After reading about L'Olive in chi.eats we decided to give it a try, it was excellent. We started off with fresh sardines, olives, hummus and warm fig salad. I liked the sardines, which was more like a sardine cake than whole sardines, the others at the table found them to be a little strong tasting. The warm fig salad was excellent and was my wife's favorite dish of the meal. The hummus is billed as having won an award for the best hummus in Chicago and while quite good, is made with goat cheese and some may find the taste unusual if they are expecting standard hummus. For main courses we had, Cousous calamari, Seafood Bastilla, Tangine of lamb apricot and Tangine of chicken L'Olive. The cousous was very good, but the Tangine's were spectacular. The lamb apricot, which also included prunes, raisins, cinnamon and a ginger honey was excellent and the chicken L'Olive with preserved lemons was delicious. The Seafood Bastilla was wonderful also, the crisp phyllo contained a nice mixture of seafood and I would most certainly order it again. There is no liquor license, but you may bring your own wine. Be advised that they charge a $1.50 per person corkage fee. One of the highlights of a very enjoyable meal was when Mohamed, the chef/owner, stopped at out table to chat. We discussed travel and of course restaurants, near and far. He mentioned that Joho, of the Everest room and Brasserie Jo, said in a recent article that L'Olive was one of his favorite spots to eat on days off. This of course led to the question of where Mohamed liked to go on his days off. He laughingly said with a restaurant to run and two young children he didn't eat out much, but then mentioned that he did like to eat at a small Middle Eastern place on Kedzie called Salam. While I had never been to Salam there is a Middle Eastern sweet shop right next door that I go to once in a great while. Salam Sweets, not the same owners as Salam restaurant, has wonderful Middle Eastern style sweets, lots of pistachios, shredded wheat and honey. I did give Salam restaurant a try for a quick bite this week and it was excellent. Great falafel, hummus and the foul was served warm. They also have salads, shawarma, kafta, shish kabob, kibbeh and a number of other dishes. I only tried the falafel, foul and kibbeh and they were very good, the falafel was outstanding. Salam restaurant is not a full service restaurant, no liquor, tablecloths or table service, at least not while I was there. The food is good, inexpensive and the service was efficient, though certainly not overly friendly. L'Olive is on an interesting block, restaurant wise, of Sheridan. There is a West African and a Tibetan restaurant right next door, neither of which I have tried. Enjoy, Gary L'Olive 3915 N Sheridan Rd Chicago, IL. 60613 773-472-2400 Salam Restaurant 4636 N Kedzie Chicago, IL. 60625 773-583-0776 Salam Sweets 4638 N Kedzie Chicago, IL. 60625 773-588-0490
Chicago, IL