Nablus Sweets, now on the North Side.

The space formerly occupied by the late, lamented City Noor on Kedzie sat vacant for a good two years or so after a fire, leaving me hopeful that the former owners had plans to open again and share wonderful home-cooked Palestinian meals with the people of Chicago. Alas, it never happened.

Instead, the Kedzie strip has been graced by yet another contender in the Arabic sweets give your mama diabetes sweepstakes.

Nablus Sweets is a new location for the venerable (to the Palestinian community, at least) South Side tooth-destroying institution located at 8320 S. Harlem. They are much lauded for their airy baklawa (in contrast to the often dense and chewy layers of filo) and especially for the quality of their knafa, a sweet consisting of cheese topped with cornmeal ("knafa na'ama") or thin vermicelli ("knafa khishneh"), dyed a radioactive hue of orange with the Arab world's favorite colouring, Red #40, baked until crisp, topped with simple surrrrp ("qatr") and finished with crushed pistachio.

What makes their knafa stand out from the crowd (and the Kedzie strip is indeed crowded with sweet shops, I can think of about 5 others in the area) is their use of imported Nabulsi sheeps-milk cheese. Everyone else uses a cow's milk cheese that isn't much different from supermarket moz - serviceable, but nothing to write home about. In contrast the sheep's milk cheese in Nablus' knafa is creamy, grassy, earthy - evocative of the knafa one might find in Ram Allah or Amman, and of course, Nablus. They also do a damn fine job preparing the stuff, the top nice and crispy, as it should be. I took a box of mixed baklawa home, and it's awesome as well.

Nablus has full seating, in contrast to every other sweet shop around Kedzie, and makes coffee and tea drinks. The front window also advertises such treats as "banana splite." I took a picture or two with my Iphone and will post whenever I get to it.

Nablus Sweets (Albany Park)
4714 N. Kedzie
Chicago, IL

Nablus Sweets (South Side)
8320 S. Harlem
Bridgeview, IL