Yesterday I got to leave work early because I got to go to Naf Naf Grill and learn how they make their chicken shawarma – so fun!  I also got to see my bestie Erica and my Chicago boyfriend Dan (aka Erica’s husband). 😀

What I am so impressed with at Naf Naf is that everything, and I mean everything is made in house – the sauces, the pita, and this chicken shawarma.  Shawarma literally means: roasted meat, especially when cooked on a revolving spit and shaved for serving in sandwiches.”

They use leg and thigh meat for their shawarma – its seasoned heavily with tumeric, cumin, coriander among other ingredients.  It’s so good!  It takes about an hour for the first spit to be ready – the middle will still be raw, but as you slice and cut, the new meat is exposed to the 800-1000 degree oven behind it.  Chef Pat said they usually go through 3-4 of those a day!

Check out my boyfried trimming the chicken:

It smells so good too!

And I got to hang out with Erica – she and her husband are moving to Florida so I am trying to hang out with them as much as possible before they leave.  I’ll be at Gourmet Chicago with Erica on September 29 😀

My bowl – you have so many options – your meal in a pita, or in a bowl with a choice of base: salad, couscous, basmati rice or hummus.  Then add your toppings!  Best part is that you can see the nutrition for everything.  I got the salad base, with 1/3 cup of the rice, the chicken shawarma, tomato, cucumber, red cabbage – get the pickles! – and the amba sauce which is like a pickled mango sauce – so tangy and delicious!  And don’t even get me started on the pita bread – best I’ve ever had.

I think Erica and Dan’s daughter loved the pita 😀

Naf Naf has 5 Chicago locations, and I think 17 suburban locations.  If you aren’t familiar with Middle Eastern food, this is a great place to start.  And they sell their pita breads on a 5 pack to go for $5.

I was able to catch the 4:45 train, which would be my dream train to take every day – I was back at my home train station at 5:39!  I still had to get my steps in so I walked for 30 minutes after my Naf Naf cooking lesson, and treated myself to this two point Starbucks – a grande cold brew with non-fat cascara foam and two pumps sugar free vanilla.  So good!

And guess what’s back in my kitchen?  DELICATA SQUASH!  Be prepared to see all things delicata – of course I had to make my delirings – deep fried – they were just as good as I remembered them.  You can find the recipe for the deep fryer or baked/air fryer version here.

Happy Friday friends!  I am going to be spending the weekend in Wisconsin – tomorrow I’ll be making vegan dishes with my friend Justin of Crow Moon Kitchen and Sunday have a WW meetup in Milwaukee that I was invited to.  So fun!  Momma, do you want to come over on Monday for a BBQ?  I’ll give you a call.

Make it a great day, and don’t eat like an asshole.

Love, Biz