Kabob Q in Willowbrook (Mediterranean, shawarma)

I'm adapting this post from a portion of my recent article on shawarma on my website, so if it seems like I'm overexplaining things, that's just me being Professor Sandwich. I think this place is pretty great and I hope some of you will be convinced to try it.

I asked my Syrian coworker Salem to tell me his favorite shawarma place so I could try it. “Well you’d need an armed guard in Damascus,” he said. I amended my request to his favorite local shawarma place. “I’ll meet you there.” So it was that we ended up at Kabob Q in Willowbrook, IL.



On first glance, Kabob Q resembles other fast casual Mediterranean restaurants in surface ways, from the clean suburban strip mall environs to the array of condiments available. Salem says though that if you know what you’re doing, you can order something that resembles, at least a little, the shawarma he experienced growing up in Damascus. “In Damascus,” he said, “a place like this would be busy all the time. While you’re waiting in line, the man might cut some shawarma off the spit and put it right into your mouth. If you were hungry, and didn’t have anything, you could come to a place like this and you’d get something to eat.”

Kabob Q’s proprietor, Feras Nassif, is a countryman and friend of Salem’s. I spoke with him a little, before our meal and again after. Feras has a culinary background, having studied at École hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland before coming to the US. He was friendly but focused–the in-house traffic on this Saturday afternoon was not brisk but he was packaging up and delivering multiple catering orders. He left us in Salem’s hands, and those of his staff. “This man is my brother,” he said of Salem. “He’ll take care of you.” Salem took over the ordering, at least when it came to shawarma, and explained himself to me as he went.

First, Salem said, you want them to cut the meat from the spit directly onto your flatbread if possible. Kabob Q offers both pita and a Saj-like flatbread, of which I chose the latter. I was trying both chicken and steak shawarma this day, and per our request, they cut the meat fresh from the spit. Saint_Pizza's shish kabob plate and our 12yo’s chicken kabob plate were both served fresh from the grill as well.



Second, Salem said, is this: simplicity. There is a certain small combination of ingredients that are appropriate for each type of shawarma, chicken and beef. (And lamb? Salem says that most Mediterranean places in America don’t do lamb shawarma because the lamb here, due to breed, environment, diet, or other factors, just doesn’t taste right in shawarma. Kabob Q, like most other places, only offers chicken and beef shawarma.)



For the chicken shawarma, Salem recommended only pickles, garlic sauce (toum), and a pomegranate molasses he called dubs rumman. The chicken is arranged in the center of the flatbread, with pickles along one side. The garlic sauce is added in a thick bead on top, while a thin, barely-there line of the pomegranate molasses weaves over the top.



Then the flatbread is wrapped tightly around the fillings, much like a burrito, and the whole is placed on a griddle with a weight on top (or in a flat sandwich press, a Lebanese innovation, Salem says) to brown and crisp the bread.



A similar process is followed for the beef shawarma, though the ingredients differ. For the beef shawarma, Salem allows pickles, onions, tahini sauce, pomegranate molasses, and chopped parsley.



How’s this for a recommendation: this was the first time that I ever really enjoyed beef shawarma. The clove flavor that I normally dislike in beef shawarma was present, but not overwhelming, and for some reason I think the pomegranate syrup made it more acceptable to my palate. I fully recognize this is my own limitation but I associate clove with pies and with sweet glazed ham.

However, it didn’t hurt that the beef was cut fresh from the spit and the wrap was so perfectly griddled, and dressed in a properly minimalist fashion. And therein may be the third factor: simplicity means speed. The faster the shawarma gets from the fire to your mouth, the better it will be.

Does Kabob Q have hummus, baba ghanoush, various salads, or tomatoes even? Yes. But according to Salem, “tomatoes on shawarma are an abomination.” He doesn’t approve of adding hummus either. Still, if you want all those things in your shawarma wrap, or if you want it in a pita, you can get if that way at Kabob Q. I tasted their hummus, I tasted their baba ghanoush, everything was delicious and made in-house according to Feras and his staff.

Kabob Q
858 75th St
Willowbrook, IL 60527
(630) 974-0016
http://www.kabobq.com/

Kabob Q does have exceptional, evocative shawarma that reminds me (particularly in the accompaniments) of the textures in Jerusalem. Thank you for highlighting (your homemade version also looked ace). I have somehow now come to slightly prefer or at least crave lamb / lamb-beef mix in Chicago, and I like the heavy sumac flavoring and toasty crispness of the chicken shawarma at the Nile (Hyde Park) but will try it out there again soon.

Those exploring Q would also do well to stop for falafel at Damascus, no slouch in shawarma either:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44193 .

Santander wrote:Those exploring Q would also do well to stop for falafel at Damascus, no slouch in shawarma either:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44193 .

Sounds like a good one-two punch!