In this age of global cuisine, culinary odd couples pop up all over. Here’s one worth noting:
The name of the restaurant, Rajun Cajun, implies Louisiana bayou cooking, until you ask owner Trushar Patel for its proper pronunciation.
Raj-JAHN Cajun. As in Raj, the Indian name for king.
Then you walk in this single-room, cafeteria-style eatery, hear the Indian pop music remixed to Kanye West, and see the steaming trays of tandoori chicken, lamb curry and samosas. You start to wonder: What’s so Cajun about the restaurant?
The Hyde Park eatery serves both Indian and Southern comfort food, sometimes a hybrid of the two. Mango lassi and chicken biryani shares a menu with peach cobbler and fried chicken. Curried collard greens and curried catfish are popular dishes.
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Patel, the cheery Kenyan-born owner of Indian descent, bought the restaurant space in 1991 when it was a Cajun fast-food eatery on 53rd Street. Worried he might lose the former restaurant’s clientele, but aware of the lack of Indian cuisine on the South Side, Patel went with the best of both worlds.
There are plenty of chicken, lamb and fish choices, and a dozen kinds of vegetable dishes (the curried black-eyed peas are a spicy highlight). And it’s not all food–Patel also sells incense and rents Bollywood movies.
Patel used to insist on calling the restaurant Raj-jahn Cajun, but it wouldn’t stick with the young University of Chicago diners.
“So now I’m starting to call it Rajun Cajun,” he said. “It rhymes better.”
Rajun Cajun
1459 E. 53rd St., 773-955-1145
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Know a culinary odd couple, a restaurant that features two different cuisines? Drop us a line: Put ODD COUPLE in the subject line and tell us about the place. Send to [email protected]