Gaylord

Freshness is the key for Chicago’s longest running fine dining Indian restaurant and it continues to set them apart from other Indian dining options in the Chicago area. After 36 years in Chicago, Gaylord reinvents itself once more with a move to a larger space in the Gold Coast offering the best fine dining Indian cuisine available in the city.

People in Chicago will seem familiar with Gaylord Indian because of its long-rooted history here – first opening in 1972 as the only original franchise location in the United States. Today, each is individually owned making Gaylord Chicago the area’s only option for Indian fine dining with two locations in the Gold Coast and Schaumburg.

Gaylord was established by two renowned Indian restaurant entrepreneurs in Chicago in 1972, Mr. Gai and Mr. Lamba, and is the oldest Indian restaurants in Chicago. The pair had already opened locations in India and London and they were eager to expand to the U.S. Chicago was chosen as the first location because of its huge ethnic base and the fact that there were no fine dining Indian restaurants in Chicago at the time. Although the restaurant was a franchise in the 1970’s, the owners sold the restaurant in the early 1980’s, and now all Gaylord’s around the world are independently owned and operated.

Gaylord Chicago offers a sophisticated setting and the freshest Indian cuisine available. Each day chefs use the freshest ingredients in their lunch buffet and al a carte menus featuring a variety of regional fare and staple favorites, offering a consistency in freshness not found elsewhere.

The Cuisine
Gaylord serves Northern Indian cuisine, which has been influenced by the Moguls, consists mainly of dishes and breads cooked in the clay oven (“tandoor”) and meats and vegetables slowly cooked in either tomato, onion, ground nut based or vegetable cased sauces, which are expertly seasoned according to the type of dish. Yogurt and cream is also used for marinades and sauces. The restaurant also serves some South Indian variety.

For private functions and outside caterings it offers all regions of Indian food as well as Indo-Chinese and international cuisine. Indian food lovers will surely find an all time favorites on the menu with a selection of dishes to expand their knowledge and experience, such as Shorbas (traditionally made Indian soups), Kababs, a variety of freshly baked Nan and a large selection of specialty Indian breads, Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb and Chicken Vindaloo, Kerala Fish Curry and more traditional vegetarian options.

Gaylord puts its own modern spin and presentation on Indian cuisine and fine diners will enjoy appetizers like the Kabab sampler, Spring Rolls, a mouth-watering assortment of keema samosa, pakoras, and chicken tikka and the Paneer Tikka Special of cubes of Tandoori paneer (homemade cheese) pan-fried in a spiced gravy. Entrees such as a collection of Dosai (rice crepes) filled with varied ingredients, Biriyani (savory rice dishes), Lamb Kadai (tender pieces of lamb cooked with ginger, tomato, onion, green chilies & coriander in an Indian Iron Wok), Fish Curry (tender cubes of mahi tikka simmered in a seasoned tomato gravy), Shrimp Bhuna (prawns cooked in onion gravy with touch of spices and tomatoes), Murgh Badam Pasanda (delicately seasoned chicken with almonds in cream sauce )and Chicken Gaylord (marinated chicken tenderly cooked over low heat with bell pepper, onion & spices).