Eat the avenue standing up.
Devon Avenue is Chicago's South Asian food street, and its best eating doesn't come with a table: chaat counters, kabab-roll windows, juice presses, falooda glasses taller than your forearm. We're walking the strip counter by counter to build the guide — what to order, what order to eat it in, and how much cash to bring.
The core walk: roughly Western Avenue to California Avenue on Devon. Keyed markers show the kinds of counters we're charting — 1 chaat, 2 grills, 3 juice — not specific businesses yet.
The lineup
Three food groups. All of them correct.
Every counter on the avenue falls somewhere in this lineup. The guide will name names once we've eaten our way through each category — until then, here's what you're walking into.
CHAAT & FRIED THINGS
Pani puri, samosa chaat, bhel, dahi puri — the crunchy, sour, yogurt-cooled end of the avenue. Eaten fast, before the crisp gives out.
KABABS & ROLLS
Seekh off the grill, chicken boti wrapped in paratha, chutney to order. The handheld dinner of the strip, best eaten walking.
JUICE, FALOODA & SWEETS
Mango lassi, sugarcane pressed while you watch, falooda layered like geology, jalebi straight from the oil. The dessert leg of the walk.
How to walk it
Counter rules we already know are true.
- Start hungry, order small. The avenue punishes a big first order. One plate per counter; you can always double back.
- Carry some cash. Plenty of counters take cards now, but small bills keep the line moving and the chaat crisp.
- Eat chaat where you bought it. Pani puri has a shelf life of about ninety seconds. Rolls travel; chaat doesn't.
- Save the falooda for last. It's a dessert, a drink, and nearly a meal. Nothing follows it.
Get the guide
We're still chewing.
The full guide — named counters, what to order at each, and a plotted walk from Western to California — publishes when we've finished eating the strip. No sponsored stops, no freebies accepted; we pay for every plate.
Leave your name and the finished walk lands with you first.