NIU Kabob House

As noted in the Openings and Closings thread, the spot formally known as Siunik Armenian Grill has become niu Armenian Grill. The restaurant layout and decor are basically the same. Walk up, order, pay, sit. Same tables and uncomfortable chairs. Same open kitchen. However, they've added a pizza oven.

The menu is more or less the same. The $5.49 lunch special that I just ate included one lula, two steak kabobs, two chicken kabobs, and a falafel. Same sides choices as Siunik. On a plus note - the bread they serve now is a vast improvement over the Siunik version. It resembles a fluffy bread-like hamentaschen. There's a Wednesday and Friday lunch special that includes a piece of tilapia for $6.99

According to the carryout menu, pizza options include "mozzatella cheese acroos freshly made dough." The menu has other typos such as "viggie kabob."

According to the cashier, this place is under new ownership. Though I recognized several employees behind the counter from the Siunik regime. I'm just sayin'

niu Armenian Grill
4839 W. Oakton St.
Skokie, IL 60077
(847) 329-4200
http://www.niuarmeniangrill.com

The lack of love for Oakton Ave Armenian food baffles me.



I do not believe my picture does justice to this less than $10 plate. Ample portions of steak, burger (lula), and chicken; starch, which you are allowed half n' half, which is basically 2 portions (here mushroom wheat pilaf and rice noodle pilaf), salad (cabbage), and 3 yes 3 sides. Excellent baba, very smoky, and the hamov is one of the great eggplant dishes of the world. It was so much, that I just punted on one side, getting extra of the eggplant (hamov). Plus, there's sauce and bread, and nothing is more nice than the way they sprinkle a bit of parsley on your plate at the end.

I really liked Siunik, so I have mixed feelings when saying, Niu is better. As noted above, better bread, richer, hotter sauces, and tender, juicer kebabs. Great just got greater.

It's on the way to/fro work for me, though I don't often enough stop by. I wasn't in the mood for meat the last time I was there, and I thought the falafel was really good.

Vital Information wrote:I really liked Siunik, so I have mixed feelings when saying, Niu is better. As noted above, better bread, richer, hotter sauces, and tender, juicer kebabs. Great just got greater.

Haven't been here yet, but did try Siunik once and thought it was all right. Then the owner came out and bragged to us that all the food is really healthy because he doesn't use any spices, "not even vinegar!" Uh, okay?

It seemed inevitable, but it looks like the lack of interest in this place finally is effecting it. Lunch yesterday was just not the same in many aspects. Things that zinged before like the cabbage salad, just zagged this time, very blah; sadder, the famous Armenian eggplant salad featured undercooked eggplant, not a good thing at all. But how were the portions? Sadly, not only was most of the food mediocre, there was less of it too; they used to pile on the pilafs and such. This was the only time I've eaten here in recent memories that I saw my plate before I started digging in to lunch. Hate to say it, but I'll be hard pressed to return.

Ok..this place changed ownership a few weeks ago. Now it's NIU Kabob House. They proudly state that they serve 100% Zabihah Halal food. Same folks behind the counter. Though there was a woman in the kitchen that the staff pointed out was the new owner.

Same menu. I had my usual combination lunch special the other day. Portions were ample. The one thing that stood out to me was the chicken. It was much more flavorful and moist. I was happy.

mods - I don't know if you want to re-title this thread.

NIU Kabob House
4839 Oakton St.
Skokie, IL 60077
(847) 329-4200

On the old Siunik thread I posted back about five years ago how it was value-driven with very good quality. Glad to hear that it's still on point.

I have to think that most restaurants in that downtown Skokie corridor--my old stomping grounds as a kid--need more than LTH love. Revitalization has come slow and hard with many obstacles still to come. Hope NIU can hang on.

jnm123 wrote:Hope NIU can hang on.

It's light out for the current version of this place. Drove by at about 1pm today. Dark inside. Website is dead.

Dave148 wrote:It's light out for the current version of this place. Drove by at about 1pm today. Dark inside. Website is dead.

This place changed ownership about a year ago but since July has remained closed.

There is a sign in the window of NIU Kabob as of today saying:

"Coming Soon
Baghdad Restaurant"

Baghdad Restaurant has opened on 12/1 in the former NIU Kabob location in downtown skokie. In the window they had a sign 25% all food orders as grand opening from 12/1 - 12/3.

This restaurant has 2 other locations in Sterling Heights Michigan.

Baghdad Restaurant Chicago
4839 Oakton St,
Skokie, IL 60076, US
(847) 329-4200

Posted in the openings thread as well:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f= ... 13#p526613

Once again, good luck in that space. When I worked almost next door during Siunik's tenure, I really enjoyed their value & quality. The key is garnering lunch business from the Skokie business community.

That is an understatement.The strip on Oakton between the Yellow line& Niles center rd has a Sushi place,Jamaican,Portuguese chicken,Thai,2 breakfast places;Alexander's and Annie's and a Subway all trying to get the lunch crowd.

Pauly wrote:That is an understatement.The strip on Oakton between the Yellow line& Niles center rd has a Sushi place,Jamaican,Portuguese chicken,Thai,2 breakfast places;Alexander's and Annie's and a Subway all trying to get the lunch crowd.

With Village Inn, Panino Blitz, and El Fuego competing for the same crowd . . .

Not to wax poetic, but that 'strip' as you call it, Pauly, was from 1955-1975 the most vibrant stretch of street in the village. Oakton from Skokie Blvd. to Niles Center. My mom took the bus there to shop. We rode our Sting Rays to the Ben Franklin 5 & 10. My dad would stop at Ridley's package store to buy a sixpack. This was where the business of Skokie was done.

It was an idyllic, happening place, but once Old Orchard was built in 1960, it took a full 15 years for the death knell to sound, compounded by Niles East & G.D. Searle closing, and an influx of Section 8 housing.

The stretch still lives, even after numerous aborted revitalization plans and a Yellow Line stop, but until restaurant patrons can feel safe visiting the area in the evenings, it won't improve. Just sad.

jnm123 wrote:Once again, good luck in that space. When I worked almost next door during Siunik's tenure, I really enjoyed their value & quality. The key is garnering lunch business from the Skokie business community.

Keep in mind that a huge apartment complex on the northwest corner of Lincoln and Oakton will be built. IMO- a game changer for the area.

jnm123 wrote:Once again, good luck in that space. When I worked almost next door during Siunik's tenure, I really enjoyed their value & quality. The key is garnering lunch business from the Skokie business community.

I think 1 thing going for this restaurant is Skokie has a large Arab population as well as Indo/Pak community which enjoy this type of food. It can be another option in the area for those that get tired of Pita Inn.

polster wrote:

jnm123 wrote:Once again, good luck in that space. When I worked almost next door during Siunik's tenure, I really enjoyed their value & quality. The key is garnering lunch business from the Skokie business community.

I think 1 thing going for this restaurant is Skokie has a large Arab population as well as Indo/Pak community which enjoy this type of food. It can be another option in the area for those that get tired of Pita Inn.

Pauly wrote:That is an understatement.The strip on Oakton between the Yellow line& Niles center rd has a Sushi place,Jamaican,Portuguese chicken,Thai,2 breakfast places;Alexander's and Annie's and a Subway all trying to get the lunch crowd.

Sigh. Why couldn't we have had that variety when 1500 people worked in the Searle complex.

jnm123 wrote:Not to wax poetic, but that 'strip' as you call it, Pauly, was from 1955-1975 the most vibrant stretch of street in the village. Oakton from Skokie Blvd. to Niles Center. My mom took the bus there to shop. We rode our Sting Rays to the Ben Franklin 5 & 10. My dad would stop at Ridley's package store to buy a sixpack. This was where the business of Skokie was done.



The stretch still lives, even after numerous aborted revitalization plans and a Yellow Line stop, but until restaurant patrons can feel safe visiting the area in the evenings, it won't improve. Just sad.

I've felt safe when walking west on Oakton in the evenings and weekends in the summer and fall;granted it was about 8:45pm and I'm a heavy set person.I don't think there would be much foot traffic after 9pm even if there were no threats of not feeling safe.It's an odd strip.Brand new condos,a few new buildings with storefronts from the 60's and 3 nail salons all on the same block.

I didn't realize downtown Skokie Oakton is considered unsafe area at night.
I thought lots of people that live nearby simply cook at home.

Lenny007 wrote:I didn't realize downtown Skokie Oakton is considered unsafe area at night.

Me neither but I'll admit that I don't spend a ton of time there.

=R=

jnm123 wrote:Not to wax poetic, but that 'strip' as you call it, Pauly, was from 1955-1975 the most vibrant stretch of street in the village. Oakton from Skokie Blvd. to Niles Center. My mom took the bus there to shop. We rode our Sting Rays to the Ben Franklin 5 & 10. My dad would stop at Ridley's package store to buy a sixpack. This was where the business of Skokie was done.

Were you in that neighborhood? My parents lived just south of there until I was almost 5, and my grandmother on the same block for another 25 years or so. The market was "Price and Compare" with a separate butcher shop; the Oakton Market space was originally a bowling alley; and the places to eat were the Hut (before the Corner Hut), Desiree, Cock Robin, and Burger King. The pancake restaurant on the north side of Oakton has always been there, but I'm pretty sure it's changed names.

Joel--

I lived about a mile east, closer to Crawford Ave., but I was in that vicinity virtually every day seeing friends, playing at Tecumseh Park, a little postage-stamp sliver of land behind Oakton Bowl. I knew the Zabel family that owned Price 'n Compare, my brother worked there. The structures in that little 4 by 5 block enclave were two and three-flats, I guess you'd call it lower middle-class but totally safe in those days. It reminded me of a lot of North Side Chicago neighborhoods at that time, free of even the thought of gangs.

For as long as your grandparents were there it was cool. But slowly things changed, whether it was due to the urban migration to the cheaper areas of Skokie and/or the Section 8 situation, but those blocks to the south of Oakton between the Swift tracks and Niles Avenue decidedly got a little sketchy, especially at night. The village crime statistics bear this out.

Once my work moved there from 2007-2012, I was able to observe this firsthand, taking daily walks up and down the streets, remembering how it was. During the day it was fine, but even some of the restaurant owners I befriended during that time voiced their concerns to me.

I still love Skokie. Most of the areas are still safe and are a great place to raise children and send them to top-notch schools. And maybe since I left there in 2012 they have addressed some of these night safety issues, hopefully.

TomInSkokie wrote:

Pauly wrote:That is an understatement.The strip on Oakton between the Yellow line& Niles center rd has a Sushi place,Jamaican,Portuguese chicken,Thai,2 breakfast places;Alexander's and Annie's and a Subway all trying to get the lunch crowd.

With Village Inn, Panino Blitz, and El Fuego competing for the same crowd . . .

Panino Blitz is no more. Confirmed by my dad and I yesterday.

Panino Blitz is no more. Confirmed by my dad and I yesterday.[/quote]Dave148

Wow.Well that didn't take long.Weird location,Highly over priced food tied in to bad reviews.It's a tough market out there.

polster wrote:Baghdad Restaurant has opened on 12/1 in the former NIU Kabob location in downtown skokie. In the window they had a sign 25% all food orders as grand opening from 12/1 - 12/3.

This restaurant has 2 other locations in Sterling Heights Michigan.

Baghdad Restaurant Chicago
4839 Oakton St,
Skokie, IL 60076, US
(847) 329-4200

Posted in the openings thread as well:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f= ... 13#p526613

I stopped by the September, 2018 version of Baghdad Restaurant today for lunch. I wasn't too hungry. I went with the Beef Shawarma sandwich and fries.

First off, I was the only customer in the space at noon. There were three employees behind the counter looking at their phones. The steam table was barren. There was meat on skinny rotisserie. This wasn't looking good.

There were several flies keeping me company at my table. Based on my upcoming sandwich, perhaps they were telling me to get out of this joint. I should have listened to them. The meat in my sandwich was dry and barely flavorful. The fries were lukewarm at best. The pita bread was the highlight of my lunch.

Baghdad, Siunik, NIU Kabob, NIU Armenian....this location is definitely cursed. It's time to gut the space and put in another Subway.

Dave148 wrote:It's time to gut the space and put in another Subway.

The Subway down the block closed due to fire, so there's definitely a need!

I've passed by the space a couple times in the evening and there were definitely more people inside. The one time I went for lunch, my experience was similar to yours... I caught them right when they opened and nothing seemed ready, resulting in a 10+ minute wait for my pita. It was ok.