Indian Curry Buffets are in Danger of Being the Next Casualties of the Pandemic

It’s 1:30 pm on a sultry, summer day in early 2001, and we’re famished. Our four-family caravan scours Chicago’s Devon Avenue in desperation, finding parking spots that can barely fit our fleet of minivans, full of our haul from Patel Brothers: dals, rare seasonal vegetables like bitter gourd and Indian drumstick, jars of mango and lime achar, and packages of appalams (pappadums) straight from Chennai.

Inside the cars, chaos ensues: Will we pick Mysore...