Village Garden - Pakistani And Middle Eastern In Bridgeview

Bad news for Pairs4life, good news for me.

Huckleberry Pancake House which turned into "Eggs All Styles" is no longer in this space. Instead, we have a new(ish)comer, bearing gifts of meat, pepper, and falafel, in Village Garden. We were on our way to Fattoush in Worth to gorge on Middle Eastern goodness, but on the way, I saw a sign stating, "Pakistani And Middle Eastern," and like moth to flame...

Nice enough room, not a dive by any means - booths, tables, white table cloths, and a four season room on the side which is a hookah bar.

Decent sized menu, all your faves from both genres. Gratis was a starter of baba g, hummus, naan, and a spicy relish. The baba g looked very suspect, it was small dice of eggplant mixed with tahini. I'd guess the eggplant was not roasted to a charred doneness, but probably diced, then baked. It worked. It wasn't the standard smokey, lemony, pureed dip you'd expect, but it worked, and it worked well. We both liked it a lot, though it wasn't what we were expecting. The hummus was decent, nothing special (as I normally view hummus anyway.) We gobbled up everything before I could get a shot of the amuse, but the relish was soo good, they brought us more. Oddly, it was like a fresh giardiniera. I'd swear on my life, that the green flecks were basil:


The spicing of this food started to make me think we were in for a treat from someone who was actually proud of the food that they served, and created, and also that they actually TASTED the food they were a slingin'.

Veggie Samosa:

These were brought out later in the meal, so I only had about a quarter of one. They were pretty big, and the flavors were wasted on my overstimulated tongue, and already stretched out belly. They were good, however, and the next day, for leftovers, I got to enjoy them in all their glory. These were damn fine, pretty spicy, and well balanced. Very much recommend.

Chicken Makhani:

Standard, decently spicy. One of the good versions. There were also some fresh ginger bits that popped out. It was probably better than I am giving it credit for, but the palak paneer was frickin mind blowing, so by comparison, it just wasn't the star of the show.

Palak Paneer:

Posted about this in the Best thing You've Eaten Lately thread. Jeebus, this stuff was fantastic. Not health food by any means. Cream, and cream, and more cream, and ghee, and cheese bits, and chile. Comfort food on steroids. I can't even relay how much we loved this, however, it was soooo, not health food. This was rich, and delicious, and the spicing was perfect. Might be considered "hot" by some, but I found it to be good and spicy, but not over the top. I gushed to several of the workers about how good it was. What appeared to be the owner stopped over, and I gushed to him as well. He was genuinely pleased that I was so complimentary towards all of the cooking, and we got to talking a little. He said he was a chef at a BIG, BIG, chain for a long time. I forgot the name, but it was one of those that when he said the name, I almost laughed out loud because I thought he was joking. What he said was that this new restaurant has been open for about a year now, and he has been really tweaking the menu for consistency and greatness. I believe him. He also said that he has not been advertising because he wants to have all of his ducks in a row first. He also said that the place is packed sometimes, which tells me that perhaps the food really is consistent. The stuff we had was really flippin good. Very rich, like what youd expect at a schnazzy hotel, but let me tell ya, the heat was there, tho not over the top. I really wonder if we go back that the bar has been set too high, and it will be a letdown. Probably be back in a few weeks because it really was good. Nihari, falafel, chicken kerahi, kibbeh, really - most of the basic standards for each genre. (They were out of nihari, but he said they should have it every day. He said they ran out because the place was packed the night before.) I hope what we tried was really the kind of cooking we can expect each time. There will definitely be an update from me in a few weeks.
The naan/garlic naan tasted more like really good, chewy, pizza dough, and I loved it too:

7201 West 84th St.
Bridgeview, IL 60455
(708) 233-7744

I am there in the morning for court this week. But this will go into my lunch rotation out there. Thanks seebee.

Dave148 -
Tks for adding the addy. After finding no website, I forgot to at least post the address.

Pairs4life - The owner type person did speak of a lunch special, or lunch box option, and he said it was available. I'm not sure if there's a special lunch menu, but if you do happen to make it over there, and there is no lunch menu, I'd definitely ask about the special lunch options.

We're getting takeout there tomorrow, so I'll have to post some pictures. We dined in once and got takeout once. Agreed that the giardiniera/spicy relish was fantastic. The Stuffed Lamb dish (lamb filets over a heaping mound of spiced rice with almonds, ground lamb, etc.) was excellent. Butter Chicken was addicting. The owner/server was very friendly and helpful.

Had dinner here last night. Falafel were excellent. Got the Palak Paneer and Chicken Tikka, both were really really good. The Paneer was a little greener than the picture above, it was delicious. Only had two people and we definitely had enough food for 4! Starter plate was hummus, relish of sorts (looked like the above picture but with a tomato-ish liquid), and diced cucumbers and tomatoes tossed with tahini (what I've seen called Jerusalem salad at other places) with naan.

Able to return tonight.
Palak Paneer -
Not as creamy as the first try, but still excellent. Creamier than most versions I've had. Still had plenty of flavor popping. They know what they are doing with palak paneer here.

Chicken Kerahi -
The wife thought it was better than I did. The server asked if we'd like it spicy or mild. We both said spicy. She came back to make sure, and we reiterated, "spicy." The palak paneer was spicier, yet we didn't request it to be spicy like we did with the kerahi. Anyway, the kerahi just didn't "pop" for me. Maybe it's me, but, again, the wife thought it was really good.

We also split the mixed appetizer which is a smallish portion of your pick of three regular apps. We picked samosa, falafel, and chicken pakora. Falafel were a little dense, imo, but still just fine. Samosa and pakora were very decent.

They are still setting tables up with an amuse. Tonight was baba g, hummus, the relish-like substance (which tonight, had some really searing green chilies - I'd guess serranos. The peppers really hit the spot - loved them.)

I wanted to try nihari, but the wife wanted chicken instead. If we ordered nihari, it would just be WAAAAY too much. you gotta bring an appetite here. Massive portions. They aren't serving 3 chunks of chicken with a whooooolllee lotta sauce in those little dinky metal dishes here. They are pumping out some really decent portions in pasta bowl sized serving dishes. This place...I gotta start working through this menu. The palak paneer alone is enough to keep bringing this devout meatasaurus back.

Oh - side note. We all thought we were gonna have to poo-poo the service. Jr's kid's meal cheeseburger was supposed to come with one side and a drink. We ordered fruit as the side, and a nice sized pile of fresh fruit arrived. When we asked about the drink options, our server said they basically had anything, juices, sodas, whathaveyou. Jr asked about lemonade, "No problem!" After 15 minutes with no lemonade (1st world probs, I know, I know.) The server returned with apologies...

ICE COLD, FRESH SQUEEZED LEMONADE, YO!
They were back there friggin squeezin lemons, y'all.