Mizrahi Grill-Israeli in HP

While going into Max's deli in Highland Park tonight, I noticed a sign on a storefront saying "Mizrahi Grill coming soon." So, we shall see what that is all about soon! I wonder what type of food it is? Hmmmmmm

Tammy76 wrote:While going into Max's deli in Highland Park tonight, I noticed a sign on a storefront saying "Mizrahi Grill coming soon." So, we shall see what that is all about soon! I wonder what type of food it is? Hmmmmmm

Hi there - I'm a new poster, but have been reading LTH for the last couple of years before deciding to take the plunge and start posting.

With a name like that, my guess is that it's an Israeli grill restaurant. Mizrahi comes from word "Mizrah" which means east in Hebrew. Think Middle Eastern and meat oriented pita sandwiches and plates with rice, but with higher quality, selection of meats, and price points than you'd see at, say, Pita Inn. "Al ha-aish", or "on the fire" in English, is a common style in Israel. Given the area demographics, it probably fills a niche. Other than Taboun and to some degree, Hashalom, both in West Rodgers Park, there's really nothing like it in the Chicago area.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's kosher, so you won't find things like veal cream chops or yogurt-based tahini, or find it open during Shabbat (mid-Friday afternoon to early Saturday evening). Having been to Israel a few times, hopefully they'll have fresh hummus, baby chicken (a very tender and tasty "pargit" that's ubiquitous at every grill restaurant you'll find there), and an intense spice condiment known as "s'chug". If they have green s'chug, use a lot of cardamon and cumin to season the meat, and ask if you want "chips" in your shwarma sandwich, they're on the right track. I'd kill for a good turkey shwarma like I found in Jerusalem on our trips. I've never seen turkey shwarma at any Middle Eastern restaurant in Chicago, but there's always hope:-).

As a city person, I'm not sure I'd rush up there when we have a taste for for Israeli-style food, but coming from a family of Middle Eastern food junkies (my 10-year-old is such a hummus snob that he'll only eat Sabra if he can't get the fresh stuff at nearby Sayat Nova), we'll definitely go there at least once when it opens.

Good Guess. The name is actually the Owners' and it is an Israeli grill restaurant and Kosher.

My brother in law is one of the owners and I always enjoy his cooking. It will be a great addWith a name like that, my guess is that it's an Israeli grill restaurant. Mizrahi comes from word "Mizrah" which means east in Hebrew. Think Middle Eastern and meat oriented pita sandwiches and plates with rice, but with higher quality, selection of meats, and price points than you'd see at, say, Pita Inn. "Al ha-aish", or "on the fire" in English, is a common style in Israel. Given the area demographics, it probably fills a niche. Other than Taboun and to some degree, Hashalom, both in West Rodgers Park, there's really nothing like it in the Chicago area.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's kosher, so you won't find things like veal cream chops or yogurt-based tahini, or find it open during Shabbat (mid-Friday afternoon to early Saturday evening). Having been to Israel a few times, hopefully they'll have fresh hummus, baby chicken (a very tender and tasty "pargit" that's ubiquitous at every grill restaurant you'll find there), and an intense spice condiment known as "s'chug". If they have green s'chug, use a lot of cardamon and cumin to season the meat, and ask if you want "chips" in your shwarma sandwich, they're on the right track. I'd kill for a good turkey shwarma like I found in Jerusalem on our trips. I've never seen turkey shwarma at any Middle Eastern restaurant in Chicago, but there's always hope:-). ition to the area[quote][/quote]

brian664 wrote:Good Guess. The name is actually the Owners' and it is an Israeli grill restaurant and Kosher.

My brother in law is one of the owners and I always enjoy his cooking.

Well, in that case, we should wish him "bhatzlacha" (good luck, success). When is the Mizrahi grill set to open?

Mizrahi Grill recently opened in Crossroads shopping center in Highland Park. Mizrahi is an Israeli style grill offering a nice selection of middle eastern favorites. I only carried out but I can report (briefly) that the limited menu items sampled were encouraging.

We tried several salads including the Matbucha, Baba, Hummus, Moroccan Carrot and Israeli. All were competent renditions of classic israeli salads. The Matbucha, which is a salad made of tomatos, roasted peppers, oil and garlic was particularly excellent, spicy and smoky. This is a dish I love in israel and dont see that often around here. Hummus, the gold standard when judging Israeli food, was also very good. Also more of an Israeli as opposed to arab style hummus, less oil and more creamy, a very fine rendition. All of the other meze were also good.

For dinner we split a Schwarma kabob and falafel. They have a huge Schwarma spit rotating with an onion on top. I forgot to ask if the meat was beef, lamb or a beef/turkey mix (turkey is a common schwarma ingredient in Israel) the meat was very well seasoned and served generously with a nice pita and tahini. The falafel was also very good.

The place was packed with eat in dinners and was doing pretty big carry out business too. I was impressed with my carry out, primarily on the strength of the salads and the very tasty schwarma. I plan on visiting again.

Mizrahi Grill
215 Skokie Valley Rd (Crossroads Plaza)
Highland Park, IL 60035
847-831-1400

Thanks for the report. Sounds great. I can hardly wait to try all those lovely salads, especially the matbucha, as it's the only one I've never tried before.

Lamb is the universal meat.

Irish eat it, Hindus don't eat beef, Jews don't eat pork.

There is one universal meat, and it's lamb.

Gert wrote:Lamb is the universal meat.

Irish eat it, Hindus don't eat beef, Jews don't eat pork.

There is one universal meat, and it's lamb.

Like I said, it could have been lamb i carried out and didnt think about asking before i left.

That having been said, shawarma is often made with lamb, beef, chicken or turkey, or a combination of all of those meats or some. It can vary by restaurant. The owners of mizrahi are israeli jews and not of arab descent and that may inform there shawarma mix. i can report that it was pretty tasty.

Absolutely awesome!!! Authentic shwarma, humus, baba, etc. Really top quality. A must-do. no affiliation, etc.

Excellent! Thanks so much for posting about it.

Hi,

An acquaintance is a friend of the owners was very pleased about this new addition. He is a bit worried about their location very close to Max's Deli.

I just called to learn this is a Kosher establishment with hours one should note:

Sun-Thu: 11 AM - 9 PM
Fri: 10 AM - 3 PM
Sat: Closed

I look forward to trying it.

Regards,

Glad to hear positive reports... my kosher-keeping future in-laws are in town from Israel through through Labor Day and my parents live up in HP. I'm sure we'll be giving it a try sometime soon.

Went for lunch today and found it to be excellent. Had a schwarma sandwich loaded with all sorts of toppings like an eggplant salad, Israeli salad, hummus, and even a few fries--it was a whole meal in a pita. My wife had the salad sampler and every dish was great. Friendly service, very attentive and patient as we asked some questions. They seemed to be doing good business already. Not crazy busy, but a nice crowd for a Friday 1:30. They are buried in the corner there, but I think they'll do well once the word is out. It's not cheap, but the food was top-notch, good portions, and since its kosher, you expect to pay a little more. Overall, a great addition to the area and thankfully not another sandwich chain (a Jimmy John's just opened across the street and a Potbellys further down the road at Dundee and Skokie).

Really looking forward to trying this.

We carried out again tonite from Mizrahi Grill. The food delicious. I had a chance to ask the owner about the Shawarma and he said it was a lamb/turkey mix.

Unfortunately, the place was absolutely slaughtered and they could not keep up with the crowd. Orders were taking well over an hour and sometimes longer. Those people eating in the restaurant, lots of families, were clearly getting impatient. I hope they are able to sort out the problems getting the food into patrons hands because a meal that should have taken 5 minutes to prepare (one shawarma kabob, one felafel and a hummus to go) took well over an hour. Good luck Mizrahi Grill, ill probably stay away on sunday nights, which look to be there busiest, for the time being in the hopes they can get their act together.

iblock9 wrote:We carried out again tonite from Mizrahi Grill. The food delicious. I had a chance to ask the owner about the Shawarma and he said it was a lamb/turkey mix.

Unfortunately, the place was absolutely slaughtered and they could not keep up with the crowd. Orders were taking well over an hour and sometimes longer. Those people eating in the restaurant, lots of families, were clearly getting impatient. I hope they are able to sort out the problems getting the food into patrons hands because a meal that should have taken 5 minutes to prepare (one shawarma kabob, one felafel and a hummus to go) took well over an hour. Good luck Mizrahi Grill, ill probably stay away on sunday nights, which look to be there busiest, for the time being in the hopes they can get their act together.

Perhaps Mother's Day played a part in this; definitely one of the 3 worst days of the year to eat at a restaurant . . . especially a new one.

I plan on picking up some carry-out for lunch at our office one day this week. I already had them fax the menu last Friday

=R=

Mizrahi Grill website which should have the menu there soon:

http://www.mizrahigrill.com/

Hi,

I lunched at Mizrahi Grill today. I ordered the Schawarma sandwich for $6, then paid $3 additional for Laffa bread instead of pita. While the addition of Laffa bread may seem high, it may also take into account additional cost of ingredients because this is a large sandwich. Following the lead of the man who was before me, "Load it up like they do in Israel!" I had them add generous quantities of the cabbage salad, eggplant salad, hummus and a chopped tomato-cucumber-onion salad. Before laying out the meat, he also added some thick cut French fries, then squeezed on the tahini sauce. I tried to negotiate just a wee bit more eggplant and cabbage salad, but I was reminded that folding the sandwich would be tougher.



I inquired about the Matbucha salad to learn it is slow cooked tomatoes seasoned Moroccan style and a bit spicy. They gave me a small sample to try, which was not very spicy to me. A full order is $6.



Helen ordered the mixed grill, which she added Laffa bread as well. Since her meal required some grilling, they suggested she have Lentil soup for $4 while waiting.



Her mixed grill sandwich had an assortment of meats as well as grilled onions and pickles. She was already seated when her sandwich was assembled, which I don't recommend doing unless you know what you want. I called Ronnie Suburban from Mizrahi recommending he not order over the phone at least initially. He may want to be present to see the salad options they can dress his sandwich. Otherwise you live with the default of choosing spicy (a chili sauce) or mild (tahini) sandwich and whatever salads they may add.



We were pretty impressed by the food and gladly will return. It was clear the Jewish Orthodox community has enthusiastically embraced this new Kosher option. It was also neat to try Shawarma just like they offer it in Israel with all the different salads. The Shawarma cone looked very much like it was assembled on the premises. It reminded of the Al Pasteur cones in the few Mexican places that offer one. Of course, instead of a pineapple, they had a large raw onion on top.

For locals, they are in the former Dancing Noodles location tucked in the corner between Party City and Max's Deli.

Regards,

Did anyone happen to notice if couscous is on the menu?

David Mitchell wrote:Did anyone happen to notice if couscous is on the menu?

Looking at their take-out menu, I don't see it. However, please note their take-out menu does not mention Laffa, either. I don't recall seeing on their menu board yesterday, though it doesn't hurt to ask.

Regards,

I just called and they do not offer couscous.

Do they offer any sort off lunch special (ie like Pita Inn) or are there price points the same at dinner and lunch? To me it seems the price points are about 2x more for comparable items at other middle eastern restaurants. Although the quality of the food is very high it might not justify the high price. For example a small container of hummus is $6 which in my opinion is a little steep.

We carried out lunch from Mizrahi Grill today and I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of the style of food being turned out. Quality is certainly high and many flavors are bold and well-defined but for my taste, lunch was largely a series of near misses. A few of the dishes were a bit harsh and hard-edged while others were not fine-tuned to my liking. I can definitely see that Israeli-style cuisine differs from other middle-eastern food (to which I'm more accustomed) but I think my preferences are pretty well set. Or, let's say that trip #1 to Mizrahi did not really change them.

Shawarma at MG is a combination of lamb and turkey. This resulted in an end product with an unusual and not very pleasant texture. Meat was a bit dry but it had been sitting a while and was not sliced directly from the large, succulent-looking cone of meat on the display behind the counter. Would it have been juicier if I'd asked for some freshly-sliced meat? Perhaps. Still, the sandwiches, wrapped in laffah, were flavorful and plentiful. I liked the concept of the "spicy" preparation, which included Jerusalem salad, hot sauce, pickles, fried potatoes and tahina but the flavors of these items, while distinctive and perfectly acceptable, just didn't scratch the itch for me. The garlic was too heavy and the meat lacked a certain aromatic element. The laffah in which the sandwich was made was thicker than I'm used to but delicious, and it had a sponginess I could really appreciate. I also tried part of a Chicken Kabob sandwich (also "spicy") in which the meat was, again, tasty but a bit dry.

Salads were a mixed bag, too. Hummus was creamy and nicely garlicky but also a bit bland and could have used a touch more acidity for my taste. Baba ganoush was very smokey and well-made. Matbucha was tangy and very tasty but not really hot. IDF Eggplant Salad, which consists mainly of fried, chilled eggplant, was tasty but again, I found it a bit and lacking in acidity. My workmate, who's spent quite a bit of time in Israel, really loved it, though. Hot sauce, while definitely hot, lacked a flavor in the mid-range. Tahina was much thicker than what I'm used to and, again, lacking acidity. It really could have used a generous squeeze of lemon.

Service was friendly, helpful, enthusiastic and fast. We were just ahead of the lunch rush and were in and out in 10 minutes. I was appreciative that C2 had called me on Monday to inform me about some of the non-menu options, and by going and ordering in person instead of over the phone, we were able to customize to our exact preferences the dressing of our sandwiches. Even though I didn't love it, I think MG shows a lot of promise. It's certainly unique and the ingredients were fresh and of very nice quality. It's also a relatively distinctive spot, especially given its location. I will definitely be back to try some of their other items and hopefully learn how to use their many available condiments in a way that speaks to my preferences. I can definitely see this food being something that I, one day, wake up craving. In a north-suburban sea of crappy fast food and chain dining, Mizrahi Grill stands out as a place where one can get real food with a genuine pedigree. That, in and of itself, makes the place well worth a try and definitely a second visit, too.

=R=

Ronnie, what time did you get there to beat the lunch rush? I am wondering if my experience on sunday night was an anomoly becasue of the combination post-sabbbath/mother's day confluence. I want to try eating in but i am also sure i want to do it during lunch when it is not slammed.

When eating in Israel, I found falafel to be a better vehicle than shawarma for the kaleidoscope of condiments you can liberally apply to a laffa.

The best shawarma I had at a place famous for it in Haifa did offer little bits of this and that, but as the meal progressed, I found myself reaching for less and less of it. Just a little bit of lemon juice or a dab or two of hummus or tahina. Slow roasted meat from the spit needs little accompaniment other than its own juice.

ronnie_suburban wrote:IDF Eggplant Salad, which consists mainly of fried, chilled eggplant, was tasty but again, I found it a bit and lacking in acidity.

IDF as in Israeli Defense Forces

iblock9 wrote:Ronnie, what time did you get there to beat the lunch rush? I am wondering if my experience on sunday night was an anomoly becasue of the combination post-sabbbath/mother's day confluence. I want to try eating in but i am also sure i want to do it during lunch when it is not slammed.

According to my receipt, our order was rung at 11:44 am. Again, I don't think we were there even 10 minutes in total leading up to that and most of that time was spent having options explained to us and watching our food being prepared. When we walked in, we were the only ones there. While we waited for our food, a couple other people walked in. From what I recall, not one table was at occupied at that time. From what you describe about Sunday night, perhaps this was the calm before the storm.

EvA wrote:IDF as in Israeli Defense Forces

We wondered the same thing.

=R=

Had dinner tonite at Mizrahi. According to the owner, the schwarma cone is made in house every morning. Mostly turkey and some lamb--he claims any schwarma that is not homemade in the chicago area is basically a gyros as an authentic commercially prepared middle-eastern schwarma cone is simply not available locally.

This being my third visit to Mizrahi, i am finally getting my schwarma legs together and perfecting my order.

The key for me is the combination of salads stuffed into the pita, or laffa (if you dont mind the upcharge). For $3 extra the laffa is essentially twice as large as the regular kebab. I ask for mine prepared spicy with hummus, cabbage, isreali salad, pickles, french fries and a light dressing of tahina. The kebab was absolutely delicious and one is more then enough to fill me up at dinner time. A side of morrocan carrots this evening was delicious, but not entirely necessary.

I am really enjoying Mizrahi Grill's Schwarma kebab. Given its proximity to my house and deliciousness i will be a frequent visitor.

ate there last night, my wife and I lived in israel for more than 20 years - I would say that this is very very authentic for what it is. this is the type of food you would get in the equivelant of a dinner in israel.

we had the appetizer combo and a swarma plate. the pita were very much israeli style - a lot fluffier than arab style. I have actually gotten used to the flatter pita, but this was a nice change of pace. the mixture of lamb and turkey is exactly the way it is done in most israeli swarma places. we liked the humous, very nice texture.

the falafel were about as good as any we have had in the US, and probrably as good as 80% of those in Israel.

But the fries, how are the fries. I want my Israeli places to also have excelllent, non-frozen potato, fries. The verdict?

Anyways, I am anxious to try this place.