Kaybee's Indian Flavor

The owners of the Gas station on the corner of Division and Halsted have a Indian (actually Pakistani/Indian/American/Indo-chinese) place wedged between a Subway and a Dunkin Donuts.

I have only tried the veggie items ( a few) and I am very happy that I have a place like this so I don't have to go to Devon Avenue when my craving strikes. First the bad. I had the pakora, and it was under cooked. The taste was good, but there was still a hint of the raw besan (chickpea flour). The masala tea tastes weird too. That could simply be because after drinking Irani Chai in cafes in Hyderabad, my standards are pretty high. Kinda like what happens to you after you have Pizza at Spacca Napoli. You become a Pizza snob, whether you want to or not.

Now the good stuff. The owners are from Karachi so the food has a distinct Hyderabadi flavor, as I have heard that a LOT of people from Hyderabad moved to Karachi during partition. Which means I get my kinda food!! The Baghara Baingan is legit. They use the small Indian Baingan for the dish, which gives it the characteristic taste of this vegetable that you cannot get from substituting the Globe or Chinese eggplant. With this dish it is the sauce what makes the dish, and the sauce is really good. It has the characteristic salty/sweet/sour/bitter combination that I look for. I also tried an Egg Curry, not knowing what kind of 'curry' we are talking about. I was pleasantly surprised when that turned out to be the classic Hyderabadi Dal. This again makes me very, very happy. It is aggressively flavored with a mix of onion, garlic and cumin with a dash of chili powder.

They have a very large menu which is very different from the Cabbie joints like Sizzling Wok/Pakeeza/etc in the area. They also seemed to have Goat dishes along with the usual Lamb. Along with this; they also had kati rolls, chicken and fish burgers, chicken wings etc. They have dishes posted on the wall; that don't seem to be mentioned on the takeout menu (mushroom curry seems to stick out).

As I said, I have no opinion on the meat dishes. I also have not had the Biryani here; which is something I need to rectify soon. But what I have had; I am happy. I will be going here regularly. Along with Egg-o-holic on Chicago and Halsted; I seem to have been blessed with two, count-em TWO; places that are easier for me to get to regularly and that makes my year already.

PS: I have not tried their South Indian stuff as I really don't trust people who are not Southies with this food!

KAYBEE's Indian Flavor
1234 N. Halsted St. Chicago
(312) 877-5821
Website: http://orderkaybeesindianflavor.com/

I just looked at their online menu, and they have a section called "Safe Special". Is this in actual Indian Restaurant thing, or is it their attempt to section out dishes that are "safe" for newbies - mild?

chicagojim wrote:I just looked at their online menu, and they have a section called "Safe Special". Is this in actual Indian Restaurant thing, or is it their attempt so section out dishes that are "safe" for newbies - mild?

I wondered the same when I was there. I forgot to ask them what the hell that means. Plus the word itself is in full caps. SAFE special. I have no idea what that means.

They mean Chef's Special.

I have been there multiple times after I posted it, so I should add an update.

The Mini Samosas and the Regular Samosas are really tasty. I tried some of their South Indian stuff and was pleasantly surprised. The Idli was nice and fluffy like it should be. The vada was tasty, but since it was not fresh, it did not have that wonderful cracker crisp texture of freshly made vada. The sambar tasted weird; but that is because as a South Indian my taste for this is very, very specific; and this was clearly made by someone who is not a native sambar maker/eater. I probably won't order these again. I have not tried their Dosa; but I am not expecting a revelation anyway!

The Biryani was a downer. I was expecting it to be authentic, but it is the same "make the rice in advance and add the curry to it" Ghareeb Nawaz style. Maybe the meat Biryanis are authentic.

But the Veg. curries are all really well made. I usually always have a Baghara Baingan or Egg Curry in my order along with one other thing I have not tried before; and they have been consistently good. I usually stay away from the Mixed Vegetable Curry because they use the frozen green beans/corn/carrots/lima beans package and it always tastes weird to me.

All in all; a level up from the usual Cabbie joints in the area for me as a vegetarian. I am very happy that something like this along with Egg-O-Holic is available for me.

I was there this Sunday and was surprised to see ANOTHER Indian/Pakistani place opening almost next door. That is more of a typical Cabbie joint(Halal Pita grill something). BTAIM, I was surprised to find two places that serve Indo-Pak food opening next to each other in a strip mall attached to a gas station. When I asked the owner of Kaybee; he was as appalled as I was. It seems the owner of the gas station gave a verbal assurance to the Kaybee guy when he signed the lease, that he would not let another Indo-Pak place to open, but reneged on his word.

I am pissed because Kaybee is vastly more vegetarian friendly, has a bigger menu and serves both North and South Indian stuff. If this competition drives Kaybee to close; I will have to schlep lot longer to get this food. Hopefully this does not happen.

My sister lives nearby, had been out of town for the better part of a year and was hungry for Indian but didn't want to drive in the rain to Devon. Apparently there's not much to eat in Mesa Az. I remembered this post about this new place next to the gas station and away we went. I was thinking dosa but they were not to be had. Plan "b" was a kati roll w/seekh kebab, lamb curry and dal w/spinach, all of which we quite enjoyed. W/Pakeeza closed, this is a more than viable option.

Kaybee’s Indian Flavor, a South Asian dining oasis inside a Mobil gas station at 1234 N. Halsted Street, is permanently closed after three years.

https://chicago.eater.com/2021/6/10/225 ... ummer-2021

Dave148 wrote:

Kaybee’s Indian Flavor, a South Asian dining oasis inside a Mobil gas station at 1234 N. Halsted Street, is permanently closed after three years.

Dang. Another one bites the dust. This place had two of my favorite dishes; Tomato Dal and Baghara Baingan. As people on LTH have said that Siri is no longer as good as it was; it leaves me with just Eggholic as a place worthy of destination eating in the City of Chicago for Desi food.

I have heard good things about the new place on Taylor close Siri, called Adda. Got to check that out.