Babylon=Great Middle Eastern [Closed]

I ate at this small brightly lit, comfortable eatery the other day and was taken aback at how good it was. The falafel was fresh, the prefect crispiness golden brown outside, beautiful green soft inside. Wonderful tabouli, babganoush, houmus. The swarma is first rate, and the prices cant be beat. I also believe they make their own pita fresh. There is a paucity of great mid-low range middle eastern in this city, but Babylon is the best I have had by a very long shot.


Babylon Eatery
2023 N. Damen Ave.
773-342-7482

cuteheart1977 wrote:I ate at this small brightly lit, comfortable eatery the other day and was taken aback at how good it was. The falafel was fresh, the prefect crispiness golden brown outside, beautiful green soft inside. Wonderful tabouli, babganoush, houmus. The swarma is first rate, and the prices cant be beat. I also believe they make their own pita fresh. There is a paucity of great mid-low range middle eastern in this city, but Babylon is the best I have had by a very long shot.


Babylon Eatery
2023 N. Damen Ave.
773-342-7482

I would not call it the best Middle Eastern in the city, but I like this place too.

I have never been to sultans or monets, but will check them out in the next couple of weeks and report my final verdict on the matter on this post.

Thanks for the recs

In about the same vein as babylon, which is OK, but I wouldn't say great, are Salam, Semiramis, and City Noor, all of which are in a half block radius of the (closed) kedzie brown line stop.

Erik has mentioned Monet's at Ohio and Damen in the past for great falafel, but, despite driving past it every day, I still haven't made it inside. I should remedy that.

I live in the neighbourhood and I was really excited about this place when it first opened.

But, anymore I'll drive to Salam, Semiramis, Old Jerusalem, Maza, Fattoush, or Alladin first.

And, I am never one to complain about prices but Babylon isn't any sort of bargain.

I have never gotten out of there for less than $18-20.*

[Ed: I haven't been to Monet's in ages. I cannot offer any current info.]

E.M.

P.S. The latest issue of Saveur Magazine (04.06) includes an interesting article on hummus/hummous (with four different recipes).

* I have always dined in, so these figures include gratuity.

I just had a delightful meal at Maza this weekend with my parents. The half roast chicken is pretty much my favorite thing, the carrot soup is supa fresh, with the cardamon undertones. The owner is also a real sweetheart.

I would put this restuaraunt in a different category then babylon...

I havent been to the others you mention, but am excited to try them.

cuteheart1977 wrote:I just had a delightful meal at Maza this weekend with my parents. The half roast chicken is pretty much my favorite thing, the carrot soup is supa fresh, with the cardamon undertones.

You like poultry?

Here's a tip: try the marinated and grilled Cornish hen at Al-Khaymeih Restaurant.

Al-Khaymeih
4740 N Kedzie
Chicago
773.583.3099

E.M.

Decided to try this place last night, as Lucia's was closed, and we were wandering around Bucktown with two bottles of wine, so we walked all the way over to Babylon.

I thought the restaurant was really nice, the decor fits the neighborhood, but I knew things were going to go bad as soon as we asked for ice water, and she brought them out in 6 oz plastic cups. They did have two stemmed wine glasses.

Next up, appetizers. We ordered Borak, beef, because they were out of chicken (mind you we got there at 6:30), and they were good, a little heavy on the allspice but good. Feta, could have used a bit of olive oil, pita, which was great if you like the papery thin kind, I do, and spinach pie, which was fantastic. If we would have known the rest to come we would have ordered more appetizers and called it a night.

It appears this place does a huge take out business. The kitchen couldn't keep up. Our entrees came out around 8,cold. I had chicken curry, and hubby had lamb and chicken combo. Both ice cold, he had warm rice, mine was cold. Good cucumber yogurt salad, but useless as we sent the entrees back. You guessed, it , the waitress came back and said that was the last portion of chicken curry and lamb...... What the heck is going on here? She told us it had been a bad day, she'd been there since 11 am and had no help, and she sent us home with two chicken kabob meals no charg and no charge for the cold items, which was great, but just a deflating evening, as we would have preferred our meal hot at the restaurant. Thank goodness we brought our own wine. It's a shame, because I am not sure we'll give it a second chance. I have such a hard time believing this is a Zagat, and a(picture of Dolinsky is hanging) hungry hound rated place.

So I've been going here recently on Fridays for the 99 cent falafel sandwich special. The sandwich is pretty decent (but I wouldn't get it if it wasn't so cheap and I didn't work in the area) and I like that it's served in a thin pita wrap as opposed to the thick cut open and stuffed pita style sandwich at other places. The falafel is fried fresh to order, so you have a good 5-10 minute wait. My issue is that the falafel has a kinda dry mealy texture. Upon inspection, I have found there are tiny white to translucent seeds in the falafel mix. Any thoughts on what could be contributing to the mealy/grainy texture? Is this a certain style of falafel I'm unaware of, or is it just bad falafel? Is the falafel mixed with a rough texture on purpose? I've had plenty of falafel, but am totally thrown off by Babylon's.

pigOut wrote: Upon inspection, I have found there are tiny white to translucent seeds in the falafel mix. Any thoughts on what could be contributing to the mealy/grainy texture? Is this a certain style of falafel I'm unaware of, or is it just bad falafel? Is the falafel mixed with a rough texture on purpose? I've had plenty of falafel, but am totally thrown off by Babylon's.

The seeds sound like sesame. I have not been to Babylon, but judging by the name, it could be an Assyrian restaurant. Sometimes Assyrians use Fava Beans as well as Chick Peas in their falafel. However, in my experience, the addition of ground fava usually makes a moister. not drier, falafel. Usually dry falafel are due to them being made ahead of time then allowed to sit too long before reheating (an all too common practice). Again, I have never been to Babylon, so I don't know what their falafel process entails.

Thanks for the feedback...I think your right about the sesame seeds. The dryness is odd because they are fried fresh to order...but it's the coarse texture of the falafel that really throws me off.

Babylon seems to have closed. It is dark and there is a handwritten sign "closed" taped inside the door.

heh heh ... we must have walked by at the same time. I was getting dinner from Nick's at about 8:20

leek wrote:Babylon seems to have closed. It is dark and there is a handwritten sign "closed" taped inside the door.

boy, that's too bad. they were the best middle eastern in the neighborhood, certainly a lot better than Sultan's. And they were running $1 falafel sandwiches on fridays, although in retrospect that may have been a warning sign.

leek wrote:Babylon seems to have closed. It is dark and there is a handwritten sign "closed" taped inside the door.

Today I called in to place my normal friday carryout order and there was no answer. Called again, no answer. Drove by the store, closed sign. (Sigh/stomach growl)

This is disappointing. I always enjoyed picking up some $1 falafel sandwiches every friday for lunch and the staff were always quite welcoming and warm.

Where to go now...

Babylon seems to be open again.