Building the Repertoire - Salam, Sweets and Al Khaymeh

I went for a late lunch to Salam, the G Wiv/VI approved falafel depot in the strip mall just south of the brown line station on Kedzie, in sunny Albany Park. I've tried most of the things on their menu - when fresh, the felafel are spectacular, crunchy and hot, and at 19 cents a piece, a middle eastern bargain. Kerensa had a felafel sandwich yesterday, we shared a slightly soggy spinach pie. I had a beef shawerma sandwich, which was very good, especially doctored up with a slab of pickled turnip and a dollop of the by-request-only ground jalapeno relish. I rounded out this lunch with some mediocre kibbe - it had been sitting on top of the counter for some time, and I think they may have microwaved it to bring up to serving temperature. I had carrot juice too. It tasted just like carrots.

I love the pickles and olives at Salam, and really enjoy the beef shawerma.

Gary has written about the schedule of specials at Salam on previous occasions:

G Wiv wrote:Monday is upside down rice, which I understand is an inverted mix of rice, lamb, cauliflower, potato and various vegetables. I mentioned upside down rice to The Mayor of Chicago Chowhound, Vital Information, and he seemed quite familiar with the dish, hopefully he will chime in with a more accurate description.
Tuesday is stuffed grape leaves
Wednesday is stuffed lamb
Thursday is small rolls of rice and meat stuffed cabbage
Friday is soup with lamb and rice on the side.
Saturday the daily special changes, but he seemed to imply the Saturday special was a bit more 'special' than the rest of the week.
All the daily specials come with pita, olives, pickled turnip and salad.

Yesterday's extra special saturday special was stuffed cornish game hen, but it was so special that by the time we rolled around at 4:30, it was all gone, and couldn't be had for love or money. Although, in retrospect, I guess we didn't try love yesterday, maybe next time.

We made a post-prandial pilgrimage to Al Khaymeh, the supermarket, which is still open while undergoing massive renovations. I got some yoghurt, some sharp bulgarian feta, a pound of beef/lamb sausages (the spicy kind, i wanna say makloub, but i wanna say lots of things, and that doesn't make what I wrote any closer to the actual name of the sausage in question), a dollar bag of plain rolls, some chickpeas, a bag of extra large pita, and a hunk of super-sweet (too sweet) halvah that was sweating on top of the meat counter. All night last night, as I waited to get hungry again, I fantasized about grilled makloub sandwiches on those perfect little rolls, with cucumber and feta and tomato, and doused with a spoonful of middle-eastern-bakery brand harissa, which since I tried it at VI's house, I've been incorporating into almost every meal I eat at home.

While we waited in line at Al Khaymeh, I witnessed a mini-drama unfold - a man carrying a toddler, 10 plastic wrapped smoked herrings, and a can of grape leaves was accosted by a tough looking operator, who tried to take the herring out of his hands and pay for them himself. The poor father turned his back on the operator, and tried desperately to avoid this forceful goodwill. I felt like I had witnessed a scene from the Lebanese Godfather, in which the young son get his first impulse for revenge against the overbearing local heavies that humliated his daddy with charity in the grocery in front of everbody! Everybody! It gave an otherwise prosaic afternoon a hint of epic grandeur.

On the way back to the car, we stopped at the bakery next door to salam, (where the proprietors were digging into an shawerma dinner and a tin of mosabha from next door). Does anyone else feel that the quality of the baklava-style sweets here has gone downhill since the old palos heights palestinian owner went away? My favorite shredded phyllo log was harder and sweeter than before, and the white colored pan of vermicelli pistachio goo had a sour edge to it.

Great report, although why you couldn't have visited George's, Al Mataam and Noon-O-Kebab on the same trip, just for the sake of completeness, is a mystery to me.

I concur that Salam does what they do very well and their falafel are among the best in the city. However, one place I have not seen given its due respect on this and the previous board is Hashalom on Devon (around Western). I feel their falafel are the best in the city and tip the financial scale at 20 cents a piece. The falafel sandwich, stuffed to the breaking point with piping hot falafel and jerusalem salad breaks the bank at $2. Their hummous is the creamiest I've had and has the proper amount of lemon juice as well. I've heard from dining companions that the rest of the menu is quite good as well (I'm too much of a sucker for falafel).

As an aside, I went with my brother-in-law last week and told him that it was an Israeli restaurant and as we were given the menus he mentioned that corned beef sounded good. I just chuckled, as did he when he opened the menu. However, he did not leave disappointed.

Abraus wrote:I've heard from dining companions that the rest of the menu is quite good as well (I'm too much of a sucker for falafel).

What are Hashalom's other offerings on the menu?

A

Hashalom has most of your usual Middle-Eastern cuisine options. However, the menu is lighter on what I think of as traditional meats (schwaerma, koubideh, etc.) and has a few distinctly Israeli dishes (although distinct really isn't a good adjective for Middle-Eastern food given the overlap).

My dining companions have ordered

1. Cigars (meat filled appetizers that are similar in form to flautas)
2. Lox and Bagels
3. Savory pies that remind me of spanokopita and the like, but are crispier on the outside. I've sampled the spinach, cheese and onion and one of the meats. They are all very good. They are garnished with something I've never seen before a "browned egg" which is a hard boiled egg except the white is brown. Any idea if this is just a type of egg or is this a cooking process?
4. Eggs in a type of harissa sauce. A friend of mine who has been to Israel/Palestine had this and said it favorably compared to the version he had abroad.

They usually have two soups and most of the usual suspects for appetizers/salads. If you plan on visiting, they are closed on Sat. and when the sun goes down at other times.

Abraus wrote:4. Eggs in a type of harissa sauce. A friend of mine who has been to Israel/Palestine had this and said it favorably compared to the version he had abroad.

Abraus:

Thanks for the further info; the eggs in harissa sound particulrly good. But today, with all these inviting places on Devon being described, I don't know where I want to go first.

By the way, I have no idea about the brown eggs and hope somebody writes in with an explanation. Could it be they're boiled in tea?

A

They are garnished with something I've never seen before a "browned egg" which is a hard boiled egg except the white is brown. Any idea if this is just a type of egg or is this a cooking process?

Hi,

I have never heard of an egg with a brown white. I have made Chinese tea eggs where you either rolled the egg shell where it cracked in many locations, then seeped in tea it took a marbled appearance. There is no reason why not completely peeling an egg and allowing sufficient seeping time, the whole 'white' couldn't be 'brown.'

IF there is something else out there, well I am waiting to be enlightened.

Regards,
CAthy2

Abraus wrote:They are garnished with something I've never seen before a "browned egg" which is a hard boiled egg except the white is brown. Any idea if this is just a type of egg or is this a cooking process?

It sounds like huevos haminados, Sephardic roasted eggs. They get their brown color from very slow cooking and, usually, a few onion skins.

Cathy2 wrote:

They are garnished with something I've never seen before a "browned egg" which is a hard boiled egg except the white is brown. Any idea if this is just a type of egg or is this a cooking process?

Hi,

I have never heard of an egg with a brown white. I have made Chinese tea eggs where you either rolled the egg shell where it cracked in many locations, then seeped in tea it took a marbled appearance. There is no reason why not completely peeling an egg and allowing sufficient seeping time, the whole 'white' couldn't be 'brown.'

IF there is something else out there, well I am waiting to be enlightened.

Regards,
CAthy2

I seem to recall some type of brown egg from our outing at TAC Quick a few months ago. I can't remember which dish they were in, though.

Seth Zurer wrote:Yesterday's extra special Saturday special was stuffed Cornish game hen, but it was so special that by the time we rolled around at 4:30, it was all gone, and couldn't be had for love or money. Although, in retrospect, I guess we didn't try love yesterday, maybe next time.

Seth,

Coincidently, I was there the same day, after hearing Patricia Wells speak, with a group of LTHer's and Culinary Historians. Between the 10 of us we had, along with other assorted items, three Cornish hen specials.

Salam's Cornish hens were incredibly delicious, transporting the 10 of us to culinary heights heretofore.....oh, wait, that's right, you didn't try one. I really shouldn't comment how fantastic the hen was, suffice to say it was very good, not LTH "insipid clam" good, but very good.

As an aside, Salam is one of my favorite places for lunch and, also, takeout for dinner. Pita Inn on Dempster is quite good as well, but I prefer Salam.

Enjoy,
Gary

stevez wrote:I seem to recall some type of brown egg from our outing at TAC Quick a few months ago. I can't remember which dish they were in, though.

Z Man,

TAC's Basil Chicken with Preserved Egg is, most likely, the dish.


Enjoy,
Gary

Abraus wrote:I concur that Salam does what they do very well and their falafel are among the best in the city. However, one place I have not seen given its due respect on this and the previous board is Hashalom on Devon (around Western).

Abraus,

I agree Hashalom is quite a nice place to have a meal, in fact I was there for lunch just last week. It's funny, Hashalom is one of those places were we used to go on a regular basis then simply stopped going, for no apparent reason.

I'm a fan of Hashalom's combo salads, kabobs and falafel, though I often find the soups overly salty. Hashalom has, or at least they did last time I was there for dinner, Moroccan specialties including a killer Cornish hen and cous cous. Though I seem to remember cous cous only on the weekends.

We are truly lucky to have so many choices that a good, reliable restaurant like Hashalom can go somewhat unnoticed.

Enjoy,
Gary

Another place to mention on the Kedzie strip is Cleopatra, a butcher and grocery a bit further south, around Sunnyside? The owner is Egyptian. I was clued into it by a Moroccan friend, and had some of their merguez (both spicy and hot) which were extremely lean and tasty.

The owner is very friendly. I bought some leaves to make Brik a l'oeuf, and he engaged me in a discussion about how I make them and then pointed out a similar Egyptian product, except dried leaves, that is made as a kind of pie, with duck as the filling, pastry leaves above and below. Sounds kind of like an Egyptian version of b'stilla.

Also noticed a little way further south what looked like more of a gift shop with decorative tagines in the window.

Cleopatra market also had nice large stainless pressure cookers and pots in the window. Didn't check the prices, but have generally found these items to be much more reasonable in ethnic markets.

Served the merguez with some pinjur picked up at the Chicago Food Mart on Montrose, and some of the large thin pita. It was a huge hit.

hashalom is a favorite. The cornish hen isdelicious!!!! clove, cinnamon, almonds dried fruit excellent!!!!

Hi,

For years I have heard of the Tuesday special stuffed grape leaves at Salam. Last week, the small household exchange had dinner at Salam. I called in advance to put aside stuffed grape leaves, because it would likely be gone by evening.

There are stuffed grape leaves on the standard menu. If it is a Tuesday special now, it is not apparent. The stuffed grape leaves we received had a rice mixture inside and appeared to be meatless. There was nothing outstanding about these stuffed grape leaves and frankly I was disappointed.

Is what I described, and now a standard menu item, the very same grape leaves people once lusted for? Or was there a special stuffed grapes leaves available on Tuesday and not for the rest of the week?

I make stuffed grape leaves for home, which have lamb, beef or pork-beef filling, which I think are pretty good. I was hoping Salam's would offer some inspiration, which it did not.

Regards,

Salam's Tuesday special grape leaves were stuffed with lamb and rice -- there'd be no mistaking these for meatless, as the lamb was pretty abundant. At least in the early days, they would also be served topped with some stewed lamb.

It's been a while since I had them, as they went from a weekly special to an occasional special and then seemingly disappeared altogether, to the extent that many of the new servers had never even heard of them. I have no idea if they ever returned.

They are not the same as the once loved leaves that used to come w/ 1/2 a lamb rack on top (or so it seemed). They outsourced it to a woman who no longer makes them for them. This is 2-3 yrs @ least. Salam still has it's moments, but dolma is not among them.

HI,

Thanks for the feedback, I was pretty sure what we had was not what you enjoyed in the past. Who looks forward to mushy rice?

What are the hits at Salam now?

Regards,