Eat like a king at Best Shawerma

June 1, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- One of the keys to having good shawarma is marination. That, plus the fact everything is made from scratch and there's high turnover. You can check off all those boxes in southwest suburban Burbank, where the former Nile on 79th Street has recently changed its name to The Best Shawerma.

"Special spices, in the shawarma, and we marinate it all night," said owner Hamdi Rihan.

And they do it all in space that could generously be described as tight. Just a handful of stools and that's it. But the quality of the thick and creamy hummus and baba gannoush is better than it needs to be, while portions are ample. Take the lamb and beef shawarma, for instance: once it's sliced off the spit, it's crisped-up on the flat top griddle; you can get it stuffed into a warm pita, along with tahini sauce, tomatoes and onions.. Or, go for the entree, which means a solid base of saffron rice topped with a generous amount of shawarma, some sumac-laced onions, a few sliced tomatoes, a healthy ladle of sesame-rich tahini sauce and a shower of both fresh parsley and slivered almonds.

The same options hold for the chicken shawarma, as well as a kefta kebab, made from ground beef. Rihan is proud to say only two people make everything he serves.

"Everything. Everything we make, me and my wife," he said.

So one of the advantages of having a small, mostly take out restaurant in this part of the city is the low rent, because where else could you find a sandwich this hefty for just $5 and an entrée this large for just $10. You can eat like a king at The Best Shawerma.

The Best Shawerma
6934 W. 79th St., Burbank
(708) 233-9220

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