Two Dreams Become One
Story written by: Karolina Dryndak | Interview conducted by: Karolina Dryndak | Research and editing done by: Matthew Beyer and Jada Peters
There is a fairly new restaurant in Racine, Wisconsin called Chit Chaat, that is known for it’s authentic Indian Pakistani street food. Many locals applaud the couple in charge for their food, value, and service.
Junaid Shafique, who was born in Pakistan, moved to America a few years ago, and brought his culture with him. He introduced his wife, Angela Downs to his native food.
“I really loved his Pakistani food and I thought it was so good that he should share it with the people of Racine” says Angela.
“When we got married, one of the first things I made for him … I was so proud of American food … was roast chicken and mashed potatoes, and he was just appalled. He did not like it, he said there is no flavor in this food, so it was clear that I was gonna have to learn how to cook using spices” Angela recalls.
Junaid taught his wife Angela many of his Pakistani recipes over the years, so when Chit Chaat first opened, Angela was the only person that Junaid could truly rely on to help him cook his famous dishes.
“I never intended on being a chef, but … Iv’e become one, and it’s been fun because I absolutely love cooking” Angela adds.
As far as their employees, they currently do not train them to cook their meals, but instead mainly have their employees do general things around the restaurant. They are still on the lookout for a suitable candidate who can easily be trained to perfect their Pakistani dishes.
Neither Shafique or Downs had ever owned a restaurant previous to Chit Chaat, and they went through their fair share of challenges in their first year of being open.
“We had to learn all about … what are people looking for in a restaurant and how to manage getting the food out … some of the food takes a long time to prepare, but people don’t have that long to sit and wait so we kind of had to innovate how to get this food to maintain its quality, but get it out quickly” explains Angela.
She goes onto explain some of the other challenges they faced, including being able to find open minded part-time employees.
“I think people were intimidated because the food was so different” says Angela. “It’s a new language for people … they didn’t know what anything on the menu was so we had to find people who were patient and willing to learn what kind of food this was”
When asked about her favorite meal off the menu, Angela giggles.
“That changes all of the time” she says. “If I’m in a vegetarian mood, I really love to have our sautéed spinach dishes … like palak paneer, which is basically spinach with a paneer cheese, and I like to put green peppers and mushrooms in mine.”
“If i’m in the meat mood, I love a dish we have called chicken karahi, and that’s like a stir fry chicken dish that’s got a creamy tomato ginger sauce” she says. “I think it’s an underrated dish because most people go for the popular dishes.”
With the current Coronavirus outbreak, restaurants all across the United States struggle to find ways of remaining open, while still being safe. As of right now, Chit Chaat is only accepting takeouts and deliveries. They are partnering with the popular food app Grubhub. They take all of their orders by phone, and have even decided to take extra precautions, such as only allowing curbside deliveries, and payment by phone.
“We’ve taken the action of banning anyone from entering the restaurant” says Angela. “We’ve made a rule that everyone has to wait in their car and call us when they’re here if we don’t see them, and we will bring out their food.”
“It’s harder for people … it’s not convenient, but it’s just the way it is right now” Angela says. “We don’t want to close because … there is a chance that we can’t reopen”
Angela shares the concern of many small business owners at this time, many of which are doing everything in their power in order to remain open during this crisis.
“The community has been very supportive” Angela says. “We are taking every precaution to be safe.”
When comparing a small business like Chit Chaat to chain restaurants, many may agree that the smaller businesses are the safer choice because they have fewer employees.
Chit Chaat is not only a restaurant, but it is also a café.
“It’s actually always been my life dream to have my own café for as long as I can remember” Angela recalls.
Angela takes pride in the fact that her and her husband’s food is authentic, and that their drinks are fresh.
“We brew our own chai. It’s cooked on the stove, it’s not from a concentrate or a syrup, so … it’s got all of the fresh spices” she explains.
Junaid and Angela were able to come together in order to make each other’s dreams come true.
“I love having my space … and I feel like this is my space that I get to share with people.” She also adds “I am sharing all of my favorite things with people, from my husband’s cooking, to our drinks, to the atmosphere we have inside, and I feel people leave here feeling good and happy, so that’s my favorite part.”
“It’s a dream come true, and not everybody gets to say that in life.” Angela states.
Junaid and Angela image source: https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/journaltimes.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/ac/eacc384a-66fe-5321-a343-99074b95d339/5cd35acda3be0.image.jpg?resize=400%2C252
Palak peneer image source: https://myjourneythroughindia.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/malai-palak-paneer.jpg
Chicken karahi image source: https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FIkhHIsblYg/V9xYzDCYTYI/AAAAAAAAJ_Q/jQux92JYPrQ70icmNvlQsx3pFG9SGG1DQCLcB/s1600/lahori-chicken-karahi8.jpg
Grubhub logo image source: http://www.workspring.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Grubhub.png
Soy milk chai image source: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ee/d4/71/eed471804523759c927b218b48aeeb3c.jpg
