🌶️ Indian-style barbecue at Monday Night Foodball

Plus: the best "not too sweet" boba [View this email in your browser]( [READER Logo]( [Food & Drink]( | March 8, 2024 It’s been too damn long since there’s been any smoke on the corner of California and Wellington. It’s been about seven months, in fact, since a gust of masala-scented cheesesteak blew through the bar and blew everybody’s gustatory cortices. I’ll say it again: it’s been too long. That’s why, this March 11, Indo-smoke is rising once again when [Dhuaan BBQ]( returns to [Monday Night Foodball]( the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Ludlow Liquors. This will be Pitmaster Sheal Patel’s fourth [Foodball]( in two [years]( which can’t illustrate the immense output of Indian-style barbecue he’s capable of, with about two pop-ups a month, in addition to a hectic private cheffing and catering operation. He’s busy right now taking orders for his typically frenzied summer party season (hit him up!), which is one reason that public opportunities to inhale his magic might be diminished in coming months. I can’t tell you what the other reason is just yet, but I assure you, you’ll experience some of it firsthand, along with the menu, headlined by an Indo-Chinese–style fried rice topped with a pile of chopped brisket rubbed down in Patel’s seekh masala, and smoked to sublimity on [Odesza]( by [Umamicue]( bossman [Charles Wong]( himself a master of several strains of smoke. For his nihari beef sandwich, Patel smokes beef shoulder, shreds it, braises it with nihari masala, and piles it into a garlic masala bun with giardiniera. He serves it wet, so you’ll want to practice your [Italian stance]( for this one. Finally, it’s Patel’s mad vision of a Nashville hot chicken sandwich, dredged through centuries of Indian Chinese Hakka flavors. “That one will be super spicy,” he says, so he cools it down with a pile of masala slaw. Smoke is in the air beginning at 5 PM this Monday, March 11, at 2959 N. California in aromatic Avondale. In the interim, heed the full Foodball schedule: [The smoke will rise when Dhuaan BBQ returns to the next Monday Night Foodball]( Check out Pitmaster Sheal Patel’s Indian-style barbecue at the Reader’s weekly chef pop-up at Ludlow Liquors. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [Solar Intentions should feel like ‘a little midwest cozy hug’]( An upcoming astrology-themed sober bar seeks community without the need for alcohol. by [Justice Petersen]( | [Read more]( → [Best hospitality on a hospitality podcast]( Joiners podcast. by [Mike Sula]( | [Read more]( → [a cup of saffron ice cream on a table]( [Best boba from fine-dining chefs]( Gathers Tea Bar. by [Amber Gibson]( | [Read more]( → Get the latest issue of the Chicago Reader Thursday, March 7, 2024 [READ ONLINE: VOL. 53, NO. 11]( [VIEW/DOWNLOAD ISSUE (PDF)]( [Become a member of the Chicago Reader.]( [Facebook icon]( [Instagram icon]( [Twitter icon]( [Website icon]( [YouTube icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [Logo] You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from the Chicago Reader. Want fewer emails from us? [Click here to choose what you want us to send you](. Or, [unsubscribe from all Reader emails](. We’ll miss you! [Sign up for emails from the Chicago Reader]( | [Forward this e-mail to a friend]( © 2024 Chicago Reader. All rights reserved. Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616