The irony of having lived a block away from the corner of Elston and Pulaski for 40+ years, and then moving just before Zebda came into the neighborhood is not lost on me. Frankly I hadn't found much to miss in the old neighborhood over the last year (Taxco being a notable exception) but now that Zebda has opened, I think I'll be going back.
Trying this place was a total fluke. Originally we were going to order from Shokran Cafe but found it no longer delivered, so we opted for Zebda and were repaid with a WOW-level meal big enough for four or five. We ordered "The Plate" a combo of hummus, falafel, Jerusalem salad and stuffed grape leaves, all of which were just excellent. The falafel I particularly liked as it was fluffy on the inside like the falafel from Couscous house, but quite crisp on the outside. We also had the chicken curry salad which had an amazingly well-balanced flavor and which was accompanied by caramelized figs, roasted grapes, toasted almonds and mixed greens with a balsamic dressing. There were also onions which were caramelized on one edge but which, in spite of being cooked, retained just enough crunch to make them really fresh and unusual.
Entrees were Tagine aux olives, a slow-cooked braise of beef with olives and potatoes in a saffron sauce. I don't normally think of beef and saffron together but it worked, and the olives cooked that way retained their briny quality but also showed their true fruit nature quite clearly with a warm sweet undertone. Potatoes were browned on the outside, flaky inside as all good potatoes should be. Also appearing was the Apricot chicken, a very aromatic dish of chicken breast cooked with apricot-almond butter, making it sweet and savory by turns, and accompanied by rapini with preserved lemon and basmati rice.
For dessert we split a Reine de Saba cake. Now I'm almost 60 years old and only once before had I ever seen Reine de Saba at a restaurant -- the Baker's Rooms/Ovens of Brittany in Madison Wisconsin, now sadly closed. I remembered it as a slice of heaven on a plate and while I recognize that memory can certainly play you false, I have to confess that Zebda's Reine de Saba was not what I remembered. It was damn good, in fact some truly excellent chocolate case with a mousselike chocolate cream on top, but it wasn't the Reine de Saba I remembered. However, it wouldn't be fair for me to mark them down just for not serving the cake of memory, so the restaurant gets full marks for what really was an awesomely good meal.
I trust that tomorrow's lunch of leftovers will be really excellent, too. read more