GL_031617

32 | March 16, 2017 | The glenview lantern dining out
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The kabuli palao ($13) is a rice dish with raisins, carrots and lamb, and is one of Thali
Bites’ most popular items. Courtney Jacquin/22nd Century Media
Authentic Pakistani flavors land in Wilmette
Matt Yan
Contributing Editor
Thali Bites
143 Skokie Blvd.,
Wilmette
www.thalibites.com
(847) 920-5663
11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
Monday-Saturday
Closed Sundays
Ambreen Bokhary’s
mother had a mantra she
told her daughter growing
up: When you’re eating,
don’t talk. Listen to your
food.
Ambreen, one of nine
children, followed her
mother’s advice. It made
for quieter meals — perhaps
what her mother
wanted — but more importantly,
it gave her the
unique ability to identify
the ingredients in each
dish without knowing the
recipe.
Watching her parents
in the kitchen, Ambreen
picked up cooking knowledge
quickly. She was never
formally educated in the
art of cuisine, but judging
by the initial success of her
and her husband Arifeen
Bokhary’s new Pakistani
takeout restaurant, that
doesn’t matter to customers.
The Bokharys opened
their business, Thali Bites,
in mid-January. Nestled
between a cigar shop and
nail salon on Skokie Boulevard,
this Wilmette establishment
is a hidden
gem.
The menu is a mishmash
of Pakistani dishes from
northern Pakistan, where
Arifeen is from, and southern
Pakistan, where Ambreen
once called home.
Unlike their previous
restaurant experience, here
the Bokharys don’t premake
anything. The entirety
of the menu is made
from scratch each day with
fresh ingredients.
As such, it’ll take 15-20
minutes to complete one to
two dishes. Larger orders
will take longer, but trust
us — the wait is worth it.
Our staff sampled an
assortment of offerings,
starting with the veggie
samosa. In this appetizer,
peas, potatoes and spices
are combined in a fried
dough shell for a warm
dish that ought to tide you
over until the main course.
If you prefer meat in
your appetizer, the jumbo
chicken egg roll may be
more your style.
In terms of main courses,
the nihari (slow-cooked
beef stew with bone marrow
and spices) is a crowdpleaser.
Nihari comes from
an Arabic word for “morning,”
and this dish was
originally eaten only in
the morning. Trends have
changed, and now people
eat nihari all the time, Ambreen
says.
It’s not hard to see why
— the meat is tender and
savory, and the curry thick
and delectable.
We next tried the butter
chicken curry, a mildly
spicy entree that’s best eaten
with rice or naan bread.
It’s got a slow heat that
doesn’t overwhelm your
taste buds and pairs well
with the veggie biryani, a
vegetable-based rice dish
native to South Asia.
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GlenviewLantern.com.