I still think that the meat and cheese Lahembajin that is custom-made right before being baked, with great care, under your eyes, is the best cheap (around $3.00 with tax) but very tasty luncheon dish in the Northern part of Chicago. The quality, freshness, and taste of the meat, herbs, onion and spices blend is amazingly subtle and aromatic. And the dough has a perfect balance of soft center and crisp slightly burned edges. Personally I always squeeze some lemon juice on top.
Besides, service is very pleasant and fast and the place is always so clean...
The key decision is to go there after 1:30 PM.

Does anyone know if the Taza Bakery is related to the Taza Restuarant at 176 N Franklin St, Chicago? The Franklin Street operation is right across the street from UB Dogs with both being on my regular lunch rotation. Taza has great falafel, schawarma (don't know if it is house-made), and a sublime lentil soup. Give it a try when you can.

chainey wrote:Does anyone know if the Taza Bakery is related to the Taza Restuarant at 176 N Franklin St, Chicago? The Franklin Street operation is right across the street from UB Dogs with both being on my regular lunch rotation. Taza has great falafel, schawarma (don't know if it is house-made), and a sublime lentil soup. Give it a try when you can.

I do not believe that those two are related. The one on Franklin is related to the place inside the O'Hare Tollway Oasis. It's one of the few tolerable spots in that facility.

stevez wrote:

chainey wrote:Does anyone know if the Taza Bakery is related to the Taza Restuarant at 176 N Franklin St, Chicago? The Franklin Street operation is right across the street from UB Dogs with both being on my regular lunch rotation. Taza has great falafel, schawarma (don't know if it is house-made), and a sublime lentil soup. Give it a try when you can.

I do not believe that those two are related. The one on Franklin is related to the place inside the O'Hare Tollway Oasis. It's one of the few tolerable spots in that facility.

Is it related to Jaffra Bakery in the O'Hare Oasis?

chainey wrote:

stevez wrote:

chainey wrote:Does anyone know if the Taza Bakery is related to the Taza Restuarant at 176 N Franklin St, Chicago? The Franklin Street operation is right across the street from UB Dogs with both being on my regular lunch rotation. Taza has great falafel, schawarma (don't know if it is house-made), and a sublime lentil soup. Give it a try when you can.

I do not believe that those two are related. The one on Franklin is related to the place inside the O'Hare Tollway Oasis. It's one of the few tolerable spots in that facility.

Is it related to Jaffra Bakery in the O'Hare Oasis?

For some reason, I thought that place was called Taza, not Jaffra. Guess it's my mistake.

On a stock-up visit to Taza Bakery for the standard order of soujouk, zataar and spinach pies, they had a terrific cornbread called Mshabac (if I’m reading my writing correctly). It’s laced with enough honey to make it a sweet version and it’s topped with a light sprinkle of sesame seeds that give it another layer of flavor. Should go great with the ribs we will be having for Super Bowl.

Also had to buy some Sphoof, that highly addictive coiled rope of fried dough soaked with honey. Apparently, Sphoof translates to English as “Diabetic’s Dilemna”. Ah well, looks like we’ll be skipping the glucose testing today.

Taza Bakery remains, pound for pound, my favorite place to eat out in Chicago. Recent trips have yielded consistently fresh, cooked-to-order, perfectly charred, well-seasoned, and diverse discs of complex breads topped with high quality ingredients.

I remain mystified and I must admit, a bit salty that this place never made GNR. I wonder again and again how a bakery that many of my Middle East brethren have consistently called the best they've ever visited in the states gets so little love from this board. Maybe it's because many don't understand how we eat in the Middle East. A place like Taza is a bakery, of course, but it's also a place where one can get a full, rounded meal, fresh squeezed juice and all. They even offer falafel and shawerma (and now kebabs) that are as good as 90% of what you'd find in Bridgeview or Dearborn.

Their love and dedication to craft is evident with a quick glance behind the counter. Breads are lovingly stretched and topped patiently. A seperate station handles kebabs and falafel and shawerma, so that each section has a dedicated cook. The imported ovens (from Lebanon or Jordan) are manned by a skilled baker.

I can't force my opinion of Taza down others' throats, all I can do is continue to point and say: "what, y'all still don't get it?" But to each their own. While others are happy to fork over $20 for a small piece of leavened dough topped with cheese and tomato at the newest Neapolitan joint, I'll be at Taza handing over $3.99 for a similarly skillfully prepared dough topped with roasted peppers, pomegranate and walnuts, or with simple Akkawi cheese, a tangier, more flavorful version of mozzarella. Oh, and because I know it's all the rage these days, I should let you know that you can get any of your pies topped with a raw egg.

I hope Taza gets the recognition it deserves from this forum. If it doesn't, it'll just be one of many "ethnic" specialist places with a devoted following that doesn't need internet fame to succeed.

Habibi wrote:I remain mystified and I must admit, a bit salty that this place never made GNR.

Agree 100% and said so to the point of annoyance on the round of GNRs where Taza was snubbed.

I'm a regular at Taza, love the $1.99 tea and zatar bread combo for a snack, add in lahembajin and/or soujouk for a meal, plus I'm a fan of the breads, samoon in particular.

Taza Bakery, count me a fan!

Habibi wrote:Oh, and because I know it's all the rage these days, I should let you know that you can get any of your pies topped with a raw egg.

I'm not familiar with this rage - where/who is doing this (and why)?

FWIW when I lived in the neighborhood I quite liked Taza.

I mean the love of eggs is as old as time, but am I the only one noticing the fairly recent enthusiasm of topping everything with an egg; burgers, sassiches, sammiches, etc.?

Habibi wrote:I mean the love of eggs is as old as time, but am I the only one noticing the fairly recent enthusiasm of topping everything with an egg; burgers, sassiches, sammiches, etc.?

I was just curious about the reference to there being a rage of topping things with raw eggs - that's a new one to me and I've yet to encounter it (and can't say I'm disappointed). I remember when the Winter Olympics were in Sarajevo all of the sports writers (when there were such things) reporting that it appeared that *everything* there was served with a fried egg on top (regardless of how they ordered). That was the first time I began to give serious consideration to what foods I regularly eat that might be improved with a fried egg. These many years later my first thought now of a current fave is the burger at Owen & Engine though it's rare I actually indulge - the "naked" meaty flavor of their grind with just some carmelized onions and nothing else is usually too much of a pull. But sometimes I've just got a craving . . .

Habibi wrote:I mean the love of eggs is as old as time, but am I the only one noticing the fairly recent enthusiasm of topping everything with an egg; burgers, sassiches, sammiches, etc.?

As usual, Hammond was on it.
Fried Eggs on Everything: Basta!

I remain a huge fan of Taza Bakery. Taza means fresh in Arabic and their dedication to making everything fresh is second to none. They roll out, top, and bake all their flat breads to order. They grind the lamb for the lahmajuns, they stack the shawarma, and they mix up their own zaatar.



Their lahmajun has improved since they first opened. They use a light hand on the seasoning and let the juicy meat speak for itself. I wish they had sumac and some crunchy greens or parsley on hand, but even unadorned, the lahmajun is top notch.



The muhammara is a little sweet, a little spicy, and one of the best Levantine bites in all of Chicagoland.



I maintain that Taza's shawarma is the best in town. The meat is lightly seasoned and nicely charred so some bites are crunchy, some are chewy, but the meat stays tender. Order it with a side of their terrific baba ghanoush or hummus and some freshly baked bread and you've got a snack worth going out of your way for. They even sell kunafa from Dearborn, MI's famous Shatilla.

@turkob
I just had the Beef Shawarma plate you have pictured in your post. That's on special for lunch and dinner for $6.49 plus tax
12:00pm to 2:00pm and 5:00pm to 7:00pm It's the best value for any Shawarma plate in the city!
The Chicken Shawarma is also option at same price.
The seasoning is great on the beef, but I found myself pulling out chucks of fatty pieces of beef. Rice was cook perfect and a nice size side salad with ample amounts of sliced tomatos, onions mixed with chopped parsley. I thought their hot sauce tasted funny did not like, loved their thick tahinia sauce though. The piece of tannur could have been heated a bit more but I was hungry. Love their Zaatar bread, which I've had on previous visits.

Rif

Rif wrote:Love their Zaatar bread, which I've had on previous visits.

With you on this, I just love Taza's Zatar bread.

Speaking of shawarma I recently picked up a large hummus topped with chicken shawarma a few zatar breads and a bag of tandoor bread. The large hummus/chicken shawarma was delicious and a comically large portion. This was eaten at home with a drizzle of olive oil, spoonful of sambal oelek, thin sliced onion and fresh squeezed lemon. Fantastic and, considering I had three meals worth of hummus and shawarma, a terrific value.

Taza Bakery, GNR!

@ G Wiv

Now if you want to make Zatar bread at home you can of course buy the package blend, most common is middle eastern stores is a brand name "Ziyad" I used to use it for years. I have tried other brands as well, can't remember their names. They all taste different due to different blends from region to region. But the best blend I've tried to date comes from
Middle Eastern Flair 4311 N Harlem Ave in Norridge. They sell a Zatar blend imported from Palestine that blows away any package brand you can buy. It's sold in a bulk bin by the front counter.

They also sell their own Zatar bread as well, but its never hot, you need to take home and heat it up.I like making my own paste controlling the amount of olive oil used. I use a bit more oil than what you get when you buy the Zatar bread from bakeries. Now my twist is I buy Punjab King uncooked Roti(Chapati) instead of the traditional bread used. Make my Zatar paste and the bread is done on stove top pan 30 seconds per side and then coat with Zatar mix and finished in oven on broil for about 30 seconds or until you see Zatar paste bubbling.
On a side note I've used the Zatar paste on chicken and it's to die for! Just rub it in and stick it in the oven. I brown it over low broil then cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Half way thru squeeze lemon juice on chicken

Rif

It had been about 4 years since I'd last been to Taza but with this thread active again and the place currenly nominated for a GNR, I decided to stop in the other day. We ordered a few items, which were all solid. What really stood out, though, was the zaatar -- definitely the best I can remember having in Chicago . . .


Zaatar

=R=

LTH has had me curious about Taza for a while, but it took Turkob's mention of muhamarra pizza to get me up there (Taza's website appears to be outdated and doesn't list it on the menu). Muhamarra is pretty much my favorite condiment and Taza's version is delicious. As Turkob put it - a great balance of sweet and spicy, with crunch from the walnuts and sesame seeds, and applied with a light enough hand to allow me to appreciate the perfect thin crust. It somehow felt like just the thing to be eating as we (hopefully) say goodbye to winter. Thanks LTH for putting Taza on my radar. I can't wait to go back.

Mr. X and I stopped for a late lunch at Taza on Sunday. He had the shawerma combo plate; I went with a cheese / zaatar pizza and a spinach pie. Not a miss in the bunch. I especially liked the cheese / zaatar combo. This particular pizza was literally half and half and the best pieces had both ingredients. That's not to say that the pieces with just cheese or just zaatar were bad. I also liked the tartness of the spinach pie. We'll be back.

The GP wrote:Mr. X and I stopped for a late lunch at Taza on Sunday. He had the shawerma combo plate; I went with a cheese / zaatar pizza and a spinach pie. Not a miss in the bunch. I especially liked the cheese / zaatar combo. This particular pizza was literally half and half and the best pieces had both ingredients. That's not to say that the pieces with just cheese or just zaatar were bad. I also liked the tartness of the spinach pie. We'll be back.

(I fold those in half. You can also get an egg on it, more for protein than hipster cred).

All this mention of shawarma got me back in for the lunch special. I love the breads and OJ but my memories of meats there don't stand out (though personal data on that is a few years old). The beef was one of the strongest showings of that variety I've had in Chicago, and really reminiscent of what I've had abroad, down to the hubcap-sized bread over the top, sauces, and slick of tallow at the bottom of the tray. Great but not overpowering sumac flavor. I was warmly greeted and checked on throughout lunch and walked out with some stellar hummus and samoun (one of my favorite vehicles for not only falafel but Italian picnic sandwiches).

FWIW the person at cashier told me they buy the hummus from somewhere nearby but couldn't recall from where. They do make the baba ghanouj, though, and it's very good.

Santander wrote:(I fold those in half. You can also get an egg on it, more for protein than hipster cred).

If I didn't have to share with my husband, I totally would have eaten like that!

My lunch at Taza today was really good. I sampled a beef shawarma sandwich, which was probably the best I've had in a while. Also tried the Muhammara, which I hadn't tried before and really enjoyed. The actual breads were the star of both dishes.

As a plus, I got to stop by my favorite bakery, Tel Aviv, which is a couple of blocks east and pick up way too many pastries and some pumpernickel.

Rif wrote:But the best blend I've tried to date comes from Middle Eastern Flair 4311 N Harlem Ave in Norridge. They sell a Zatar blend imported from Palestine that blows away any package brand you can buy. It's sold in a bulk bin by the front counter.

Rif,

Stopped at Middle Eastern Flair today and was warmly greeted by the aroma of freshly baking bread and a smiling young woman handing me a crisp delicious falafel to munch on while I shopped. I bought a few items, zatar bread, pillowy pita, hummus, made in-house labne, a few pastries, sumac and Ziyad blend zatar.

I'm guessing you are thinking why the H-E-double hockey sticks did the idiot not buy my recommended bulk zatar, it was not available. The woman, who I'd guess is the owner, said they are having trouble getting thyme and oregano, and loose tea for that matter, so no bulk zatar. She went on to say that when they do have it in stock it goes fast. Actually she said something more lyrical like .... it flies out of here like a bird.

Either way, terrific shop, I've driven past and never stopped, thanks for turning me on to Middle Eastern Flair.

Regards,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:

Rif wrote:But the best blend I've tried to date comes from Middle Eastern Flair 4311 N Harlem Ave in Norridge. They sell a Zatar blend imported from Palestine that blows away any package brand you can buy. It's sold in a bulk bin by the front counter.

Rif,

Stopped at Middle Eastern Flair today and was warmly greeted by the aroma of freshly baking bread and a smiling young woman handing me a crisp delicious falafel to munch on while I shopped. I bought a few items, zatar bread, pillowy pita, hummus, made in-house labne, a few pastries, sumac and Ziyad blend zatar.

I'm guessing you are thinking why the H-E-double hockey sticks did the idiot not buy my recommended bulk zatar, it was not available. The woman, who I'd guess is the owner, said they are having trouble getting thyme and oregano, and loose tea for that matter, so no bulk zatar. She went on to say that when they do have it in stock it goes fast. Actually she said something more lyrical like .... it flies out of here like a bird.

Either way, terrific shop, I've driven past and never stopped, thanks for turning me on to Middle Eastern Flair.

Regards,
Gary

How does the bulk za'atar at Middle Eastern Flair compare to the blend sold by Middle East Bakery & Grocery on Foster?

I had lunch with G Wiv today at Taza Bakery. Needless to day, we massively over ordered in an attempt to sample a good cross section of the menu. It had been quite some time since my last visit to Taza, and they seem to still be running at the same level. I'm not the biggest fan of their salads, schwarama, etc., but when it comes to anything having to do with bread, they really shine.

I took a bunch of pictures, but since there are already so many posted in this thread, I'll just post one.

Taza Bakery Muhammara


This was the first time I've tried muhammara, and I thought it was the best bite of the day. The zatar, and meat and cheese "pizzas" were excellent as well, but the muhammara really stood out. I loved the texture that the nuts brought to the table.

Great to see this place getting some love.

Za'atar blends vary regionally, apparently. In Dearborn, Michigan, at Greenland Super Market (which caters to the Levantine and Iraqi communities), I saw "Za'atar Halabi" for sale, with Halabi referring to the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. I bought some, and I found it did not suit my tastes. It was rather more smoky and toasted, with less acidic bite.

I do not know if there is anything special or regional about Taza's house blend, but I think their people are Assyrians, a people who inhabit (or have inhabited) a broad area extending through Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Speaking with some Assyrians, they say their dialects are very different from place to place, and I would imagine that foodways also vary somewhat.

One more note: Palestinian za'atar can no longer be harvested in the wild, as it was traditionally. Going hunting for hillside herbs was a traditional women's activity in the Levant in the spring (and still is in places), and anything extra was sold in markets. Since 1977, Israel has considered wild za'atar protected and has forbidden its collection, both within Israel proper, and within the West Bank. At IDF-administered checkpoints, za'atar plants is confiscated.

Any imported Palestinian za'atar, if it is actually from Palestine, will just be cultivated plants, which may be a fine product, but there is a political controversy at work even there, since even the locals can't gather the wild stuff when it is in season.

Cyriaco wrote:One more note: Palestinian za'atar can no longer be harvested in the wild, as it was traditionally. Going hunting for hillside herbs was a traditional women's activity in the Levant in the spring (and still is in places), and anything extra was sold in markets. Since 1977, Israel has considered wild za'atar protected and has forbidden its collection, both within Israel proper, and within the West Bank. At IDF-administered checkpoints, za'atar plants is confiscated.

Any imported Palestinian za'atar, if it is actually from Palestine, will just be cultivated plants, which may be a fine product, but there is a political controversy at work even there, since even the locals can't gather the wild stuff when it is in season.

Not to walk into a political controversy, but while it may or may not be true about Israel forbidding individuals harvesting wild za'atar for either political or preservation reasons, you can certainly buy za'atar in Israel at any half-decent souk. In fact we had what was allegedly fresh za'atar tea at a zimmer (a B&B) in Galilee a few years ago, and I bought dried za'atar at a market in Zichron Yaakov that's lasted us almost two years.

BTW you can buy (or could buy; DK if it's still the case) pickled za'atar from Lebanon at Kalustyan's in NYC a few years ago. We'd bought some but sadly the jar didn't survive the trip home in the plane. Apparently the pressurization of the cabin made the jar crack, which created somewhat of a messy situation when we opened the wrapped package . FWIW they carry what they call Israeli, Aleppo/Syrian, Lebanese, and Jordanian za'atar mixes. If you go to their website and search for zaatar, you can order anything form a 2.2 oz jar to a 15 lb pack. That should keep you busy for quite a while.

I really like this place and I haven't even had the food at its best. Twice I've taken food out that really should have been consumed right then and there in the restaurant.

I organized a tasting party a week ago and really enjoyed the muhamera and half cheese/half za'atar breads, even though though they suffered a bit from being transported a short ride away. The lahmajun suffered a bit more and was soggier, but the flavor was good. I though the shawerma was fine, though it could have been improved from eating in.

But I'm really happy that this nomination came out because the breads are special. They are churning them out to order and the product is pretty fantastic. I look forward to dropping in and getting some fresh-from-the-oven breads in the future.