Rivaj Of India, Buffalo Grove

Yo, North Burbies!
7 Spices fans!

I've mentioned this place a few times in the 7 Spices thread:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=44523

And also the north burbs ethnic thread:
http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=44531

Listen, this place deserves a bigger shout out.

First off, a quick summary:
If you ever wished 7 Spices food had more heat, come here. I usually tell my office mates that 7 Spices might have the edge on more interesting food, but Rivaj is definitely more aggressive with the heat in almost everything. My normal lunch mates from the office are three other ppl. One can take the heat, one is "ok" up to a point, and the other HATES Rivaj, because he likes hot food, but his tummy can't take it. Rivaj is too hot for him, but he hates to love it. The one who is ok up to a point, has been brought to the brink twice in our visits, but she keeps coming back.

7 Spices is our choice for lunch buffet more often than not, but if it were up to me, I'd opt for a 50-50 split, and I am a big fan of 7 Spices.

Rivaj's offerings keep getting more interesting, and my lunchmates and I have wondered if there's some cross cooking going on with 7 Spices since there are some recent similarities between the two - most notably, the chutney offerings at Rivaj is almost identical to 7sp, and the buffet at 7SP recently had "mushroom 65" which I'd seen at Rivaj a few times. Maybe they are just doing recon missions on each other. Either way, I really like them both. One bonus for Rivaj - it's open on Mondays, 7Sp is not. So, when I get the Indian Buffet itch on a Monday, and I can talk the lunch mate into braving the capsaicin (it's only a small arm twist,) I can get my browsweat on!
One thing also - Rivaj's tandoori chicken is a draw. It's usually got a nice charry flavor. 7 Sp's tandoori chicken is a letdown, imo. BUT, their other foods MORE than make up for it.


So, this past Monday, I got my way!

Rivaj is in a strippy mall, there's a Thai joint and a Gyros joint in the same strip. Inside, it's dark wood tables, and carpet, booths line the front window walls. Not schnazzy or fancy, but nice in a matter of fact way. Each time we go, which is lunch only, they do have the Indian tv station turned up. Music videos, mostly. Sometimes it's a bit loud, but I definitely do not mind it.

Some pics of the buffet from this visit
Chutney station

I didn't ask what the powder or oily substance was. A guess on the powder would be amchur? I meant to try both, but I got caught up in my hungercitement with few of the other dishes, and I got full. FAST. Those cups are for the Rose Milk dispenser. They normally have a mango drink when we've gone, but today - Rose Milk. I didn't try it. Not a huge rose flavor fan.

Left pan down the row from the chutneys.


This row appeared to be set up as the veggie offerings. One of the reasons I'm starting this thread is that the offerings here are starting to get more interesting (a la 7sp.) Today, we have a type of bonda, (they always have idly, i think) several types of veggie rices, some dry curry with mushrooms and mango in it, an awesome madras aloo type dish, a sambar, rasam, a dal, and a SIZZLIN hot mutter paneer.

Meat side:

Today's offering included a silky, rich, chicken with spinach that was pretty damn dreamy. The odd thing about that was I normally look forward to the heat they bring, but the spinach and chicken dish was obviously mild. I was kinda pissed it was so good. I'm weird like that. I wanted to enjoy having my mouth fully sizzled, but I had to load up on that mild chicken since it was so flippin good.

This joint's Tandoori Chicken is usually 200% on point, but today's rendition had a little less char, and little more pasty coating than what we are normally used to here. it definitely reminded us all of 7 spices' version. Again, seems there's some crossing of kitchens. But, true to what I like about Rivaj - today's tandoori chicken was flamin hot. The lunchmate with the bad tummy tapped out. He knew he'd have issues if he ate more of it - but he wanted to. I can't ever recall having tandoori chicken that spicy - usually it's pretty mild, it had a PUNCH -not just a lil kick. I normally LOVE the heat, and assume that when someone describes food as "spicy" it'll just be mild to me. This stuff wasn't mind blowing hot, or anything, but I'd bet most people would be surprised at the heat level. I saw two other diners around the room wiping their brows. One was doing the O shape mouth exhale continuously. Again, normally when ppl say something is hot, it just isn't, imo. So when I say this place brings the heat, I understand it's all relative, but I think at the very least, it runs surprisingly hotter than most Indian buffets I've been to. It's actually refreshingly hot. Another thing I'm always drawn to at Indian Buffets is the goat curry. It's usually VERY solid here, but today's was a little underwhelming. It was HOT, and had good flavor, but I had a hard time finding any decently tender chunks. However, it was generously dotted with cashews, which I've never encountered from them before. Our first pass of the tandoori chicken saw a sparse amount:

As anyone knows, this just meant the refill was coming soon, and we got a full pan of fresh, hot off the grill chicken parts. Like I said earlier, it wasn't as good as normal, but it was still very solid, and surprisingly spicy.

I'll add more in the future, but I gotta say, this place impresses me. It seems you better bring your spicy food pants when you come here. The offerings are getting more interesting, too. Up in this neck of the woods, 7 Spices is a damn fine choice, but don't sleep on this place if you like a lil more heat.

http://www.rivajofindia.us/
1034 Weiland Rd
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
(847) 465-8000

I worked up an appetite doing forest preserve restoration, cutting, dragging and burning invasive shrubs Saturday morning, so headed over to Rivaj, pretending it was on my way home...

I agree with the OP (and a big THANK YOU for the intel on this) that the food is a bit spicier than 7spices, but I wouldn't say necessarily heat spicier (well, sometimes yes) but a bit more heavily seasoned overall.

Saw a number of dishes I don't recall seeing anywhere else (on a buffet that is, one was reminiscent of a dish at egg-o-holic).

The tandoori chicken when I went I feel was not quite as good as 7 spices (less tender, less moist), but I think that is highly dependent on the batch and how recently it was made; the buffet (now closed) where it was the absolute best didn't put it on the steam table, but brought it fresh to your table on a sizzling plate, perhaps too hot (temperature) to eat right away.

The plates were a good bit larger than any other buffet (including non-indian), making it easier to keep foods separate, or to make fewer trips. No, I managed to NOT be piggier, taking only one small portion of everything, except moderate portions of goat, liver (or all giblets?) and one other dish.

Besides Naan, they brought another dish to the table, a pancake with a filling, as is done at Manpasand buffet on certain weekdays (maybe its only certain days here too).

I keep forgetting to look if Kulfi is orderable (anywhere it is not on the buffet). which is a reason to go to Aroma. If I could buy it somewhere else, though adding to the expense, it might be a plus, as not being on the buffet would mean I'd eat less of it.

Apologies, my one picture did not come out well. The dishes were mostly kept covered, so I only took one when anther couple ahead of me had several open at once.