to do this to reach into the dishes with a piece of naan and pinch some food, ethiopian style, or combine it on your own plate.
-Erik

Hmm. As the resident Usmaniya-regular on this board ...

Usmaniya Platter - its decent, IMHO, not much more than that. I like a
couple of their kababs ok, and theyre IMHO better with it than a few
other sit-down places (ie Sabri, their nearest competitor in this field,
I have found had dry kababs a few times, which put me off a bit).
However, if you *really* want great kababs... Khan's is the place
(intersection of Devon and Western BTW, you cant miss it). And the
other "kabab specialists" are better options too.. JK Kabab House,
Ravi etc.

Iam not surprised you liked the Nehari - it is one of their excellent
dishes, IMHO. As good as any Nehari in town (maybe Sabri shades
them a bit on their signature dish, if anyone does, but Iam notn always
sure of that).

Daal fry - Ive heard decent reports of it too.

Various naans - I dont try too many different naans at Usmaniya, I
dont regard variety as their strength, neccesarily. Their normal
tandoori naan is often very good, and quite good enough for me.
The last time I didnt even care for their paratha much (which is
unusual for me, I usually like most parathas).

Chicken Biryani ... I have eaten dozens of biryanis at Usmaniya,
and liked most of them a *lot*, I think they have the best biryani in
town... but they have *all* been Goat Biryani's, I have never ever
tried their Chicken Biryani One friend, who doesnt eat goat, tried
it once, and his reports were not overly enthusiastic. But even
without his reports I wouldnt have tried it (as I may have mentioned
before, Chicken Biryani is blasphemy to me - like Chicken Nehari
would be. Or a sausage sandwich made of chicken. Or a cheeseburger
made of seitan Their goat biryani has, on the rare occasion, been
just ordinary - and on their best days has been wnoderful. Usually
i find it very good (which is more than one can say about any
other biryani in town, IMHO).

Another dish you didnt try (but IMHO may have enjoyed)... the Kadai
Ghost. Also a "wet" dish, like the Nehari, and eaten with Naan and/or
rice. Yes, the wet dishes are eaten with naans - you *could* reach
over into the dish itself, but in mixed company one usually spoons a
share of it into ones own plate, breaks off a piece of the naan, and
spoons a naan/gravy mixture into ones mouth. Another way is to
order plain rice, pour the gravy and meat over it, mix it all up - with
a fork or fingers - and then eat it (preferably with the fingers
You dont spoon it over biryani, however - biryani should be
eaten by itself, with its spices and meat mixed properly into the rice.

In general, I think, Usmaniya does the best goat dishes in the city -
thats probably why I like it, I suppose After several meals there
I can recommend those without reservation. The veggie dishes I
can offer no opinion on, having never tried them there; the chicken
dishes I have almost no opinion on (only tried a couple, theyre
pretty good, but the goat dishes are by far the standouts. The Kadai
Chicken is decent enough; Ive been told that the Chicken Korma was
good by a friend, but its only a second-hand report). THe
Haleem Ive liked a fair bit - but Iam a fan of Haleem in general
anyway (shredded meat, lentils, spices - eaten with naan or
plain rice, or just plain if one wishes I suppose).

As long as one sticks to the *meat* dishes at Usmaniya (and thats
the properly strict interpretation of meat, even eliminating chicken for
some dishes), I think one can be very very happy at Usmaniya. Some
straying into the chicken department... youre probably still in pretty
good shape. Anything else, youre on your own.. good luck

c8w

c8w wrote:

mellonhead wrote:I like Bhabi's myself. Good food, cheap, almost greasless bhindi massala, great nan, and Mr. Syed is a gas. Also, they do a yummy dish called 'Haleem' made of shreaded beef and bulgar wheat - haven't found anything else like it on Devon.

They fill up quick so go before 7pm.

Well, Ive expressed my (not-so-positive) opinions on Bhabi's before,
so I wont repeat myself However...

The yummy dish called Haleem is actually available in several other
spots around Devon (in what I personally believe are better versions,
but YMMV obviously). The "Muslim sit-down" places will all carry
it, obviously - that is, Usmaniya, Sabri Nehari etc. (BY which I mean,
they will carry it every day of the week). I have had the Haleem at
Usmaniya often enough, and enjoyed it.


c8w

Usmaniya's Haleem is outstanding, one of the reasons I go there repeatedly. Talk about slow food...

Side note - is not brain used to thicken Haleem during the cooking process? Or am I confusing another of the slow-cooked stew dishes?

edit: Scratch that, I mixed up Nihari and Haleem... brain in Nehari: Check. Not in haleem.

From the vegetarian point of view. I love Usmaniya. We've been many times. They usually only have two veggie dishes, dal fry and dal palak-spinach and chana dal, (though on one occasion I'm pretty sure they had another), but they are yummy. My meat eating daughters also love it. Only my wine-loving partner does not.

c8w wrote:I have eaten dozens of biryanis at Usmaniya,
and liked most of them a *lot*, I think they have the best biryani in
town...

I can definitely see why someone would say that. The (goat) biryanis I've gotten at Usmaniya have all been very good -- freshly made and very nicely spiced. But I have to say, I actually get cravings for Hyderabad House's biryani. It's usually reheated, which means the pieces of meat have varying degrees of tenderness, whereas Usmaniya's goat is uniformly tender. But there's something about the flavor of HH's biryani that makes me prefer it to all others.

By the way, for the past several weekends Hyderabad House has offered their Chicken 65. If this trend continues into this weekend and you don't drop whatever you're doing and race over to HH for a bowl of this stuff then you, sir or madam, are a fool. A fool, I say!

(I think Ghareeb Nawaz may offer this dish all the time, but I prefer HH's version.)

This may also qualify as lunch under $5. (Unless it's $6? I always get the meal, so I'm not sure.)

cilantro wrote:By the way, for the past several weekends Hyderabad House has offered their Chicken 65. If this trend continues into this weekend and you don't drop whatever you're doing and race over to HH for a bowl of this stuff then you, sir or madam, are a fool. A fool, I say!

(I think Ghareeb Nawaz may offer this dish all the time, but I prefer HH's version.)

This may also qualify as lunch under $5. (Unless it's $6? I always get the meal, so I'm not sure.)

Hm. I like a good Chicken 65 a lot, the proper Hyderabadi version - one of the
best chicken dishes going IMHO (along with the Chilli Chicken at Chopal).

Daata Durbar used to have a quite excellent Chicken 65 too, but, as with
HH, they offer it only on certain days (or offered, I guess, the "older"
Daata Durbar seems to have unfortunately closed its doors - I hear a
restaurant from Lahore or something will be arriving in its place).

Does HH offer their 65 every weekend, all weekend? I do seem to remember
Saturday IIRC being their day for it, but all weekend would be great. I often
wished theyd offer it more often (their version, or Daata's, is not comparable
with Ghareeb Nawaz's version IMHO - those 2 spots are actual Hyderabadi
spots, and Chicken 65 is very much a Hyderabadi dish).

I must do it again soon, thanks for the reminder And Iam not sure of
the "under 5" anymore - the last time I was at HH, IIRC their "meals" were
up to 6.50 or 7, werent they? And their individual dishes (a much worse
"deal", without the rice or the daal, only with 1 paratha IIRC) is usually only a
buck cheaper... ie nowadays probably just over the 5-buck-limit

c8w

c8w wrote:Does HH offer their 65 every weekend, all weekend? I do seem to remember
Saturday IIRC being their day for it, but all weekend would be great.

I definitely had it on a Sunday within the past few weeks. Beyond that, it's obviously the luck of the draw -- they haven't offered it in a looong time, and now, suddenly, one can get it several weekends in a row. I guess one could call before embarking (their number is 773-381-1230, according to Metromix).

You're right, the meals are now up to $7. Cursed inflation!

I'm relatively new to Chicago (about 5 months) and my girlfriend and I are trying to find good restaurants, with only mixed success. Although there are undoubtedly good restaurants in this town, there are just so many restauruants in general that there are lots of bad ones too. To narrow the choices down, we've tried guidebooks, word of mouth, and now, LTHForum. Last night we ventured out to Devon Street for Indian food for the first time since we've been here. Before going, I read a lengthy old thread re: "Indian Food" on LTH, which, after all was said and done, only left me more confused since everyone seemed to think a different restaurant was the best, but of course some restaurants had better this or that etc. Really confusing. We settled on Tiffin because it looked to be a good compromise option on the board, with everyone seemingly agreeing that it was pretty good but not the best at anything.

So, although I'm no expert (which is why advice as to where to get the best this or that is not too helpful to me at this point), I was not very impressed by Tiffin.

My question to all you foodies who know about this stuff: the chicken tikka masala I ordered tasted nothing like chicken tikka masala I've had anywhere else. It was more watery and far more tomatoey. Is this because it was more [a) authentic, or b) crappy] than what I've had before?

Trex