Middle Eastern Restaurants in the Palos-Bridgeview area

I am getting a serious craving for some Middle Eastern food - has anyone been to any of the Middle Eastern restaurants around Harlem recently? Tried doing some search but the only reviews I was coming up with was Steve's on Roberts Rd. (which people were explaining how expensive it was). I been to the Nile Restaurant about 5 years ago but would like to try something new for the family. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I will scoop my own blog post (which I haven't written yet) to say that the kids and I ate at Al Basha the other day, and although the service was pretty darn relaxed, and the banquet hall feel is nothing special, our versions of all the usual middle-eastern standards were really first-rate, fresh-tasting and juicy. I particularly liked a dish which combined foul and hummus in a bowl; it kind of looked like just like dumping a little foul in your hummus, but the earthiness of the beans turned out to be an inspired addition to hummus.

Plus, you can smoke while you eat. (I didn't, but it's funny how alien that seems, already.) Prices were totally reasonable.

Al Basha
7216 W College Dr
Palos Heights, IL 60463
(708) 671-1440

Has Steve's gotten more expensive? I haven't been there for about a year and a half, but I don't remember it being particularly unreasonable.

Binko wrote:Has Steve's gotten more expensive? I haven't been there for about a year and a half, but I don't remember it being particularly unreasonable.

Binko,

There is some talk that GNR Winner Steve's Shish Kabob has gotten expensive, though only in relation to it's past location on 63rd Street or in comparison to, say, Salam. Overall value is, in my opinion, still quite strong.

Past Steve's Shish Kabab posts.

- Vegetarian Dining at Steve's Shish-Kabab [non-veg, too]

- Is Steve's shish-kebab house closed for good? [No]

Enjoy,
Gary

Steve's Shish Kabob
10719 S Roberts Rd
Palos Hills, IL 60465
708-974-3530

Salam Restaurant
4636 N Kedzie Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
773-583-0776

Steve's and Al Basha are both good. I'm not sure about the prices increasing at Steve's last time I went was with a group of people and we all just split the bill and I thought that the split was pretty reasonable.

There is a new place that's opened up on Harlem and 87th, it's in the old Taco Bell there, in the parking lot where Tony's Finer Foods is. When I was there last the sign wasn't up in English yet, so I don't know the name. I've tried to get in there about three times and it was packed to the gills with people eating lunch. My kids were hungry and not patient enough to wait so I haven't made it in. I thought it was a good sign that it was so full of people. I'm going to try to make it over there again on the weekend to see if I can get in.

Just wanted to let you know that we went to Steve's last night and had an excellent meal. We started out with a fava bean spread that my wife enjoyed and then we got out orders. My wife and our youngest got the Shwarma which they both enjoyed very much. Very nicely flavored a large - we took half of it home with us which made for an excellent breakfast for myself and my oldest daughter. I ordered the Mensef which was incredibly good - large hunks of lamb (boneless) topping a large serving of rice pilaf that was flavored with yogurt and saffron. I am a big boy but I could only finish about half of this (which is good because now I can look forward to having this for lunch today.)

We capped this dinner off with some lovely mint tea which was not only refreshing but also allowed us to recover from the feast that we just had. All of this with a couple of cans of pop for the girls came to $40 which I thought was very reasonable for what we got.

Thanks for all the suggestions and we will definitely be coming back after we check out Al Basha - any other places in the area that we should try as well?

Got a chicken chicken shawarma to go, today from Al Basha.
Was good and packed full of chicken and spice. Hit the spot!















The last bite was the best! Can you find pac man taking a bite?


Noticed this Asian massage joint a few doors down there was a Bud truck dropping beer of to a bar there in the corner next to Al Basha.
Never been there yet, the bar or the Asian joint.

I'm sorry to say that though I've been in that bar to the right of Al Basha quite a bit, I've never eaten at Al Basha itself. I'll have to check it out sometime.

There was a Middle eastern place on Check Please tonight.

It looked great and the check please critics seemed to like it. Here is the info from the Check Please website.

Al Bawadi

7216 West 87th Steet
Bridgeview, Illinois 60455
(708)599-1999

Authentic Middle Eastern dishes prepared over a natural wood open grill and served in an exotic atmosphere reminiscent of a dessert oasis. They are known for their tender kabobs and delicious appetizers. The coffee is authentic and strong, not for the light-hearted!

Al Bawadi is a GNR

Cbot wrote:

This place clearly deserves to be included in the "Name Puns" thread.

Returning from Southern Illinois yesterday, I ordered ahead the $99.99 Large Mixed Meat Platter.
http://www.albawadigrill.com/menu
We had previously with four other individuals dined at Al Bawadi and shared the same selection.
The meats on a huge bed of rice come in a large aluminum tray with an excellent cover.
Sealed well enough to survive intact for the trip back to Wisconsin.
The go-withs were also excellently packed and no leakage.
There is easily enough food for 6 and probably eight if the six half quail I counted are shared. There may be more buried under the rice?
The lamb chops, quail, kebobs and kufta kabob are very good but as other have posted the schwarma can be somewhat dry. A thin flat bread wraps the meat container and Pitas are also provided. Everything else was excellent.
On Sunday at 12:30 pm they were somewhat busy already.
I did survive the trip back on the Tollway but average speeds are constantly increasing and enforcement just about non-existant. I’m not bothered with speed but in Wisconsin you just can’t cruise above 76mph on the Interstate system especially in Kenosha and Racine Counties.-Richard

budrichard wrote:I did survive the trip back on the Tollway but average speeds are constantly increasing and enforcement just about non-existant. I’m not bothered with speed but in Wisconsin you just can’t cruise above 76mph on the Interstate system especially in Kenosha and Racine Counties.-Richard

Edens recently has gotten worse with high speed weaving through traffic with some really close calls. State Police show up for accidents or occasional enforcement times, but otherwise are absent.

Back to food:
When you got home, did you reheat the food or did it retain its heat to serve as-is?

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:

budrichard wrote:I did survive the trip back on the Tollway but average speeds are constantly increasing and enforcement just about non-existant. I’m not bothered with speed but in Wisconsin you just can’t cruise above 76mph on the Interstate system especially in Kenosha and Racine Counties.-Richard

Edens recently has gotten worse with high speed weaving through traffic with some really close calls. State Police show up for accidents or occasional enforcement times, but otherwise are absent.

Back to food:
When you got home, did you reheat the food or did it retain its heat to serve as-is?

Regards,
Cathy2

It’s is about an hour drive to home and when I arrived all one had to do was briefly put the whole aluminum (think large hotel pan) in an over for awhile and it would have been fine.
As it was we opened, left in garage and microwaved at dinner time in individual portions. Last night my wife took the kabob’s and heated in a covered frying pan to use with the supplied Pita’s. There are two kinds of rice and enough rice to feed at least 15 hungry people. My next foray this summer will be to try the Bedouin platter and watch Lawrence of Arabia!-Richard
BTW I term the Eden’s a ‘Free Fire Zone’, you can go as fast as you want.
Enforcement is there to clean up the accidents!