Is it really that big? Is it really busy? Is it really as nice as everyone says? She arrived in the United States from India in the early s, armed with a jet-black braid that fell down her back, dreams of dental school, and an adamantine sense of determination. It was the first time she had been on a plane, the first time away from the comforts of home.

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Gone was the man who delivered fresh milk to the door in thick glass bottles, and the vegetable seller who roamed the streets of her neighborhood shouting out his selections for the day. As she and my dad settled in a small, barren apartment in Detroit, armed with just a sleeping bag and a radio, there was only one place to find the flavors of home: A tiny, dimly lit Patel Brothers that was as well stocked as it could be.

Still, she was thankful. There she could find mounds of jaggery; bags of crispy, salty sev; and pounds of whole wheat atta for making rotis. It meant she wouldn't have to warm up limp grocery store pita and pretend it was naan or live only off the one American dish she did like: Bean tostadas at Taco Bell. Patel Brothers was started in by Mafat and Tulsi Patel. What was once a small grocery on Devon Avenue in Chicago has grown into more than 50 locations in 19 states. No Indian grocery store chain offers the same expansive selection of fresh produce, boxed spices, Indian beauty products and thousands of other items from the Indian subcontinent that were once smuggled back to the States in suitcases.

Some have even begun to offer fresh, hot food, such as flavor-packed kati rolls.

Most locations now feature the same fluorescent lighting and neat organization of a Whole Foods, but with burlap bags of basmati rice instead of boxes of quinoa, and a freezer full of paneer instead of a cheese counter. Just as Patel Brothers has evolved, so has my mom. She is no longer an immigrant fresh off the plane, trying to adjust to a new home thousands of miles from everything and everyone she knew.

She owns a thriving dental practice that she built tooth-by-tooth. Her English features a robust vocabulary dotted with a soft accent. She likes one more item at Taco Bell a soft taco with beans , and she has developed an inexplicable penchant for candy corn.

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At her local supermarket, she picks up bottles of ranch dressing and peruses the bulk bins for grains and nuts. Grocery shopping is usually a chore, one she does out of a strong distaste for restaurant food and an even stronger drive to feed my dad, my brother and me a mind-blowing range of high-quality home-cooked Indian meals.

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At Patel Brothers, memories of her childhood flood back to her brain and her taste buds. In the produce section, she always excitedly points out the plump and craggy karela, filling the thin plastic bag to the top. Same for the okra - she swears Indian grocery stores always carry better okra - and mango, which she buys 12 at a time during peak season. On the rare days Patel Brothers stocks fresh sitafal, a fruit she reminisces about more than any other, it's game over. On the aisle brimming with bags of lentils and flours, she pauses often to explain the favorite ways her mom and her neighbors would use them.

On the spice aisle, she buys bags of dried bay leaves, bright yellow turmeric, jet black mustard seeds and hing, or asafetida, the pungent spice that gives certain Indian dishes their signature zing. Then she'd pick up Indian peanuts, raisins and figs - all of which she swears have more flavor than the American versions. Like many fellow immigrants, my mom has not lost her sense of frugality, even as she has become more financially stable.

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But at Patel Brothers, she throws caution to the wind. Nothing feels off-limits, a rare boon to me and my brother when we were growing up. A new snack mix I want to try? I could get it. A tin brimming with saffron? Packets of Maggi Noodles, India's answer to Top Ramen, bags of India-exclusive flavors of potato chips, chocolate bourbon biscuits and Parle-G cookies all go in the cart.

Argue for the same cookie leniency in an American grocery store, and we'd get a firm no and a stern look. Perhaps her desire for her children to engage in their heritage overrides her desire for us to eat more fruits and vegetables.

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Or maybe Patel Brothers is just where she's truly comfortable. I was shocked to see the bags of rice and flour neatly organized on shelves; the jalebi like an Indian funnel cake tasted as delectably syrupy as it did at the shops in India; one of the managers actually offered to walk our big boxes of mangoes to the car.

That day, I became part of the enormous legion of loyalists who swear by Patel Brothers for Indian groceries. Patel Bros as it is affectionately called by fans now counts 50 stores across the U. The business started as a storefront in Chicago, opened by two brothers, Mafat and Tulsi Patel, in At the time, the Patels were recent immigrants from India, and had trouble finding the ingredients they craved from back home.

The small store turned into a multi-million-dollar brand that now also includes a separate food label, SWAD. For Indian chefs, the ability to buy high-quality ingredients that come directly from the source is a game-changer. In addition to the variety, there are other innovations that Patel Brothers has made over the years to accommodate the particular needs of the Indian consumer — like the aforementioned chapatti machine, which, for families like mine who might go through a day, has eliminated the frustrating search for bulk, freshly made breads.

We think about these kinds of conveniences. Wherever they land, the stores also become community centers for the Indian population. The most novel aspect of Patel Brothers, though, is how accessible it has made Indian ingredients for non-Indian customers. On top of the stores being laid out similarly to an American grocer, each item is clearly labeled and described in both English and an Indian language usually Hindi , and there are employees on-hand who are literally trained to take your shopping list and pull everything you might need.