Sheeba — Worthy Yemeni Food in Bridgeview

After a less than satisfactory meal at Yemen Restaurant we had a much better experience at Sheeba in southwest suburban Bridgeview. The welcome and the food showed they care about what they're doing.



After we ordered, the owner kindly started us off with a complementary plate of hummos.



It was fine but the real star was the bread, baked in their gas-fired taboon (tandoor) and served while still warm.



Be sure to order plenty of this tanoor, very similar to Indian naan and one of the best breads available around Chicago. I was sorry I didn't order a couple extras to take home.

Most of the starters are vegetarian (see the full menu at end) which didn't fit with our table's carnivorous mood but we couldn't decide between kibda and kalawi. We were accommodated with this generous mixed platter of lamb liver and kidney.



I was impressed by both these inner meats (and I'm rarely a fan of kidney) but the serving size was daunting.

Salta and the similar fahsa are the national dishes of Yemen so it's practically essential to order at least one. Salta is a stew of meat broth, tomatoes and other vegetables, cooked in a rustic cast iron (or stone) pot, similar to the Korean dolsot. Just before serving it's topped with fenugreek foam (hulba) and a tomato-chili salsa (zhug).



The hulba provides a nice frothy texture as well as a pleasant light bitterness. For an extra charge you can get a plate of meat, either lamb or chicken, prepared either as haneeth or masloog (honestly I didn't detect a huge difference between the two lamb preps). I believe this is lamb haneeth (with a bowl of zhug in the background).



Fahsa is essentially salta enriched with shreds of meat which can be clearly seen.



A tuna variant of fahsa is available, which could be interesting, but our group ordered lamb at every opportunity. With our bowl of lamb fahsa we got a plate of lamb masloog, another mildly seasoned roasted lamb. It was good enough but I think the chicken option would be worth exploring.



I don't know if gallaba is a traditional Yemeni dish but we ordered it anyway, this time choosing beef.



It's a simple dish of somewhat chewy beef nuggets with spicing reminiscent of many Indian curries.

We liked the tanoor so much we tried it as fattah, torn pieces of bread moistened with lamb (yes, again) gravy.



It was about as you'd expect, a bland but comforting dish, not very exciting on its own but fun to mix with a bit of the other dishes. A sweetened dessert fattah is also available. I regret not trying the gishta (custard apple) version but by the end of the meal we simply couldn't manage any more bread, wonderful as it was.

I have a feeling I enjoyed Sheeba significantly more than any of my dining companions. On a return visit I'd probably zero in on a bowl of fahsa (probably lamb but maybe tuna) with a side plate of one of the chicken dishes. Maybe one of the starters or maybe a wrap, then hopefully that gishta "bread pudding." It's a cuisine that's uncommon around here but one worth experiencing.

Sheeba
9052 S Harlem Av
Bridgeview IL
708-237-4004

Looks great; the Nile in Hyde Park has also done Fattah with lamb or chicken drippings in the past and still might (and do not miss their current Fattoush).

Sign me up for the Sheeba Feast, by the way.

Rene G,

Looks great. Yemeni restaurants are fairly common in Brooklyn (there is even one in Queens) because of New York's large Yemeni community. The best places make their own tannoor bread, and it is some of the finest leavened wheat in New York. Unlike Indian naan, these breads are based on water, salt and yeast, and omit milk, oil, and other ingredients often found in naan. I prefer the chewy, yeasty flavor of the Arabic breads, and rarely order naan in Indo-Pak places (I'll get chapati or tandoori roti instead, which can be fantastic).

Normally, the difference between haneeth (or haneez) and masloug (or maslouq) is that the former is wet-roasted while the other is boiled in a spiced broth. The preparations you took pictures of don't look terribly different. I can't account for it.

Nice that Chicago finally has a worthy Yemeni spot. Salta is one of my favorite breakfast and brunch foods. Usually made with leftover lamb broth, beans, and random veggies like okra. Heavenly with some of that tannoor bread.

Looks like I have no choice but to eat Yemeni in Brooklyn this weekend.

Habibi wrote:Looks great. Yemeni restaurants are fairly common in Brooklyn (there is even one in Queens) because of New York's large Yemeni community. The best places make their own tannoor bread, and it is some of the finest leavened wheat in New York. Unlike Indian naan, these breads are based on water, salt and yeast, and omit milk, oil, and other ingredients often found in naan. I prefer the chewy, yeasty flavor of the Arabic breads, and rarely order naan in Indo-Pak places (I'll get chapati or tandoori roti instead, which can be fantastic).

I love just about any bread baked directly on the walls of a domed oven. My favorite Chicago breads include naan from the tandoor at Khan, shoti from the tone at Argo, and tanoor (I'm just using the restaurant's spelling) from Sheeba's taboon.

Habibi wrote:Normally, the difference between haneeth (or haneez) and masloug (or maslouq) is that the former is wet-roasted while the other is boiled in a spiced broth. The preparations you took pictures of don't look terribly different. I can't account for it.

Honestly I was about to flip a coin when choosing the photos of haneeth and masloog (again, the restaurant's spelling). I think you can see the haneeth has a bit more of a browned crust (and it was the one I preferred). It should be more obvious in this photo.



And I think the stewed quality of the masloog may be clearer here.



If ordering lamb at Sheeba I'd suggest choosing one or the other; there's hardly a reason to get both. In any case, I didn't think either was a highlight of the meal.

Habibi wrote:Nice that Chicago finally has a worthy Yemeni spot. Salta is one of my favorite breakfast and brunch foods. Usually made with leftover lamb broth, beans, and random veggies like okra. Heavenly with some of that tannoor bread.

Thanks for the comments. I'll be curious to hear what you think of Sheeba once you try it.

Habibi wrote:Yemeni restaurants are fairly common in Brooklyn (there is even one in Queens) because of New York's large Yemeni community.

The owner Ishmael (?) told us his family has operated a Yemeni restaurant for years in New York.

if you are interested to learn more about yemeni cuisine, http://www.shebayemenifood.com/ is a website which has resources on yemeni food, recipes, restaurants and more.

Sheeba has closed. In its place is Yazor Kabob, a Jerusalem-style Palestinian restaurant.

Sheeba (closed)
9052 S Harlem Av
Bridgeview IL
708-237-4004

Yazor Kabob
9052 S Harlem Av
Bridgeview IL
708-599-0012