Cedar Grill, Downers Grove

Cedar Grill is around the corner form my office and I've eaten there several times now. I just finished lunch--a lovely beef (and lamb) Shawerma sandwich. It was sliced of the spit just after I ordered it, wrapped appropriatly in toasted Lebanese flat bread and contained a nice quantity of tomatoes and onions. The light sauce flavored it nicely and didn't drip down my arm. Occasional bites tasted strongly, but not negatively, of corriander. I forgot to ask for a pickle but they're included in the Chicken version if you order it "deluxe".

My Lebanese husband is very happy eating here. We usually order kebbie and he gets the lion's share. It comes out hot and crisp on the outside, stuffed with well seasoned ground meat.

I enjoy the smokey baba ghanouj, while we both like the humus and tabbouli. Tabbouli is one of those foods that varies a lot depending on the background of the cook. Lebanese style is very heavy on the parsley, light on the bulger. I was taught to make it with just the opposite balance. Husband prefers Cedar Grill's version.

We stick with Lebanese foods here and have never been disappointed. Prices are very reasonable with a Beef/lamb shawerma sandwich at $4.65. They also serve gyros, and the usual suspects...hot dogs, Italian beef, Polish sausage...but I've never been tempted to try them.

The owner tells me he'd like to open a sit-down restaurant in Westmont in addition to this casual place.

Cedar Grill
2223 Ogden Ave
Downers Grove
630-241-2525

Hard to see from the road..it's right next to the Sara Lee outlet at the corner of Ogden and Finley (Belmont).

This exchange came from another thread and clearly, I'm sold on Cedar Grill.

pancake wrote:

marusin wrote:I can't believe there are no other place in town where you can get a decent falafel/schwarma/etc.

It's not in Naperville, but there's a new place not too far away. Cedar Grill is near Ogden & Belmont in Downers Grove. The location used to be a hot dog place, Odies. I tried it a couple of months ago. I can't say that I found the food to be great, but it's the only Middle Eastern place I know of in the area, short of driving to Lombard.

I'll give them another chance.

Tim

Thanks for the reminder. I tried cedar grill when they first opened, but haven't been back since. Based on your recommendation, I tried it again today. I'd say it's quite a bit better than the last time I tried it. (I think they hadn't worked out all of the kinks then.) I had the chicken sharwerma sandwich with a side of baba ghanouj. I really liked the Lebanese bread that the sharwerma was served on.

I'll definitely be back.

You stole my thunder! I first tried Cedar last Friday, and went back this week. Was going to go a couple of more times before posting, but no need to wait now. So far I have stuck to the store-made gyros at the owner's suggestion. They make both beef and chicken with real meat, and buy regular ground lamb/chicken blend.

The chicken gyros, which he recommended first, was probably the best sandwich I have had all year. Thin pita grilled to crispiness and rolled tigthly around chunks of flavorful chicken, blissful garlic sauce, and some other tangy, possibly pickled, vegetables. Bright on the mouth, satisfying with all the flavors. And the tangy sauce keeps on giving for hours, maybe days.

The beef gyros was not so great. Seemed a bit stringy, flavors not as bright and fresh. which is interesting because I had it for a late lunch, and the chicken was right at closing time.

I also brought some hummos home for the Bride. She reports that it was quite good, and it did disappear before I got a taste.

I think I will go try the shwarma for lunch today. But so far I am thrilled with Cedar based on what I have had, and what I have seen on fellow diners' tables. I plan to work my way through the entire menu and report back. For now, go and try the chicken gyros. Enjoy.

The owner is planning to open a restaurant near Oak Brook, he told me. Sort of Pan-Mediterranean: Lebanese, Spanish, Greek, and a couple of other countries. Sounds good to me.

I think the "chicken gyros" you describe is actually the chicken shawarma. I've been to other Middle Eastern places that will call the shawarma "gyros" if customers ask what it is.

Yes, in fact the first time I visited and ordered shawarma, he asked if I knew what it was. I smiled and told him I was (then) engaged to a Lebanese man. This prompted a whole conversation on where I'd eaten Lebanese food (Dearborn MI, mostly) and did I like it and how he thought the flavors of a certain other west suburban restaurant's hummos were unbalanced. Well, I shrugged and said the owners weren't Lebanese, they are Palastinan and Iranian (?) so maybe that accounted for the difference.

The owner is nothing if not extremely proud of his food.

I've got to ask him his name.....

pancake wrote:I think the "chicken gyros" you describe is actually the chicken shawarma. I've been to other Middle Eastern places that will call the shawarma "gyros" if customers ask what it is.

You are correct I discovered that upon my return when I read the menu. Previously I had just asked the owner what to order and he said Chicken Gyros so I never looked at the menu.

In recent visits I have also tried their falafel, kafta kabob, fattoush and tabbouleh. All quite good, though the tabbouleh is heavy on parsley and light on bulgur. Nothing as good as the chicken shawerma (as Cedar spells it), but the falafel sandwich came close. The only bad choice for me has been the beef shwarma.

The owner is quite a guy, happy to go off on many different topics. I had a bunch of singles that I offered him yesterday and he went off on a rant about a negative experience with another customer who paid him in a pile of singles, then sort of apologized at the end.

Really good place.

I tried Cedar Grill, but I was a bit disappointed. I tried the chicken shawerma sandwich -- the deluxe version which the menu says includes hummus, fries, and pickle. The first surprise was when I picked up the sandwich, there were no fries. I said I had ordered the deluxe -- where are the fries? The Mexican cooks couldn't answer, but the owner explained that the fries are *inside* the sandwich and then said something like how do people expect to get fries on the side for 40c.

The sandwich was in the form of a wrap, cut in half. Nothing great. Small portions and a very small number of french fries in the wrap. I prefer to get fries on the side. If I had know they would be in the sandwich, I would not have got them at all.

I also tried the baklava (2 small pieces for $1.50). It was not good.

Overall, I prefer the Pita House on Roosevelt in Lombard. In my experience, their food has been consistently good and their baklava excellent. www.pitahouse.com

just FTR, serving sandwiches "wrap" style is typically Lebanese. Pita Inn's pocket style and dry shawerma is not Lebanese. Odd about the fries, though.