Devon's Desi Corridor... and Euro Surprises

It's been awhile since I had an event due to taking some personal time off for my husband's birthday and Thanksgiving. But I had to get my fix of some culinary intervention and today was a perfect day to do just that. I hosted a culinary tour of Chicago's Devon Avenue, also known as the Desi Corridor. It's a vibrant street rich in culture and diversity so with friends, we took in the sights, sounds and flavors Devon Ave. had to offer.

If you ever want to see a diverse neighborhood of Chicago, Devon is a great place to start. Many folks who know about Devon often associate it with Indian & Pakistani culture. It's full of wonderful restaurants, various stores selling saris, electronics, incense, spices and so much more. However further west on Devon Ave. lies a great pocket of European and Jewish businesses. My tour focused on these two very different sides of Devon Ave - Indian & European. Check out the pictures of the stops we made during our tour:

• PATEL BROTHERS MARKET -- Before lunch, we checked out some authentic ingredients and grocery offerings of Patel Brothers Market (2610 W. Devon Ave). They have a great wall of spices, interesting produce and some frozen items I learned about today...

Kantola - Small Indian gourd related to the bittermelon.

Haldi - the Hindi word for tumeric and this is fresh tumeric

Patra - a popular vegetarian dish consisting of taro.
Goovar - Indian beans used mostly in South Indian cuisine.
Ratulu - Indian potato yam.

• KAMDAR PLAZA -- Another great resource for authentic ingredients is Kamdar Plaza (Indian market) (2646 W. Devon Ave) where you'll find other pantry staples. Even more impressive is their large assortment of incense!

• VICEROY OF INDIA -- Lunch was a wonderful Indian buffet lunch at Viceroy of India (2520 W. Devon). We enjoyed a feast of vegetarian and non-vegetarian offerings. Right next door was their cafe and bake/candy shop where everything looked so beautiful.

• SUKHADIA'S -- Next up, we satisfied our sweet tooth at Sukhadia's (2559 W. Devon). Here we had some desserts and sipped some authentic masala tea. They had some great sweets and confections of Indian cuisine to choose from.
  

• ARGO GEORGIAN BAKERY -- Have you ever had a hatchapuri? If not, you must check out the Argo Georgian Bakery (2812 W. Devon) here in Chicago. They specialize in Georgian baked goods including hatchapuri, a filled buttery & flaky dough. The most common is one filled with farmers cheese, feta & mozzarella. We learned a bit about their cuisine and took a look at their monstrous Georgian oven, shaped like a dome on the outside and a barrel on the inside.

• THREE SISTER'S DELI -- Three Sister's Delicatessen (2854 W. Devon) is where we checked out some great Russian delicacies. They had beautiful cakes on display, many kinds of jams & jellies as well as breads, smoked fish and deli meats/sausages.

Due to Saturday being the Jewish Sabbath, the other stops we wanted to make were closed. However here is a picture of another place just to show how all these establishments can be found along the same street!