LTHForum.com

Long ago, on Leffistan, as some would call it, I lamented the lack of an ideal Middle Eastern restaurant in Chicagoland. I've been to Israel. I've been to London. I've been to New York. I've been to Washington DC. I've been to LA, and I've been to Miami. Found ideal Middle Eastern resturants in all those places. For ages, I could find no place around here that piqued me as places there. It was not the food per se, it was the package. Complex sauces here, 20 course mezzes, there, wood oven chicken, over-abundant garnishes for sandwiches, great pickles, fresh bread, fresh cut fries, fresh made salads, fresh falafal. Was I asking too much.

Steve's has been around for ages in different locations at different times. It took a blurb in Chicago Mag to re-remind me, and since, it's been, maybe the best Middle Eastern restaurant in Chicago, but certainly the most ideal.

Three reasons: First, the hospitality, which means a couple of things. The couple who own the place, one in front, one in the kitchen make you feel very welcome all the time, but also I love the hospitality of the little bowls of hummous with each dinner, the extra plates and splits they always do. Second, the menu, with the daily specials, is always interesting. I can never go enough to get the things I want, and I have many favorites. Generally, I try a special, but am happy with basics like kifta (hand-chopped, I've seen it), and the also hand-made, shwarma. Third, it would all mean jack if the food was not tasty to the extreme. The mysterious but brilliant RST claims the hummous is the best he knows. I rarely find something that I do not want to eat.

The main Steve's post is here:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=23871#23871

And there are a lot of mentions on this forum. Here's a few:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t= ... eves+shish

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=78013#78013

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=57943#57943

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=51694#51694

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t= ... eves+shish

Moderator Edit
Now relocated to
Steve's Shish Kabob
10719 S Roberts Rd
Palos Hills, IL 60465
708-974-3530

I think Steve's is a fantastic nomination and a great restaurant. There are some things that aren't all that great -- the rice is unbelievably mediocre -- but on the balance, the food is really very good.

Top it off with warm, friendly service and a surreal atmosphere and it's got everything I look for in a restaurant. It kind of reminds me of Casa de Samuel in that way..

I digress.

Great nomination. My pleasure to second/third/fourth/whatever it.

VI,

A deserving nomination... I too think Steve's is a fine little restaurant; I've enjoyed everything I've ordered and sampled there and I've also found the service and atmosphere further strengths. From a comparative standpoint too, Steve's fares very well when one considers it alongside the more widely known and discussed Middle Eastern restaurants of Albany Park.

And it's nice to see a number of places on the Southside get the recognition they deserve!

Antonius

I'm giving this the proverbial bump. In the interest of maintaining traditional Roman (and Teutonic) sobriety, I was relatively -- apparently excessively -- restrained in my expressions of praise for Steve's. A rare mistake.

Steve's is an excellent place -- probably more consistent than the other ME joints I know and the consistency is at a very high level. I hope some of youse hie yourselves thither and check it out.

Felice onomastico a tutti i miei 'baptêmes'!

Andogne

Steve's is a regular destination for me. An excellent place to explore the specials, a pleasant place to rest, take some tea and sample a pastry and my standard stop these days on the way to or from Midway - so with the kids away in college it has become the Dickson's family dinner spot for recharging and debriefing.

And the food is very, very good and a great bargain, too. Great nomination VI - if I had thought of it I might have stolen this one rather than MK, since I go to Steve's much more often.

I've been to Steve's once, and what can I say, I found it a pretty good Middle Eastern restaurant in a town with a lot of pretty good Middle Eastern restaurants...no, check that, a really good restaurant in a town with a lot of really good Middles Eastern restaurants. Especially in my Albany Park hood. The thing is, I have to eat somewhere else (Dallas, Kansas City) to remember how good we have it here for Middle Eastern food.

Now I was nearly solo on my lone visit to Steve's (had a three-year old in tow), and it was very good. Not necessarily better than places like City Noor, Salam, Semiramis, Kabul House (which I know is a little different), but certainly no worse, based on my very limited sampling, and I'd support all those for GNR (and have) so I see no reason to deny Steve's. The sample of board members who get out there may be on the small side, but I'd say it's pretty well-represented among those get to the 63rd and Harlem area. And those who have been there have good things to say.

I loved Steve's the first time I went (on the Pulaski-thon). I took the family there a couple of months ago and it was just one of those meals where everything was off. The place seemed dirty for once, the staff seemed ticked at something and inattentive, the food was only okay. I was really bummed, I thought it was a surefire choice and it just wasn't a successful outing. Now, I'll give any place the occasional night where things don't click, I'm not saying don't support it, I like the idea of representation in that part of town and I don't have an alternate candidate. People who eat at Steve's like Steve's, and I liked it half the time. But as long as we're sharing the love, I gotta share the realism of my recent disappointment.

I recently ate at Steve's in its new location in Palos Hills. I thought the food was very much as it was on 63rd Street and excellent. I am therefore inclined to say that I believe Steve's deserves to have its GNR renewed. Alas, given the location, I won't be able to get down there often but would love to, in order to indulge in some of the specials, such as mensef. Time to find an excuse to head to the southwest...

Lo: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=180717#180717

Antonius

I want to echo Antonius's endorsement of renewing Steve's Shish Kabob's GNR. Our lunch there two weeks ago was wonderful and the service was as friendly as ever. It's sad to no longer have Steve's as an option near Midway, but it's (still) good enough that I want to find more reasons to head down to the southwest suburbs. Perhaps a hike in the nearby forest preserve once the weather warms up...

I’d never been to Steve’s before, knew it was loved, then closed for damn-near-a-year, then re-opened in a neighborhood far from where they were before. I made the sixty mile trek today for lunch with friends.

shish-kabob combination


mosasabaha


Steve’s relish


-ramon

ramon, those are some awesome, awesome pics!!!

I might use that last as my screen saver.

Everything at Steve's was spot on save the chicken in the kabobs that tasted oddly of ketchup. They even managed to make tomatoes taste good today.

Thanks for the excellent pix Ramon. The meal was very good - Gaza Salad, Mosasabaha, Mensef (now a regular menu item), stuffed lamb, and all the kabobs except the chicken as VI noted were nothing short of delectable.

The move has not hurt them one bit.

I managed to get to Steve's for lunch yesterdayand support its renewal as a GNR.

As one of three at lunch I strongly support Steve's Shish Kabab for GNR renewal.

Enjoy,
Gary

This is in reference to some of the mentions in this thread, in which the subject of Steve's prices came up.

I haven't tried the Bridgeview-area* versions of the Kedzie Avenue places (and nearly all of them seem to have a II down there somewhere) but I find it hard to believe that they'd all have established outposts down there if rent was substantially higher. (*Yes, I know they're not in Bridgeview but Palos Hills, but presumably they're there in large part because of the middle eastern immigrant community centered around Bridgeview.)

So the notion that Steve's prices have been jacked way up following its move there strikes me as an important one in terms of its GNR renewal (or quasi-renewal). Three times as much as Salam... well, I don't mean to say it should be three times as good, but it ought to justify the price differential in some fashion, higher quality ingredients, posher digs, something. More to the point, it ought not to discourage repeat visits because you know you could do as well for less elsewhere. How do people feel about that point in terms of Steve's getting a GNR?

All in all, I guess this one still strikes me as a little thinly reported on, or at least not fully vetted, as a GNR, even though I have fond memories of my first meal at the old one, at least, and some sympathy for the idea that the middle eastern food in that part of the suburbs is one of the great uncharted areas left for discovery.

Three times may be a bit of hyperbole, 20% seems more in keeping.

I think, based on the final bill at our recent lunch which topped $80, that three times is actually pretty close to the truth...certainly more than 2 times more than Salam. I don't think that this is necessarily a reason to deny Steve's a GNR. We have awarded GNR's to restaurants charging a much higher premium for their food, and in fairness, Steve's is a nicer atmosphere than Salam (though not by much) and that is worth something. I really liked Steve's new location as much as the old one. I still support renewal.

Well, I have Steve's current menu with me as well as a menu that's about a year old from Salam.

Sandwiches at Steve's are $4.50, except for falafil, which is $3.50.

Sandwiches at Salam are generally $4.29, falafil is $2.99.

For hummos there's more of a difference: $5.95 at Steve's, vs $4.29 for a small order at Salam.

The entrees also show a difference: Salam lists shish kabab at $8.99 for either beef or lamb. Steve's has beef shish kabab at $12.95 and lamb at $14.95. The super combination with three kababs is $14.95 (perhaps you had a upcharge since you subbed lamb for the chicken kabab?)

Mensef at Steve's is $12.95 -- not listed on the Salam menu, so no comparison.

So yes, there's some difference in the prices, though not if you just want a sandwich. The setting at the new Steve's is much, much more pleasant than their old location on 63rd Street, and more upscale than Salam (not to criticize Salam at all, which is a place I like very much).

I don't think the difference in prices should be a negative factor in the GNR consideration. Both Salam and Steve's deserve renewal based on their great food, in my opinion.