I went back again today because I'm a glutton for punishment. I am aching for this place to be good. They said they are working hard to try and hire an indian cook. Seems like a good idea to me
They said they should have a cook and a real menu next week. I don't believe it. I expect it to be at least 2 weeks before they are ready to rock.
Amazing to me that you would consider opening a restaurant in the loop with no cook and no menu. Especially when you are the only indian restaurant in the whole loop. I mean what an opportunity! Hopefully they will seize it.
Meanwhile I'll sit here and nibble on my samosas. They didn't have the green sauce today. Go figure.

yeah, please encourage them!

I so want them to be good. I'm not a huge socializer with strangers. I'd probably feel awkward criticising the guys, but it needs to be done, so I'm glad someones doing it! You're really doing them a huge service. I'll be by there to visit soon and probably chat with them for a minute if the owner is around.

Thanks!

Yes, there is yet another Indian restaurant in the loop that is truly a hidden gem. I don't think there are any signs and it looks like it would be a whole in the wall...the food is good though and very authentic!
It's located right next to Wet Bar on Lake Street, and of course I don't know the name. There's a mosque or prayer center there too...if you walk in the door the restaurant is down the stairs.
They play Bollywood movies & you sit really close to other people, but the food is good!
Anyone know what I'm talking about?

You mean Larosh is still there?? That’s the place I mentioned earlier in this thread. I assumed it had closed when the sign was removed several years ago.

An Indian restaurant must have reopened in the space, because I once went there (circa 1999) and found it closed.

FoodGirl Robyn wrote:Yes, there is yet another Indian restaurant in the loop that is truly a hidden gem. I don't think there are any signs and it looks like it would be a whole in the wall...the food is good though and very authentic!
It's located right next to Wet Bar on Lake Street, and of course I don't know the name. There's a mosque or prayer center there too...if you walk in the door the restaurant is down the stairs.
They play Bollywood movies & you sit really close to other people, but the food is good!
Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Nice!!! Keep us posted if you get more info!

Don't get too excited... I'm pretty sure she's talking about Larosh and I'm pretty sure it's closed, as of about a year ago.

Hi,

Unless there is a secret location, Wet replaced Larosh:

Wet
209 West Lake Street
Chicago, IL 60606

New Larosh Restaurant RIP
209 W Lake St
Chicago
312-263-9540
closes at 11PM

I had the samosas today as well. They are huge, for their 75 cents, and very spicy. They were being served today with a yogurt-based sauce. They should consider getting their other food wherever they're getting the samosas.

But I guess this is a lesson in why real restaurant reviewers often give new places a shake-down period before they go in and evaluate. Who knows what it might turn into if they get a cook?

Larosh is closed. So sad. That place was fun.
I guess I misspoke tho. There is one place still open. Kebab Corner.
Not technically in the loop... it is actually on the west side of the Kennedy expressway at Jackson. A brisk walk over the bridge and you are there (northwest corner). Look for the parking lot full of cabs.
The place is huge, with a prayer mosque in the basement and the obligatory widescreen tv playing bollywood movies.
Its fantastic. Prices are pretty good as well.
The naan is hot and fresh. The curries are OK.
The kebab is a surprise treat. Very tasty. Not what I expected tho.
Basically a rice dish with diced bits of tasty meat.
Takes a bit longer, cuz they make it fresh for you. But the flavor is outstanding. I seem to recall they also have a great biryani.
I mostly stay away from the steam table meat and fish items.
I think I'm getting hungry again....
-scott

Unless there is a secret location, Wet replaced Larosh:

Actually I think Wet replaced Superlounge and Superlounge replaced Leatherneck. You might just be able to see on this photograph from earlier this month that there are two doors with the 209 address. At least for a while Leatherneck and Larosh coexisted (see my 1999 Chowhound post), both at 209 W Lake, with Larosh in the basement. Does anyone know what’s down there now?

Wet, 209 W Lake

I work across the street.

The door with the "209" over it is a dual entry door. Down to the left was the stairs to the now defunct Larosh, and straight ahead stairs up lead to the second floor lofts (ie, plenty of arty freaks up there with full butterfly chest tatoos after the mosque closed)

Wet and Larosh co-existed for a short time, maybe 6 months.

Then Wet became this "in" place and took over the whole building.

In the winter, Wet even had an outdoor, heated, "cue line" of dip chits that wanted to get in at 2am. Place was (and I think is still) running these Wed Night/Thurs Morning rave dealies that end at 5am TH morning.

I know all this, mainly, from my 23yr old assistant who said she has closed the place a few times and come to work at 7am after getting breakfast at Petro's on LaSalle.

Oh, to be young again

And your dead on Rene on the transformation from Gay Bar, to Trendy Place that Lasts a Month, to Trendy place that some how is still there.

Heck, I remember in 1990 there was a Brown's Chicken where Monk's moved to.

Monks was in an "L" building with both Lake and Wells entrances. Now its a nail place on Lake, and either a Delicatezzi/Grill/Phone store on Wells, for I forget which entrance it has been replaced with.

Hit Indian Expess today for lunch. Nothing new to report here.

Got a "combo" meal and bottled lemonade for $6.65 - price is right, if nothing else.

Combo consisted of two BBQ'q chicken thighs and two partial chicken breasts; small salad; and a chicken-stuffed pastry; and a nearly ice-cold tortilla.

Chicken was cold and tasteless - if filling. Small salad was OK. The pastry was about the only item that warranted even an average grade.

No curry dishes; Naan(sp?) bread; pork; beef; veggies - nada.

Place was obviously a work in progress and they opened too soon probably under pressure to pay their monthly rent.

I am hopeful the place will improve by next year, if it lasts that long. You know the really sad thing is that this place barely needs to be average to do good business. If they served dead-on average Indian fare this place would do good business with no competition around in the Loop and especially in the $5 to $7 price range.

We shall see.

I met some friends at India House today and all I can say is, get the hell out of the Loop and go try it instead. Easily had the most variety and dishes you haven't seen everywhere of any buffet I've seen in a long time-- a fish curry, a corn dish, etc.-- and if not stellar, it was certainly at least B+ all the way across the board. A little pricy, but not out of bounds by downtown standards by any means.

India House
59 W. Grand , Chicago
Tel: (312) 645-9500

I agree whole-heartedly. Short cab ride up from the Loop and then, if you're anything like me, a walk back to try and evenly distribute a couple of meals worth of food in your stomach.

Very true about the selection Mike, but you forgot (or neglected to mention) the best part - fresh, sizzling tandoori chicken brought to each table with equally fresh, hot, nice char/butter ratio'd naan. Wash, rinse, repeat.

It is, I believe, $10.95 and well worth it.

I'm also a big fan of India House's luncheon buffet. We were introduced to this by my husband's cousins. I thought there was a great variety of items, and nobody left hungry. Dishes were replenished frequently at the buffet. Even my daughter who doesn't enjoy "spicy" foods found plenty to eat. The service was excellent when we went (it was a Sunday). I really need to go back there.

Suzy

If you're going outside the loop (but not to Devon), what do you think of Klay Oven? I had a nice meal there a few years ago (especially liked the decor), but haven't been in awhile. How does it compare to India House?

Klay Oven
414 N Orleans St
(312) 527-3999

I made a return visit to Indian Express today. I went on the very first day they were open, and like the rest of you, was unimpressed but optimistic.

Today, while the options were certainly more varied, I would still say the overall experience was subpar.

First, they still have serious issues with organization. It is hard to see what each dish being offered looks like, the servers, if they do speak English, do not know the proper Indian names for the dishes, and to top it off, one of the soda fountain options didn't work, despite a lack of signage. Oh, and still no credit card machine.

The clear winner is still definitely the $0.75 somosa. If I was less curious and more skeptical, I probably would've just ordered three somosas.

The two of us had the "Curry Beef," a piece of chicken, a Beef Kebab, 2 drinks, 2 salads, and 2 somosas for $12 and change.

The kebab meat was still terrible. The Tandoori was still acceptable, but not worth going out of your way for. They had something which they seemed to call "Frontier Chicken" that in no way resembled the Frontier Chicken I am used to. The rice was much, much better than the first time I went, but still very dry. The salad was similar. They include chapati now (which they didn't the first time I visited). The Curry Beef looked pretty good, but the sauce was really bland.

In sum, the highlight is clearly still the .75 veg somosa, they still have the same problems as the day they opened, but at least the variety is improving. I won't be back for another month or two, though...there's still a lot to be worked out. They clearly are not holding themselves to the same culinary standards as other indian restaurants in the city, or even the same standards as other ethnic restaurants in the loop. I will continue to give the food a pass, for now, since I really do think they opened way too soon. The management, however, gets a solid F. Either they need to put more attention on the product being produced, or if management is stretched thin by the myriad of other things involved with opening a new restaurant, they need to hire an additional person with that as their sole job.

It may be time to give this place another try. I think they may have actually hired a cook . Friday I tried their pakoras, 4 for a dollar, and liked them so much I went back today. They told me there would be a five minute wait, which they later amended to ten minutes. I asked if they were getting them delivered from somewhere and he said oh no, the cook was making them. This time they were 3 for a buck (though he gave me four when I protested and to make up for my wait) but still a bargain and even better fresh from the fryer.

Rene G wrote:

Unless there is a secret location, Wet replaced Larosh:

Actually I think Wet replaced Superlounge and Superlounge replaced Leatherneck. You might just be able to see on this photograph from earlier this month that there are two doors with the 209 address. At least for a while Leatherneck and Larosh coexisted (see my 1999 Chowhound post), both at 209 W Lake, with Larosh in the basement. Does anyone know what’s down there now?

Wet, 209 W Lake

I'm not sure what's down there these days but my friend owns a recording studio on the top floor.
One of the more interesting requests I've ever had was when he asked me to help dismantle his friend's dominatrix dungeon who was being evicted from the building on one of the midlevel floors.
The madam there couldn't have been nicer explaining to us the various apparatus and their functions as we took them apart.

All I remember, though, is how my friend used to make fun of his partner for periodically braving the Larosh experience. I'm sure he got a good chuckle when the place disappeared since it was the butt of many jokes in the long hours they spend in the studio.

Every time I've walked by Indian Express, it's been empty of customers and very unappealing. However, today's dreary weather called for something hot and spicy to perk up my day so I decided to try the place. I got the $6.95 three item special and two 75 cent samosas.

Huge serving of long grain rice, pretty to look at (saffron color, peas, onion bits, etc.) but a little mushy and not much flavor. No problem though 'coz the chicken tikka masala was very spicy and I needed the bland rice to offset the chicken's sauce. Nose dripping, I really enjoyed the tender white meat chicken chunks and flavorful (not just from spicy heat), creamy red sauce. The gentleman behind the counter explained that someone had requested that dish and it had been specially prepared. I thought it delicious.
The third item was some weird cooked together chicken and veggie mix. I have no idea what it was. I asked twice but just couldn't understand the answer. The veggies were cooked to an unidentifiable mushy mass so I have no idea what was in it. Tasted okay though.
Samosa was pretty tasty, especially when dunked in the spicy green chutney sauce, with chunks of potato, peas and spices. You can see whole seed pods - cool. A dried out chappati and a mushy pakora come with the meal. The chappati wasn't worth eating but the pakora wasn't bad, expecially when dunked in the aforementioned chutney.

Overall verdict: not bad. The food needs to be a lot hotter (temperature) though. It's in steam tables and isn't kept nearly hot enough. I'd definitely go back, if only for the samosas and the chicken tikka masala, which, sadly, may have been a one time thing.

Klay Oven is gross.

I will tell my husband about this new place. He has been mourning Larosh since their closing. I loved that place, too... incidentally, the people who owned/ran it (I believe) are the now proprietors of Nan on Devon. I stopped by there at about midnight the other night on my way home from work. I asked for whatever they had, and took it home to my husband. I was very favorably impressed, despite having read some negative reveiws of the place. It's a complete hole, and there weren't many choices on the menu (it was, after all, the middle of the night) and there was a language barrier, but if you were a fan of Larosh this place merits a visit.

Anyone been to Indian Express or the Burrito Buggy Indian lately?

I've been going to Indian Express about once a week. It's not inspired, but I am just happy to have another option close to the office. I like the veggie samosas with the sweet purple sauce. I have gotten the vegetable combo and had some okay chick pea concoction and I like the Sheikh Kebob too. I guess they are more Pakistani than Indian because they serve beef and claim to be halal.

Just ate here for the first time today. It is not good. Tried the lunch combo with a side of bread. I forget exactly what all was included ("tandoori" chicken, chicken tikka, a couple kabab pieces, rice), but all the meat was very dry. The was also heavily and recently seasoned, possibly after it was cooked. The bread, which was not naan, was also very dry. This was a thoroughly horrible meal, and I have no intention of going back. Mainly because I have been very impressed with the modest Indian menu at Burrito Buggy. So far they only serve chicken curry and samosas, but both are pretty good. Just avoid the rice with the "Hot Combo," and I think you will be pleased.

Indian Express is no more.

In the past few days, it changed to Mashawy (sp?)

New signs advertise "Healthy Mediterranean Food" (with a paper sign tacked on that says "Fast")

The main sign (I was walking across the street) I believe had the terms chicken shwarma, filafel, and possibly Jerusalem kababs, taboulah, baba ganoush (sp?) and lentil soup

Didnt have the time to pop across and check out the line up. Might have seen Vegetable soup on the sign (more like a lit menu, hung on the outside of the building)

Mashawy
120ish N. Wells