New northern Rogers Park East Indian [Luzzat Restaurant]

The Luzzat Restaurant at 1505 West Jarvis is open for business. Serving, purportedly (because I have no idea) , East Indian–style dishes. My husband brought take-away home last night, and was impressed. I had leftovers this afternoon, Lamb Biryani and something like little burgers in tomato sauce. I, too, was impressed. I'm very excited about this because it's a two minute stroll from my residence. The spot used to be a chinese/korean/soul food place that I was always afeared of.

Tomorrow we plan to try the Breakfast Special of Halwa, Puri, Channe, Raitia, Pickle--#3.99 (sez the menu).

I'm a long-time lurker. Followed you folks from that other site, once I figgered it out. (Where did all those fascinatin' people go, I wondered!) LTH is my favorite internet reading material!

thanks for being here,
Mel

Luzzat Restaurant
1505 W. Jarvis St.
Chicago, IL 60626
773-764-1065

Welcome, Melky. That's an interesting find, I'm sure it will get checked out by others as well.

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll go check it out and report back. I'm in Evanston and always on the lookout for good Indian that's closer than Devon.

I usually get my non-Devon Indian fix at Wiener and Still Champion (802 Dempster St, Evanston) which is primarily your standard Chicago hot dog/polish/Italian beef place, but it's run by an Indian guy who sells homemade biriyani on Thursdays-Saturdays. The biriyani is quite good, cheap ($4 for a big serving!), and the only problem with it is that the neighborhood "discovered" it and now he usually sells out by early evening.

Thanks for the tip on Wiener. I had no idea he has biryani. I will make a point of trying it this THursday and i'll get there early

Just a couple of heads-up if you do go to Wiener and Still Champion:

1) The proprietor is the only guy working after 5 on Thurs-Sat, so if he's not behind the counter, call out and he'll probably come running from the back.
2) The biriyani is great, but if he runs out, he may recommend a "paratha kebab." Do NOT get this, it is frozen and then microwaved and has the kind of texture you'd expect from that treatment. Very disappointing.
3) His samosas are quite good, though, and dirt cheap.

You know I've never had the biryani, mainly because I've had the samosas, which (at least the time I had them) was obviously bought elswhere and refried. Not Good (and as a bonus, more expensive, than devon)

By one of those LTH coincidences that seem to grow more common daily, my wife happened to notice Luzzat this evening for the first time as she headed back from picking up the boy at day camp off Sheridan. Calls me at work and asks me if this was the place I had mentioned to her in passing. I tell her, indeed and to by all means stop in and bring some home.

We concur with the OP about everything. Lamb biryani was very nice, and surprisingly black-peppery (in a good way). Butter chicken was a nice, rich version of the dish. A veg. soup was, to me, quite uncharacteristic, though good: it contained celery, carrot, onion, elboy macaroni and some smallish pasta like acini di pepe on steriods. Nothing about it said Indo/Pak. to me, but it was quite good. They were out of nan and subbed another bread which looked intriguing, but was ultimately cottony and not so interesting, though fine for sopping up sauce.

The samosa was mildly disappointing with a heavy, starchy filling a bit like Indian spiced kishka. I love kishka, but in its place. Not at the center of deep fried dough.

In addition to which my wife said everyone was very nice and very careful to explain everything.

It's not competition for Devon, but as a great little neighborhood option of its own, very welcome.

Main dishes don't seem to get above $6.99.

Good and Bad at Luzzat

Went to Luzzat today for lunch. Ordered the beef tikka kabob with salad and lentil soup, and a chapati.

The Good:

1. Beef kabob was juicy and tasty, rice was fresh and fluffy. Yum. Especially good with the condiment on the table--I forget what it's called, za'atar or mahlab, it's basically a sour, fruity powder that tastes great on grilled meat.
2. Lentil soup was think and flavorful, not too spicy, very satisfying.

The Bad

1. They were out of chapati, so I asked for a paratha instead. The "paratha" was a flour tortilla. And the waiter neglected to tell me that my kabob was in fact served with bread, so I had a big basket of bread in addition to my "paratha." The bread wasn't too great, as an above poster commented.
2. I don't recommend that you use the olive oil provided on the table. It looked kind of icky when I examined it.

Overall: OK, but I'll still make the trip in to Devon.

We just stopped by Taste Food & Wine this evening, as seems a Saturday evening tradition for us these days, and happened into a champagne tasting, which was a delight. We got to chatting with Jamie, co-owner, and talk led to dinner, as we were ambivalent about what to do.

Jamie highly recommended Luzzat, so we finally checked it out...I've been curious about it since it opened, but never stopped in, as I had never seen anyone in there, though admittedly, I'm walking by at 5pm on my way home from work - a little early for dinner rush.

So, we ordered Veggie Samosas, Chana Masala, Chicken Vindaloo, and Paratha. We found everything to be excellent, and far exceeded Indian Garden (of late) in quality and flavor.

I really wished I had my camera on me tonight, but the vegetable samosas were light, fluffy, and well spiced. Chana Masala is typically my go-to dish for trying new Indian spots, and this might have been the best chana I've ever had. Well-spiced and finished with fresh cilantro and a nice sauce for sopping up with paratha.

The husband had the chicken vindaloo, and while I can't generally take the level of heat of a vindaloo, the bite I had was very good - spice enough to make Mark sweat pretty good, and a generous serving.

We walked out of there with enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow, and a total bill of $20...we will definitely be going back there soon.

Just a modest "me too" -- some friends dropped by Monday and since they suggested Indian, I suggested they pick up from Luzzat. We had much the same menu as Jenn and we found it all very satisfying. (We also had good Sag Paneer.)

I wouldn't suggest anyone choose it specifically over a Devon destination, but I'm pretty happy this place is within walking distance for me. (And mildly embarassed that I hadn't tried it earlier.)

I too had my curiosity re-engaged by Taste Food & Wine, who have Luzzat menus inside and who look to be hoping to develop a symbiotic relationship since Luzzat is BYOB. That menu looked pretty extensive, so even though my first order was basically my Indian cuisine staples, I'm looking forward to investigating what else they have to offer.

First, I must say, I find this thread hysterical. I love luzzat's and wanted to post about it and find it fascinating that the one thread devoted to it has a wiener and still champion mention, grant it, it is a pre-gus mention, but it is a mention nonetheless. Full disclosure: I occasionally work at wiener and still champion.

on to luzzat's: It is a small neighborhood Indian restaurant and I have experienced nothing but delightful food. I'm not saying it is the best Indian ever. But it is really good. Every time I'm in the neighborhood. I stop. Probably at least twice a month and I rarely eat out (but I'm in a few block radius frequently). It is a great addition to the neighborhood and I hope it lasts as they are always empty. There is one woman who seems to run everything, I have never seen anyone else there.

The food is good and made to order. I have had the lamb curry, their samosas and their biryani. Definitely a place I would love to see stick around. Maybe it should be the next Evanston lunch spot?!

I was backtracking through the Eatign Out in Chicagoland board, and came across this thread. Is this place still around? Anybody eaten there lately? I think Heather's suggestion is a good one...

Mhays wrote:I was backtracking through the Eatign Out in Chicagoland board, and came across this thread. Is this place still around? Anybody eaten there lately? I think Heather's suggestion is a good one...

It is still around. I would love if we could do it in December as I'll be out of class as of the 13th. So I'll be able to attend. Otherwise, I'll join you all later. I've asked her if she could accommodate a big group at 1230, last time I was in and she said it wouldn't be a problem.

Consider yourself in charge of the December ELG (if you want me to do it, LMK, just be aware that I may impose the mhays curse on the place)

Mhays wrote:Consider yourself in charge of the December ELG

I'll give it a whirl!

Mhays wrote:I was backtracking through the Eatign Out in Chicagoland board, and came across this thread. Is this place still around? Anybody eaten there lately? I think Heather's suggestion is a good one...

I've become quite a fan of Luzzat. I think it holds up well to a number of places on Devon. Note that things tend to the spicy side (which I love) and sometimes the salty, but it's consistently very tasty. Be patient, as the chef is also often the person who takes your orders, and everything is made fresh.

I sometimes say "I think it's great, although not necessarily something to drive past Devon for" but now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure I can name a place on Devon that I think is better for the kinds of dishes I get at Luzzat. Maybe that's because I never seem to go anywhere but Khan anymore, and the menus at Khan and Luzzat are not much alike.

Lamb lovers should note that the menu leans heavily that way. I think there are about a dozen lamb dishes, but only 3-5 each for chicken and fish. There are no beef entrees, although there are a few appetizers with beef. Plenty of vegetarian options.

I ordered take-out from Luzzat fairly recently based on recs from the Taste crew, although I usually go to Hemma's. I agree that the food is delicious, and it is definitely a one-woman kitchen so be forewarned that an order could take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes to complete, depending on what's on the order board...my order was on the 45 minute side of things. The lady is very sweet, and the food is very good, and spicy!

I ended up back here on Saturday and feel the need to temper things a little.

We ordered the channa chicken and the indian fish fry. The chicken was pretty good, but too salty enough that I noticed. Not as though a salt shaker had been spilled... perhaps I was tasting more critically since this thread is active. The indian fish fry is an interesting dish, basically 6-8 smallish fillets lightly breaded and fried, but otherwise served "dry." I've enjoyed it before, but tonight, it seemed less successful. Perhaps it sat a little too long as other things were being pulled together. Here, too, the salt level was a bit elevated, and it was pretty greasy.

Also note that every time I've eaten in the restaurant, the music has seemingly been an infinite loop of less than a minute or two of music repeating ad infinitum. (Perhaps a skipping CD?) On Saturday the music had some cheerful whistling over slightly drony atmospheric keyboards. It was weird. Could drive some people crazy, but I've been known to listen to much stranger things, so...

germuska wrote:now that I'm thinking about it, I'm not sure I can name a place on Devon that I think is better for the kinds of dishes I get at Luzzat.

So yeah, this was maybe a little over the top... Maybe it's more like "Luzzat is pretty good and I can walk there so I haven't been looking for a better example of this kind of food..."