Zabiha Meat Market

They say if it’s smelly in a nail salon, you would be wise to avoid it. The same could be said about this place. Buyer beware, of a butcher shop that keeps the front door wide open.
I was on the hunt for an item I am bewildered to have forgotten. The stench within their walls was more than I could bare. I buy meat in butcher shops but never, anywhere, this stanky. I’ve never been a good swimmer anyway and holding my breath in a store seemed, well, unnecessary.

My family has gone to this shop for meat and groceries for over 20 years. It is the only place I have ever known when it comes to meat. To this day, even though I live more than 70 miles from Chicago, whenever I am in town I stop by and stock up. Good quality meat, good prices, and a decent grocery selection of Indian spices. They also have a parking area in the back of their store, which is useful at times.

I’m no expert on Indian food, but what I’ve had I’ve enjoyed, especially the spicy stuff. So due to my ignorance coupled with the fact that I’d never been to Devon after all these years, I took a ½ day off of work one sunny afternoon and wandered to Devon to check out the grocery stores. Not really knowing what the fuck I was looking for, I went into the Zabiha Market. It kind of threw me back to the many many years ago when I first set foot in Thai Grocery and just bought a bunch of shit and experimented.
All the meat looked fresh and it wasn’t at all stinky (you know what I mean when you walk by a meat counter and it reeks, meaning not good?). Since I was on foot and it was warm out, I couldn’t try any of the lamb or chicken, so I bought some masala and other boxed stew spice mixes to try.
This grocery is small, very small. And as I checked out, the guy at the register was talking to his buddy and they would glance at me here and there, so I’m pretty damn sure they were talking about me. I don’t know the Indian language at all, but I do know what «gandu» means.