Middle Eastern markets, Al-Khayam, others?

Having just had the sojok at La Shish in Dearborn, I was jonesen for some more Middle Eastern style lamb (or lamb/beef mix) sausages.

I found them today at Al-Khayam. Fresh spiced lamb sausages for $4.99 per pound.

Took them home grilled them up, then sauteed them with some stewed tomatoes and harissa(sp?) along with some fresh squeezed lemon juice mixed in.

Served with hot, crisp, yet fluffy pita off the grill, my wife and I devoured them, using the pita to sop up the remaining sauce from the pan.

Also had a side of fuul from George's kabobs, although it is easy to make at home.

Al-Khayam
4738 N Kedzie
Chicago
773.583.3077

I've read about Sultan's Market on North Ave.

Any other Middle Eastern market suggestions, as I really don't know what would comprise a good Middle Eastern market.

This place is in Andersonville:

Middle Eastern Bakery & Grocery Inc
1512 West Foster Avenue

I have been in a couple of times, they have a great selection of odd things, like bulk spices for very cheap, pomegranite molasses, dates, homemade hummus and olive paste, and a meat case, although I haven't gotten anything in that yet. They also have freshly made spinach/feta pies, which are quite good (and cheap!). It's a great place to poke around, I'm sure you'll come out with all kinds of things you never knew you needed

My favorite at the middle eastern bakery (Foster between Clark and Ashland) is the roasted red pepper baba ganoush. I wish I lived closer to make that a staple in my fridge.

Al Khayam is in and of itself a shop worthy of a special trip out of one's usual way. But in my opinion, one of the great things about Al Khayam as a grocery and bakery shop is that, once one parks to go there (metered parking at the old Chicago neighbourhood price of $0.25 per hour), one can leave the car in one spot and visit a number of shops which in various ways supplement one another. That is, one can buy just what one really likes from Al Khayam and the other shops and conveniently complete one's purchases without disappointment elsewhere. For Amata and me, the Albany Park suuq routine involves the following visits:

1) Al Khayam for Middle Eastern breads, certain imported items in can or jar, bulk items (lentils, beans, flour, spices, etc.), olives and cheeses from the deli counter, and now and again an Arabic newspaper. One can, of course, also get things to take out from the adjoining restaurant, Al Khaimeih, such as spinach and meat pies, hummus, baba ghanouj. The restaurant is of uneven quality (our last visit was disappointing, following a visit that had been sufficiently good to give us cause to think they might return to their former consistent good quality, back before all the remodelling). Their meat pies used to be always quite tasty and they keep fairly well in the freezer.

2) City Noor (ca. 30 yards south of Al Khayam on west side of Kedzie), whose praises have been sung by this writer and others in a different setting, is a worthwhile destination for excellent quality halal meat and friendly service. Lamb, beef, veal and chicken will be cut to order; they too carry nicely spiced sausages. I cannot compare the quality of the butcher services of Al Khayam and City Noor since we haven't availed ourselves of offerings of that Al Khayam department in a number of years. Our experiences at City Noor have been all much more than satisfactory and we just keep going back there. Our leg of lamb for Easter we got there and it was great; they also prepare a nice mixture of ground lamb and beef for making kefta and kibbeh .

3) Andy's Fruit Ranch. On the east side of Kedzie, across from Al Khayam and City Noor. Andy's is now something of a full service grocery store, having added not too long ago a butcher department (with pork and fish offerings) which I have visited only a few times. They do have pretty good produce and occasionally some less common vegetable and fruits that their eclectic neighbourhood clientele would appreciate. In the past I would occasionally find absurdly good buys there on Greek olive oil and they have a nicely stocked dairy department (Middle Eastern, Greek, Balkan specialties in abundance). The pasta/maccheroni selections are also better than at Al Khayam (though limited) and canned goods sometimes a wee bit cheaper than across the street (though I think Al Khayam was slightly cheaper on some things last time we were there).

4) Having never been completely happy with the pastries and sweets that the Al Khayam bakery produces (a strange contrast with their outstanding breads), we started going to Al Basha years ago, which was down a block south of City Noor (over the tracks to the south) in a little ugly modern shopping centre. Al Basha is no more, but another pastry and sweets shop stands in its stead. Al Basha servers were usually rather surly (though I'm sure the surliness was somehow well meant) but the pastries and cookies and semolina cakes (fit for a sultan!) were very good. We haven't been to the new shop there and have just been doing without the added calories for a while. Reports on the several Arab pastry and sweets shops in Albany Park would, I think, be welcomed by many.

Between shopping and informal eating options, Albany Park has long been a favourite destination for us. But perhaps we've become too set in our ways. I notice a few bakeries and Arab butcher shops on the first block of Kedzie north of Lawrence. Does anyone know those shops?

A

Antonius wrote:Reports on the several Arab pastry and sweets shops in Albany Park would, I think, be welcomed by many.

Between shopping and informal eating options, Albany Park has long been a favourite destination for us. But perhaps we've become too set in our ways. I notice a few bakeries and Arab butcher shops on the first block of Kedzie north of Lawrence. Does anyone know those shops?

A

Antonius, my favorite sweet shop in the area is Jaafer Sweets in the plaza on Kedzie just north of Lawrence. This is the same mall with the Albanian pizza/burek parlor, the fine little Korean grocery, Clark Market, and the very good Korean restaurant Kang Nam. Also a decent M. Eastern restaurant, whose name escapes me. And there's a parking lot.

Nearer Al Khayam is Nazareth, another very good Palestinian sweet shop.

By the way, you had asked about the huarache place, Cardonas, I think it was. Very near Kedzie on Lawrence the Cardonases have a couple of spots proclaiming DF style huaraches and house made tortillas. I have been a couple of times. No hand-made tortillas; hauraches were ok, nothing too special. I assume that the Albany Park and Pilsen places are related, given the unusual name and the huarache focus.

And, in the same stretch, you might try one of RST's old favorites, the Greek/Guatemalan/Mexican bakery Markellos. The Guatemalan in-laws confirm what RST had suggested -- that this is "the" place for Guatemalan baked goods. Not sure if they have these, but look for Guatemalan bunelos. These are a very eggy, deep-fried fritter, similar to the ones in Spain. Like a deep fried cream puff. Not to be confused with Mexican bunuelos, which are deep fried flour tortillas, or Cuban bunuelos, which contain yuca and malanga.

Finally, on the topic of deep-fried Latin donuts (wrong place, I suppose), I want to note that anyone who likes fresh churros can get them most any morning at El Moro De Letran/Mr. Churro, 16th & Blue Island. I don't get as excited about Mexican churros as I do for the Cuban version. The Mexican is a dense, yeasty thing that starts with a pretty heavy, sticky dough, whereas the Cuban starts with a thin batter and leads to a lighter, crispy product.

Jeff:

Many thanks for all the information on various fronts. I'll definitely try Jaafer the next time we head up there. And thanks for reminding me about the Albanian place, which I had read about (maybe on listserv) but then forgotten.

Anything particularly well done at the Korean place you mention?

Is Markellos the Greek bakery on the south side of Lawrence a bit east of Kedzie? I know there's a Greek place out that way but the name never stuck in my mind. Or is it on Kedzie, a little south of the L-tracks, where I remember seeing a place with an uncommon combination of offerings advertised in the window?

A

Antonius--

I think that Markellos actually has two branches, one on Lawrence and one on Kedzie very near the ME places and the Brown Line. I'll have to confirm that next time I'm in the area.

I'm obsessed with dol sot bi bim bop, and think that Kang Nam has the most consistently good version. Good "raspa" as Cubans say (there are different specific terms from Valencia and, as Gary has noted, Korea, for the crispy fried rice on the bottom of the cooking vessel. Presently, I can't recall either).

JeffB wrote:... my favorite sweet shop in the area is Jaafer Sweets in the plaza on Kedzie just north of Lawrence. This is the same mall with the Albanian pizza/burek parlor, the fine little Korean grocery, Clark Market, and the very good Korean restaurant Kang Nam. Also a decent M. Eastern restaurant, whose name escapes me. And there's a parking lot.

JeffB:

A week or so ago we finely got to Jaafer Sweets and got a small assortment of things... a couple of kinds of cookies, walnut baklava and a couple of pieces of the semolina cake. All of it was very, very good and I especially liked the semolina cake, which is one of the few sweets I often crave... really drenched with honey...

Jaafer is a swell Middle Eastern bakery...

A

JeffB wrote:Good "raspa" as Cubans say (there are different specific terms from Valencia and, as Gary has noted, Korea, for the crispy fried rice on the bottom of the cooking vessel. Presently, I can't recall either).

Jeff,

Valencia is soccarat, Korea noo roon bop

Best part of any rice dish, in my opinion.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Valencia is soccarat, Korea noo roon bop

Best part of any rice dish, in my opinion.

I do not make it a habit of correcting spelling but since this is a foreign word from a language I know, I thought I might chime in to say that the Catalan/Valencian word should be socarrat (one c and two r's), from the verb socarrar 'to scorch'.

By the way, I just recently got a paëlla, the flat pan after which is named the famous rice dish which is made in such a pan. I haven't tried it out yet but I'm looking forward to scorching some rice myself soon.

A

Antonius wrote:I do not make it a habit of correcting spelling but since this is a foreign word from a language I know, I thought I might chime in to say that the Catalan/Valencian word should be socarrat (one c and two r's), from the verb socarrar 'to scorch'.

Antonious,

Take it up with Cook's Illustrated. I copied the spelling directly from their May/June 05 issue. Page #11. Though I'm perfectly happy to defer to your expertise.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Take it up with Cook's Illustrated. I copied the spelling directly from their May/June 05 issue. Page #11. Though I'm perfectly happy to defer to your expertise.

Now, indeed, who would you trust more on such matters? I can invoke structural principles of Catalan phonology as well as spelling traditions to back me up: no geminates in Catalan (consonants pronounced long and/or spelt double, e.g., -tt-, -bb-, -gg-, -cc-, though <-ss-> is used in some words to indicate voiceless s in medial position) except for r and l (which is pronounced as a palatal when just <ll> like Italian <gl> and Spanish <ll> but as a long 'dark' l when spelt <-l.l->; let's ignore for the moment the spelling <-tll->, as well as some other matters peripheral to the main point).

So then, one c and two r's makes better sense from a phonological structural standpoint.



A

P.S. I just found this little piece about 'scorched' rice with a further reference at the end:
http://www.classic.com.au/wizard/crusty.htm

Yeah, the NYTimes misspelled it too, but then so did I. I should have felt uncomfortable about those double Cs. For shame.

Now, is noo roon bop a good transliteration? Cause I don't want to be called out at Kang Nam.

G Wiv wrote:Valencia is soccarat, Korea noo roon bop

Best part of any rice dish, in my opinion.

Enjoy,
Gary

Persian is tadig/tahdig, as a side note. Although I think that one is pretty well-known.

JeffB wrote:Now, is noo roon bop a good transliteration? Cause I don't want to be called out at Kang Nam.

Jeff,

Buried in Jeffrey Steingarten's second book, It Must've Been Something I Ate, Steingarten references his assistant as stating the Korean term for crisp rice at the bottom of the pot is ~noo roon bop~

Enjoy,
Gary

JeffB wrote:Yeah, the NYTimes misspelled it too, but then so did I. I should have felt uncomfortable about those double Cs. For shame.

Now, is noo roon bop a good transliteration? Cause I don't want to be called out at Kang Nam.

Ahh, but this leads to the eternal question: Who put the bop in the noo roon bop sha bop, and who put the Kang in the Kang-a-lang-a Nam Nam?
Who, indeed.....?

R

hungryrabbi wrote:

JeffB wrote:Yeah, the NYTimes misspelled it too, but then so did I. I should have felt uncomfortable about those double Cs. For shame.

Now, is noo roon bop a good transliteration? Cause I don't want to be called out at Kang Nam.

Ahh, but this leads to the eternal question: Who put the bop in the noo roon bop sha bop, and who put the Kang in the Kang-a-lang-a Nam Nam?
Who, indeed.....?

R

Who was that man? I'd like to shake his hand.

Antonius wrote:Jeff:

Many thanks for all the information on various fronts. I'll definitely try Jaafer the next time we head up there. And thanks for reminding me about the Albanian place, which I had read about (maybe on listserv) but then forgotten.

Anything particularly well done at the Korean place you mention?

Is Markellos the Greek bakery on the south side of Lawrence a bit east of Kedzie? I know there's a Greek place out that way but the name never stuck in my mind. Or is it on Kedzie, a little south of the L-tracks, where I remember seeing a place with an uncommon combination of offerings advertised in the window?

A

We tried @ the location just south of the tracks to move our wholesale but that did not work due to apartments above so we closed that location,then we tried to open up the old Toms Bakery on lawrence talman as Eurobake but Mr Toms lol and the Markellos's have a history of about 35 years that eventually came out so we bailed after a month and the place eventually went down the toilet,its now owned by a vietnamese guy i think hes not doing well @ all,we eventually moved our wholesale to the zenith plant 1900 austin where we have 12000SF of production space with labels of Markellos&IBC(international bread co)Our retail location is still @ Lawrence and Drake,I opened this location Dec 28 1991 while my father was still on the Rockwell location,He sold it and retired in 1994 and the buyer tried a little Greek lighting a couple years later,When hes not in Greece you can still find Markellos sitting in the back of my place joking with the costumers and employees,so besides for a brief stint with the rockwell location Markellos has always been owned by my family and it always will,We say a BIG thank you to all our loyal and new customers that have supported us through out the years,and we look to continue to happily serve you for the next 35 years,,,,,HAPPY HOLIDAYS From the Markellos family

The recent thread on Asian grocery staples and GWiv's homemade hummus has inspired me to post this to help me explore Middle Eastern grocery stores. I hope this topic hasn't been covered yet.

So far on my list are Zyiad tahini and finely ground semolina. What else should I look into getting? I bake more than I cook, so any recommendations for ingredients in a baker's pantry would be great. Which store(s) do you like best? Should I stick to the ones near Kedzie & Lawrence? Thanks

Orange blossom water and rose water are essentials for middle eastern pastries, pilafs, etc.

The middle eastern markets are a good source for almonds in many forms, cashews, pumpkin, squash and watermelon seeds, bulghur (burgul -- I don't know what the difference is)... cheeses (mmmm haloumi).

The ones I've visited sometimes hide things where you wouldn't expect: nuts in the refrigerator case, for instance, so be prepared to look around.

If you want to try your hand at baking mamoul, you'll need mahlab as well. It's usually with the spices.

FWIW, I have a very interesting book, Patisserie of the Eastern Mediterranean and I decided to see if they had a recommended pantry. They did and the things in it are (in part as recommended or recognized above):

tahini
mahleb
mastic (a resin sold in powdered form, usually in very small glass containers)
orange blossom water
rosewater
kunafeh filo (a sort of finely shredded, vermicelli-like pastry; probably phyllo as well)
nuts (esp. pistachios)

Then, although Lebanese Cuisine by Anissa Helou is a general cookbook, her extensive list of general items for a pantry [that would be appropriate for baking specifically] includes (in addition to some of the above, such as tahini, orange blossom and rose waters, and both mahlab and mastic):

both carob and grape molasses
dried figs
pine nuts
pomegranate syrup (sometimes called pomegranate molasses)
rose petal jam
semolina
sesame seeds

I'm partial to the Middle East Market (Bakery?) at Foster and Clark, both because it's walking distance from my house and because the owners are helpful and friendly.

Good luck!

[edited once for clarity]

Pucca wrote:So far on my list are Zyiad tahini

A random shopper at Al-Khyam stopped me as I was reaching for Ziyad tahini saying that it's no good. He handed me a blue bottle with yellow Arabic writing and said that it's "the best." I've long since plowed through that jar and can't remember the brand, but it's plastic and has a bit of give when you squeeze it. Seems like Ziyad is generally regarded as a mediocre brand for middle eastern products.

Don't forget to get some sumac as well. It's great on chicken, and pretty much anything that benefits from lemon juice because of its tartness.

Hi,

There is a ten week old Middle Eastern market in Libertyville just west of Milwaukee Avenue on Peterson Road. They offer dried, canned and frozen foods, spices and Halal meats, though no fresh vegetables. By the owner's description, their spices cover the range of ethnicities from Pakistani, Indian, Turkish and Middle Eastern.

Sultans Marketplace
122 Peterson Road
Libertyville, IL 60048
847-816-0388

Mon-Sat: 9:30 AM - 8:30 PM
Sunday: 10 AM - 5 PM

Hi there,

I moved back to Chicago from NY a few months ago, and have been recently thinking incessantly about a middle eastern shop in Brooklyn that had wonderful specialties and imports, most notably excellent olives and a delicious imported fig jam that had large chunks of flattened fig in it. I attempted to bring some of this jam back on my last trip back to NYC, but TSA confiscated it because it's apparently considered a liquid/gel (ARRRRGH!).

So, is there somewhere similar here? If no, are there other places where folks have seen imported fig jam?

Thanks!

Welcome back. There are middle eastern markets all over the city and in the suburbs so I would think you would have no problem satisfying your cravings. If you have the brand name you could try calling around. I'm sure the store in Brooklyn could give you the brand name and then you'd be on your way to finding it here. If you let us know where you live or what area is convenient for you, maybe we can give you some specific markets to try.

If you visit any that you like, please do report back.

This is where I go for Middle East groceries and treats. I've seen at least 2-3 brands of fig jam there, though I don't know if they have the specific one you are looking for:

Middle East Bakery and Grocery
1512 W. Foster Ave.
773-561-2224

I know I've seen fig jam at Fox & Obel, but I don't know if it was Middle Eastern. In addition to the shop on Foster recommended by Hellodali, you should check out the shops along Kedzie avenue between Wilson and Lawrence

I'm not sure what part of the city you're in but I highly recommend checking out Al-Khaymeih which is a Lebanese grocery store in the Albany Park neighborhood. I do recall seeing imported fig jam there.

For more details about the store:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/al-khaymeih-chicago

The Lovely Bakeshop has wonderful homemade jams and recently started featuring Fig, which orange zest and black pepper and nutmeg - it looks delicious.
http://lovelybakeshop.com/