El Souk - Mediterrean Cuisine near Michigan Ave.

From the Openings and Closings thread:

kaiytea wrote: Also, the windows have been papered up at the ill-fated De Angelos deli and sushi just north of Chicago and State next to Quang Noodle, and a sign is advertising El Souk: hummus, falafel and kabobs. Hoping, hoping, hoping it'll be good.

and in this week's Dish:

El Souk (808 N. State St.; 312-751-8600), a tiny Middle Eastern counter-service restaurant with artwork straight from Morocco, opened August 10th across from Loyola University. The menu sounds pretty straightforward—think falafel, tabbouleh, shawarma, baklava—but the item we can really get behind is the combo plate, either three or four choices of meat, priced at $11 and $13, respectively. “If you order four meats, the plate weighs about 4 pounds,” says Nadiya Bocheva, the manager.

A friend and I walked over to El Souk for lunch today. With the demise of the place that used to be in the 700 N. Michigan building, there have been no decent Middle Eastern spots in the North Michigan Avenue area. I had the lentil soup and a falafel sandwich. My friend just had the falafel sandwich with a side of feta. I will definitely go back for the soup. It was very similar to the lentil soup at Taste of Lebanon, a version I like very much. Both have a peppery profile that hits the spot for me. The falafel sandwich left little to be desired. The falafel was hard and cold, and I don't think that was because I got it to go. Next time, I'll try a kafta or shwarma sandwich. Since they have only been open a week, I'm willing to give them a chance to get settled.

El Souk Restaurant
808 N State
Chicago
312-751-8600
http://www.elsoukrestaurant.com/
(website has music)

Round two of lunch from El Souk. I did the lunch special last Friday- $6.99 for soup and sandwich. I tried the kafta sandwich along with the lentil soup. The kafta had a similar profile to the falafel I had last time: little to no discernible warmth to the kafta. The overall sandwich itself was okay -- the meat had good flavor and the lettuce, tomato, onion, tahini and harissa toppings adding texture and some zip. It was a messy sandwich by the time I ate it -- perhaps the 8 minute walk back to the office was too much. The lentil soup was not as good as last time -- less peppery and almost pasty. The biggest problem with the two sandwiches I've had so far is the fillings are coming out of a steam table. I understand efficiency, but steam table falafel is not good and it certainly didn't help the kafta. I want to like this place. I may try one more time and eat in. They do have a shawarma spit, so maybe that's the way to go.

The GP wrote:From the Openings and Closings thread:

kaiytea wrote: Also, the windows have been papered up at the ill-fated De Angelos deli and sushi just north of Chicago and State next to Quang Noodle, and a sign is advertising El Souk: hummus, falafel and kabobs. Hoping, hoping, hoping it'll be good.

and in this week's Dish:

El Souk (808 N. State St.; 312-751-8600), a tiny Middle Eastern counter-service restaurant with artwork straight from Morocco, opened August 10th across from Loyola University. The menu sounds pretty straightforward—think falafel, tabbouleh, shawarma, baklava—but the item we can really get behind is the combo plate, either three or four choices of meat, priced at $11 and $13, respectively. “If you order four meats, the plate weighs about 4 pounds,” says Nadiya Bocheva, the manager.

A friend and I walked over to El Souk for lunch today. With the demise of the place that used to be in the 700 N. Michigan building, there have been no decent Middle Eastern spots in the North Michigan Avenue area. I had the lentil soup and a falafel sandwich. My friend just had the falafel sandwich with a side of feta. I will definitely go back for the soup. It was very similar to the lentil soup at Taste of Lebanon, a version I like very much. Both have a peppery profile that hits the spot for me. The falafel sandwich left little to be desired. The falafel was hard and cold, and I don't think that was because I got it to go. Next time, I'll try a kafta or shwarma sandwich. Since they have only been open a week, I'm willing to give them a chance to get settled.

El Souk Restaurant
808 N State
Chicago
312-751-8600
http://www.elsoukrestaurant.com/
(website has music)

I miss Pita Pavillion @ 700 as well, especially since they were great for healthy food like their turkey burger and Greek Salad. But there's still Sayat Nova as a reasonable, relatively quick Middle Eastern choice during lunch (1/2 block east of Michigan on Ohio), as well that Lebanese place in the 500 N. Michigan food court for a take-out or QSR option. The Lebanese place does an OK meat and veggies in pita, but I'd dock them several points for convenience-store quality hummus and Mexican hot sauce for a zip. You also have a quasi-Middle Eastern option in Jaffa Bagels in that food court: "quasi" because they do have felafel and hummus, and fairly a good turkey/deli plate as QSRs go, it's not a true menu of Middle Eastern dining as such.

FYI, I stopped by El Souk myself about a week ago, and other than being hearty food, it didn't have much to recommend it. The kefta plate I ordered was bland, as was the rice, and it really need the harissa.

Personally I would kill for a place at the level, albeit not the pricing, of Mizrahi Grill for lunch downtown, with the full array of toppings they have (or maybe I'm just missing turkey shwarma from our last trip to Israel today).

I tried this place last week and wanted to walk out the door when I saw my shwarma filling coming out of the steam table. Too bad they already had my money. It was pretty bad. Lukewarm chicken, mealy tomato, and bland yogurt sauce. On a side note, their "now open" sign has been partially hanging from the doorway for the past week...pretty careless and it shows.

What do you think of Kan Zaman? A bit farther west (Wells) but not as far north. I had a really wonderful dinner there about a week ago. Fresh, very thin, almost smoky pita. Baba ghanoush exceptionally smoky. Killer little sausages with a bit of a lemon/pine nut sauce. My companions and I had chicken, lamb, and kefta, all of which were at least okay. I believe they do lunch specials as well. I was skeptical when we walked in, and ready to go back after leaving. It wasn't crowded, so perhaps we got more attention than usual, but still--a good meal's a good meal.


Kan Zaman
617 N Wells St
Chicago, IL 60654-3714
(312) 751-9600
http://www.kanzamanchicago.com/
(The site looks to be a work in progress...)