Khana Khazana, a traditional Indian street-style café, opens in Gurukrupa store

DeKALB – Husband-and-wife duo Dwijen and Mona Bhatt could hardly wait to see their latest customer dive into a bowl of chole masala, steaming chickpea curry served over a samosa, a lentil and pea-stuffed fried pocket, and topped with fresh cilantro chutney.

The Bhatts recently added to the services they offer in their Gurukrupa Indian Grocery and Copy Service by opening Khana Khazana, a traditional Indian café, 1005 W. Lincoln Highway, which serves fresh street-style Indian food six days a week, and will expand to seven when the academic year begins. Khana means food and Khazana means treasure, and that's exactly what the Bhatts want to serve the people of DeKalb.

During their grand opening earlier in June, the Bhatts invited their parents and an old mentor, Rajesh Vyas, who flew all the way from India. They call Vyas their “guru,” and named “Gurukrupa” after him. Dwijen Bhatt grew as a cook under Vyas’ watchful guidance, and said their menu also comes with the seal of approval from their guru.

“We were so proud of ourselves,” Mona Bhatt, 31, said, sitting in the cafe. “When we saw our happiness in their eyes. We feel like we achieved something in our lives.”

“That’s all we need,” said Dwijen Bhatt, 32. “As far as the business goes, we don’t see it. It’s not about the money. I feel like I want to give you something you can eat.”

Mona Bhatt is the main chef at the café, and insisted that her husband not hire anyone for the first six months, so she could perfect recipes such as the popular grilled paneer, which is an Indian-style spiced cottage cheese, or triangular samosas filled with spiced potatoes, onions, and peas. The entire menu at Khana Khazana is vegetarian, with no meat or eggs in any of the dishes.

“Whenever people come in, the first thing we both do is see on their faces when they take the first bite,” Mona Bhatt said. “We want to see how happy they are.”

Another key component of Indian-style street food is chutney – special sauces bursting with flavors such as cilantro, sweet tomato or spicy garlic. Mona said she makes them fresh every day to pour over dishes.

The couple also own an Indian grocery store in Naperville, and commute from Yorkville with their daughter, Abha, 7, and son, Varad, 2. They have a little apartment in the back of their shop when days get too long.

Another popular staple in the café is sugarcane juice, which is made by running a long shoot of sugarcane through a machine that strips the bark off the cane and pulverizes the insides to make juice. The sweet liquid is then toned down by adding fresh ginger and a squeeze of lemon.

“Indian food, it’s not just about the spices for the taste,” Dwijen Bhatt said. “When you are eating, you have to put, for instance, the fenugreek seeds into the rice because rice is heavy for digestion. And if you’re drinking only sugarcane, it’s not that healthy, but you add ginger together.”

Khana Khazana is open from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays and will expand its hours to 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week in the fall.