An eating magazine for one street in Chicago
Devon Avenue, course by course.
One avenue on Chicago's far north side carries more South Asian cooking than most whole cities: biryani houses, chaat counters, sweet shops stacked with mithai, groceries perfumed with cardamom. Food on Devon is a magazine about eating it well — itineraries, dish explainers, and the questions you were too polite to ask the waiter.
Itinerary no. 1
The first-timer's crawl.
Our opening itinerary: one unhurried afternoon, five courses, all on foot along the avenue. We're finalizing which counter gets each course — the named, mapped version runs in issue one. The shape of the walk, though, is already settled, and it goes like this.
Samosa and chai, standing up
Start small and hot. A fresh samosa with tamarind chutney and a cup of doodh patti sets the pace — this is a crawl, not a sprint, and the first stop is for calibration.
One biryani, shared
Order a single biryani for the table, however many of you there are. You need the capacity later, and a good pot deserves attention, not leftovers.
Chaat, eaten immediately
Something cold, sour, and crunchy — dahi puri or bhel. Eat it at the counter where it was built; chaat does not survive a walk.
Twenty minutes in a spice aisle
Not a food stop, and absolutely a food stop. Buy whole spices, long-grain basmati, and one thing you can't identify. This is how the avenue follows you home.
Falooda or kulfi, no exceptions
End cold and sweet. Falooda if you have the commitment, kulfi if you're flagging. Either way the crawl ends with dessert in hand on Devon, which is the correct way to end most things.
Issue one pins each stop to a named counter with prices and hours — researched in person, paid for ourselves. More itineraries follow: the vegetarian crawl, the sweets-only crawl, and the cold-Sunday nihari run.
Departments
What the magazine will hold.
The Dish
One plate per piece, taken seriously: where nihari comes from and why it's breakfast; what separates Hyderabadi biryani from everything else wearing the name; why the best naan is slightly burnt. Food writing that respects the cooking enough to get the details right.
The Grocery Files
How to shop the avenue's groceries like you know what you're doing: spice-aisle translations, what to do with fresh curry leaves, which flours make which breads.
Coming in issue oneHours & Seasons
When the avenue is at its best: Ramadan nights, wedding season, mango season, and the quiet Tuesday lunch that locals keep to themselves.
Coming in issue oneNewsletter
Issue one is at the stove.
Food on Devon will arrive as an occasional email — an itinerary or a dish story each time, never filler, never sponsored. We eat on our own dime and say so in every issue.
Sign up and issue one comes to you before it's posted anywhere else.