In the ’90s, spice and halal meat were not easy to come by in my hometown in Michigan, so on ambitious days, my mother would skip the drive to Detroit and head to Devon Avenue in West Ridge. The relationship we had with the street was not simply our pilgrimage to it. We were also tied to Tahoora and the golden box of celebratory mithai sweets shipped from there. On the 27th night of Ramadan, I’d pass out the sweets, feeling connected to something bigger than myself. There was once a time when a stretch of Devon Avenue was the only place in Chicago to go for South Asian foods and groceries, from halal and vegetarian to chai and nihari. But as the immigrant communities grew and some residents left their initial landing area, the suburbs increasingly developed their own ecosystems — and their unique takes on desi desserts. Now, a stretch of Roosevelt Road in the western suburb of Lombard has become a food nexus of its own. Changing tastes amongst young desis, people of South Asian descent, have led to a growth of shops run by millennial and Gen Z business owners offering desserts with a South Asian influence and halal certification. But notably missing are the full counters of mithai, the colorful sweets found across the Indian subcontinent. These sweets play an important social role for many cultural and religious groups in South Asia. Mithai, passed out at weddings, festivals and births, is a symbol of welcome and celebration. And the widest range of mithai in the Midwest is likely still found on Devon Avenue. Understanding mithai Mithai, which is related to the word for “sweet” (meetha) in many North Indian languages, is just one common name for the food. You’ll find many shared styles between countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, including spoonable milky desserts, delicate marzipan-like hand sweets or rich halwas of root vegetables, with different names depending on the region and the language. In Chicago, the best way to understand mithai is by walking along Devon Avenue. There you’ll witness the eye-catching diversity of regional sweets from every corner of the Indian subcontinent. Hyderabad House offers double ka meetha, a South Indian version of bread pudding. Sukhadia’s Sweets and Snacks offers a western Indian Gujarati version of gujiya, a dumpling-like pastry stuffed with sooji (semolina) and mawa (milk solids). Tahoora is frequently touted as the gold standard, offering North Indian classics like barfi, halwa and laddoo. At Sundarban Fish Bazaar, you might find variations of Bengali rasgulla from the eastern part of the subcontinent. Tri-color barfi at Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks in Chicago on Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Mango barfi from Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Halvason from Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks on Devon Avenue, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Kaju katli at Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)The gulab jamun macarons at Sweet Reserve Bakery & Cafe in Lombard on Oct. 18, 2024. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)The pistachio tiramisu at Sweet Reserve Bakery & Cafe in Lombard on Oct. 18, 2024. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)The gulab jamun cheesecake at Sweet Reserve Bakery & Cafe in Lombard on Oct. 18, 2024. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)Ras Malai Tres Leches cake jar at Sweet Reserve Bakery & Cafe in Lombard on Oct. 18, 2024. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)Sandwich chum chum from Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks on Devon Avenue in Chicago, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Show Caption1 of 9Tri-color barfi at Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks in Chicago on Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Expand “Unless I stand there in front (of the case), I can’t really explain the differences to you,” said Arijit Sen, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has authored many articles examining Devon’s architecture, food and history. Understanding mithai is a bit like ordering from a fancy chocolate store — you figure out what you want by look and texture and experience more than precisely knowing the ingredients. Everything has sugar, but each mithai can be defined by its usage of dairy, nuts, fats, flavoring and flour, as well as its shape. But tastes have changed. Many second- and third-generation South Asians associate mithai with their immigrant parents’ taste profiles. While their elders might go to Tahoora for halwa and samosas, younger desis might gather for crepes and coffee in Lombard. “There’s no reason to come to Devon other than your favorite sweet shop,” said Sneh Sukhadia, who works at Sukhadia’s Sweets and Snacks with his parents. “You can find every single other thing you need out in the suburbs now.” Brothers Sneh Sukhadia and Ravi Sukhadia at Sukhadia’s Sweets and Snacks on Devon Avenue on Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune) For many customers, the quality of mithai they have access to can’t compete with immigrant nostalgia. “Say you get like a box of sweets from a grocery store; they all are going to have the same texture, they’re all going to taste of the same rose essence,” Sukhadia said. “(Young people) automatically attribute that to all Indian sweets. You can’t even fault them for that.” Many young South Asians in Chicago crave sweets and baked goods that respect their dietary restrictions, their cultural heritage and their health concerns. “It’s very hard to eat a lot of mithai,” Sen said. “You can’t just sit there and eat six really sweet Indian sweets.” Instead, you have to take a group. But what if the group doesn’t like mithai? From Devon to home: Mithai changes in a new country Perhaps to accommodate changing tastes, most mithai shops on Devon now offer a variety of food: samosas, burgers, pizza and bubble tea. They don’t rely on mithai alone. At shops like Sukhadia’s, Tahoora, Pak Sweets, Mughal Bakery or Ajwaah, there may be 20 varieties of mithai in all shapes and colors. Diamonds, balls, macaron-like sandwiches. Bright green, nutty beige, mango orange. It’s a specific kind of artistry that is rarely passed down. All across South Asia, these specialty shops are popular and the shops on Devon echo them, with some slight changes. This is best seen in jalebi, a unique dessert of overlapping orange circles of dough fried in oil and soaked in rosewater syrup. At markets across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries, you can find street vendors standing over massive vats of oil. They’ll hand you a newspaper-wrapped jalebi, skinny or fat depending on the shop’s style. The hot oil, flavored syrup and crunchy dough are a wonderful pleasure. Emerti jalebi at Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks on Devon Avenue, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Fresh jalebi is coated in rose sugar syrup at Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks on Devon Avenue, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)José Carmona fries fresh jalebi, a street food snack, at Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks on Devon Avenue, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Fresh jalebi fries at Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks on Devon Avenue, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Show Caption1 of 4Emerti jalebi at Sukhadia's Sweets and Snacks on Devon Avenue, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)Expand “In South Asia, the making of the mithai — the cooking and the eating — is a street activity,” Sen said. “You don’t usually go inside a mithai shop and sit down. You just stand outside and eat these things.” But at most South Asian grocery stores in the U.S., jalebi is piled high in plastic containers, cold and stiff, sugar syrup crystallized on the surface. It’s the rare shop that fries them to order. According to Sen, permits, health standards and space constraints pushed mithai indoors. For decades now, Devon Avenue has been a pilgrimage area of sorts for many communities. New immigrants settle in waves, moving into apartments with fellow working people, where they can speak their regional or local languages. For their children, Devon’s importance comes from their parents’ nostalgia for it. Like many children of South Asian immigrants, loving mithai was an acquired taste for me. It took living abroad and experiencing the joys of hot jalebi, kulfi eaten out of chilled clay containers with falooda noodles on top and well-textured barfi for me to truly fall in love. Mithai may be a rarer treat for my generation, but its social importance is not in doubt. In my family, homemade halwas of carrot and semolina helped us celebrate Eid and the changing seasons. Sweet milky balls of ras malai were served at weddings. I sometimes serve mithai to guests with chai. Devon’s mithai shops exert their influence across America. Golden packages from Tahoora come through the mail on Eid. Sukhadia’s floral packages show up at corporate events for Diwali. Humera Rauf, co-owner of Sweet Reserve Bakery & Cafe in Lombard, lived in Texas and Louisiana before moving to the Chicago area. But even in the South, Tahoora was considered the top brand of mithai and was shipped in for weddings, births and other events. “On momentous occasions, Tahoora is always present,” Rauf said. So far, nothing in Lombard commands that kind of national brand name loyalty. A new approach in Lombard Co-owner Sumaiya Vahora loads Pecan Sticky Buns into the bakery case at Sweet Reserve Bakery & Cafe in Lombard on Oct. 18, 2024. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Roosevelt Road in Lombard is wide and utterly unwalkable, compared with narrow Devon Avenue and its crush of people and languages. Yet it’s become a social center for many young Muslims. While Rahman Sweets on Roosevelt specializes in a limited selection of classic mithai, the rest of the shops sell crepes, brownies, bubble tea, cakes and other trendy items. “Is it that our palettes are changing?” asked Sajjad Shah, co-owner of MOTW Coffee & Pastries. “Or maybe is it that it’s not as sexy as viral Dubai chocolate or honeycomb?” The millennial and Gen-Z entrepreneurs of Roosevelt Road make businesses that speak specifically to the experience of Chicago desis, particularly Muslims looking for new twists that were not previously available as halal. “Roosevelt is kind of known as the mecca for halal food in the Chicagoland area,” said Faizullah Hussaini, co-owner of Niwaala Street Food, which opened this year. Many of these new businesses have been remarkably successful, with several like Sweet Reserve opening several locations in less than five years. Ras malai macarons are placed in the display case at Sweet Reserve Bakery & Cafe in Lombard on Oct. 18, 2024. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Sumaiya Vahora, who was born in India, began baking from her home for her community to supplement her income as a teacher. She eventually found a business partner in another teacher, Rauf. Together, they opened the first Sweet Reserve location in Lombard in 2021; they’re working on their fourth location. “Our generation is not as interested in mithai,” said Rauf, who is Pakistani American. “What’s unique to us is that we have a fusion of them.” Sweet Reserve offers a few items that combine desi flavors with Western baked goods, such as flavored macarons. Gulab jamun, a fried doughnut in sugar syrup, is arguably the most famous type of mithai in the U.S., so it makes a good ambassador for fusion foods. Sweet Reserve’s gulab jamun cheesecake contrasts the intense sweetness of mithai with tart cream cheese. For many immigrant communities, food businesses are a way to set down roots and stability in a new country. In my time reporting on first-generation Pakistani restaurants, parents generally want their children to go to school, get a professional degree and leave the food industry. But new entrepreneurs are opening up the idea that success in the food industry is worthy of respect. “(Our community) always only cared about doctors and engineers,” said Aman Siddiqui, co-owner of Chi Tea. “Definitely that feeling has changed. They see how hyper-successful these restaurants are.” Sajjad Shah, who is Pakistani, and his wife, Fatimah Shah, who is Yemeni, had a successful run in Indiana with their business, MOTW Coffee & Pastries. When they wanted to expand out of state, they chose Main Street in Lombard, north of Roosevelt Road. “It seemed like almost everybody directed us to Lombard,” Sajjad Shah said. “Lombard is a melting pot. … I thought it would be cool to have a Pakistani-owned coffee shop for this community.” But currently, MOTW does not have mithai on its menu. Shah and his brother Jamal said they often discuss putting items like jalebi or gulab jamun on the menu. But for the broader, non-South Asian or Muslim audience, there’s a knowledge gap. “If you say barfi or jalebi is on the menu, they’ll say, ‘What is that?’” Sajjad Shah said. “But they know about baklava. They know about date cookies.” “I have doubts that mithai would survive at these specialty coffee shops,” he added. At Niwaala Street Food on Roosevelt, Hussaini has added, removed and readded gulab jamun to their dessert menu since opening in March. Hussaini is new to the restaurant industry, coming from a supply chain background. “Niwaala” is an Urdu word for a “small bite,” and that’s what Niwaala serves, quirky and fresh street food in the form of sliders and sandwiches with Indian and Pakistani twists. Niwaala’s desserts are a humble, but growing part of its eclectic menu of fusion items. The restaurant offers chai tres leches and makes a fusion falooda that Hussaini compares to sago. Initially, they served gulab jamun from Chicago’s Al Hamd Sweets. But it was one of Niwaala’s lowest sellers. They took it off their written menu. Soon after, customers began asking where it had gone and the owners had to reconsider. Hussaini said he has slowly started reintroducing it, though it’s still the lowest seller on their dessert menu. This is the contradiction of mithai: It’s at the heart of the culture, but customers may not miss it until it’s gone. The next generation on Devon Bakery counter at Patel Brothers on Devon Avenue, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune) Back on Devon, the mithai shops are going through transitions. In some cases, a second generation is taking over the business. And those owners say mithai sales are healthy, in no small part due to stores changing with the times. Patel Brothers began its life on Devon in 1974 and now has over 50 stores across the country. Swetal Patel is from the second generation of Patel brothers helping run the business, after his father and uncle started the company. He oversees the development of many of their products. Patel said mithai is still a big seller — in the refrigerated section, in the frozen section and in the bakery up front. Patel said they’ve been selling some form of mithai since the ‘70s. “We just weren’t doing it in a big way,” he said. “Fast forward some years, and Tahoora and Ajwaah popped up.” Seeing more specialty shops open on Devon, the Patel family invested more heavily in mithai, starting with canned gulab jamun and ras malai before expanding to cold items like kaju katli and milk cake. Energetic and talkative, Patel speaks of his peers on Devon with the comfort and humor of a longtime community member. Chaturnand Chaudhary and his daughter, Shrey, 7, of Chicago select sweets at the bakery counter at Patel Brothers on Devon, Oct. 30. 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune) “Variety doesn’t bring competition; variety brings growth to the category,” Patel said. “I’m all about making the pie bigger.” He added that Patel Brothers offers more affordable options, when compared with Tahoora’s more premium products. One early change was sugar-free mithai, as health concerns about diabetes grew. A year ago, the company introduced items Patel described as “fusion cakes.” There are five flavors, including another take on gulab jamun cheesecake and a ras malai cheesecake. All of the bakery cakes are egg-free, in line with some Hindu, Sikh and Jain customers’ dietary restrictions. Almost kitty-corner from Patel Brothers, Sukhadia’s Sweets and Snacks also offers a variety of products for those with dietary restrictions or items with cultural or religious importance. Sukhadia’s Sweets and Snacks on Devon Avenue, Oct. 25, 2024. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune) The Sukhadia family claims over 150 years of expertise as sweet sellers. There are Sukhadia’s stores in India, but the Chicago one was started by Jayant and Dina Sukhadia. When it opened in 1996, their son Sneh Sukhadia was 1 year old and the neighborhood was still growing into its South Asian character. Six years ago, Sneh Sukhadia left a job in finance and began training under his parents to inherit the family business alongside his brother, Ravi. The store has expanded its dine-in offerings, but the glass mithai counter is still radiant with freshness. “We do it the way it’s traditionally supposed to be done,” Sukhadia said. He explained that the core of much mithai is khoya or mawa, fresh dairy products that are simmered down to solids. Sukhadia’s process involves curdling the milk with vinegar. “That entire thing is a 3, 3.5-hour process at a minimum,” Sukhadia said. “We don’t use any type of starter stuff.” At Sukhadia’s, the texture and flavor of the kaju katli is superbly fresh, with a delicate mouthfeel. If you come at the right time, you might even get hot fried jalebi. Sukhadia is optimistic about the future of mithai, but he also admits tastes are changing. “When you do desi sweets, the younger generation isn’t as tied to that as the older generation,” Sukhadia said. “A lot of sweets is in its nostalgia. My parents, people coming in from India, but also the younger generation of Indians coming in and working in corporate: These are the customers that consistently buy sweets.” Part of the challenge of mithai is the full range of artistry and technique are rarely passed down or taught broadly. Sukhadia said recipes are shared orally and through demonstrations, preserved by elders in the kitchen. They’ve never lost a recipe, but it’s a challenge to hang onto the variety of recipes needed. “Everything is made by hand,” Sukhadia said. “We don’t use any kind of measurements, for anything. It’s all by knowledge. I’m thinking, how am I, in the future, going to be able to do every single one of these items and keep that same quality?” Vahora of Sweet Reserve said she has little plans of making a broad range of mithai, and is focusing instead on developing new fusion items. But she said she thinks trends are cyclical. “I think anything that is cultural will always make a comeback,” Vahora said. She compared the current moment in South Asian desserts to trends in fashion. “Many, many years ago, nobody wanted to wear desi clothing. But all of that is making a huge comeback. They want to do it the festive way that goes with our culture.” She thinks it’s possible the same will happen with mithai. A sweet idea indeed.