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With only one night in Chicago, and a rainy one at that, I hopped into a taxi to the neighborhood of Logan Square to enjoy dinner and drinks at Chiya Chai, recently named Best Indian Restaurant in Chicago by Chicago Reader. A fan of Indian food, I was looking forward to a comfort meal and got so much more. Chiya Chai is owned by brothers Swadesh and Saujanya Shrestha who grew up in the midst of the world of tea in Kathmandu, Nepal. Their family are Nepalese tea farmers and their father was one of the first exporters of Nepalese tea to the United States. Swadesh Shrestha recalled growing up in the foothills of the Nepalese Himalayas and loved going to his grandfather's tea shop where he would sit quietly sipping a cup of milky chai as he watched the comings and goings of the village. The brothers, along with Swadesh's wife Rajee, who is also from Kathmandu, opened a restaurant in Minneapolis and ten years later, in August of 2016, opened Chiya Chai in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago.  
21 November, 2017
Coffee shops are everywhere. In addition to the chain stores of Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Peet's that can be found on almost every corner, local coffee roasters and independent shops can also be found. But what about tea? Of course these places all serve tea, meaning they hand you a cup of super hot water and a tea bag that you will probably oversoak. A few will use loose-leaf teas and there are a few tea-centric spots around Los Angeles. I just happened across the newest one that opened on November 1st and Percolate is the Please The Palate pick of the week. I was dropping off my dry cleaning in a strip mall near my house. I had not had my morning cappuccino as I was out of milk and had not gone to the market yet. There had been an okay coffee shop in the same strip mall but they had barely lasted one year. I figured I would have to stop at a nearby chain store to get my fix as I went along on other errands. But as I parked my car, I noticed people coming out of the old coffee shop with coffee cups in hand. I looked closer and saw the sign Percolate, which I figured was a good sign! To percolate is to "filter gradually through a porous surface or substance." Quite an apropos name for this new tea (and coffee) shop.
11 November, 2017
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