Olive Oil - Wilmette

I read an article about this place in Northshore Magazine. Has anyone been?

I haven't been, but they have a website at oliveoilrestaurantwilmette.com.

OLIVE OIL RESTAURANT
1154 CENTRAL AVENUE
WILMETTE, IL. 60091
847-256-1002

Just discovered this restaurant and was totally impressed with the food. Ingredients used seem to be top quality, and the flavors our intense and unique. Started off with the black bean soup-excellent flavor-it reminded me of a healthy version of Bishop's Chili (one of my all time favorite guilty pleasures). I also tried their chicken shawarma taboon roll which was amazing. A taboon roll is basically a rolled up pita as if you are eating a burrito. It was a much more refined version of the chicken shawarma sandwich I've had at The Pita Inn in Skokie. They're pita bread is the best I've had. I've also tried their Kabob Burger, which is basically a hamburger stuffed inside a pita pocket. The hamburger had incredible flavor-highly recommended. This restaurant offers great value for the quality of food served. It's something different and unique- I'll be back to try some of their other menu offerings soon.

We ordered carry-out from Olive Oil for our office lunch and I was mostly unimpressed. Portions were small, prices were high and the food failed to compel, across the board.


Trio taster - $6.50 - Israeli salad, Baba ghannoush and Hummus (clockwise from bottom)
The hummus was flat and lacked acidity. The baba was way too smokey (not necessarily in a good way) and 5 of us left it uneaten.



Homemade chicken shawarma - $10 - with vegetables
Decent flavor on the shawarma but a very small portion for the $10-price. Vegetables (could this be a frozen medley?) were notably mushy and relatively flavorless.



Falafel plate - $10 - with Israeli cous cous
These were dense throughout and had a seasoning mix I didn't care for. $10 for 6 falafel and some cous cous is extremely high compared just about anywhere else I've ever been.

Of course, carry-out isn't usually the best represenation of a restaurant but even allowing for that factor, I can't say I'm in a rush to return to Olive Oil. Maybe they do a better job with their Greek or Italian fare. For this category of food, these are prices I'd normally associate with a Kosher place but with meat and cheese on the menu, I don't believe Oil Olive Restaurant is Kosher. There's no mention on their web site of being Kosher, either. In any event, Kosher or not, this place didn't really make the cut for me.

=R=