Shokran Moroccan Restaurant

Delicious upscale Moroccan BYOB on Chicago’s Northwest Side

That sort of sums it up. But I can elaborate.

Shokran Moroccan Restaurant is located at 4027 W. Irving Park in Chicago. They are conveniently located just off of the Blue Line Irving Park stop, and right where 90 and 94 converge.

Shokran is a serious contributing factor to my issues with playing favorites. I am so lucky to live in Chicago where I can have a favorite Moroccan restaurant. To be fair I have not gone to another Moroccan restaurant in Chicago, but once I found here there was little reason to continue my search. I grew up and continue to live on the Northwest side of Chicago, and this place is a gem that should be garnering attention from those in River North and Lincoln Park, giving them reason to venture outside those zones.

Good food, great service, awesome atmoshpere

My fiance and I decided we were in the mood to go out for dinner this evening, a beautiful Summer Thursday. He suggested Moroccan, and I gladly complied. We drove the short five minutes from our condo, parked and walked to the host stand. There we were greeted by the host and the owner who showed us to the front area (we had only ever eaten in the back areas before). Water was brought promptly, and a corkscrew for our BYOB experience.

While we browsed the  menu our waiter brought us freshly grilled pita, harissa (a spicy Moroccan condiment) and olives to wet our appetites. After some deliberation the fiance and I decided on two appetizers we had not had on our two previous visits, and his old stand by favorite tagine (basically a Moroccan stew).

Shortly after we devoured our pita and harissa olive mixture they brought out our Taktouka which consists of roasted green peppers and tomatoes made into a delicious dip. The fiance liked it, but I loved it, notably I love any and all veggie “goos” as I call them, that can be spread on a bread-like substance. Afterwards came our Briwats, a Moroccan version of an egg roll where phyllo dough is wrapped around seasoned vermicelli and little salad shrimps, a unique flavor and delightfully ungreasy despite being called a “Moroccan style egg roll” on the menu. In the past we have also tried the Merguez sausage, the Kefta meatballs, and the Chicken Bastilla. While I enjoyed the Merguez and the Kefta, and they are great introductions to Moroccan classics, the Chicken Bastilla remains my favorite. The Chicken Bastilla manages to be almost dessert like consisting of phyllo dough stuffed with ground chicken layered with an egg based sauce, and crushed almonds, all topped with sugar and cinnamon. If you are interested in unique taste sensations, it is definetly worth a try!

For our entree we shared the Chicken Casablanca tagine featuring chicken, potatoes, olives, and Moroccan spices. It was tasty with a subtle preserved lemon flavor . It is the fiance’s favorite. I have a soft spot for the Sweet Chicken couscous which reminds me of my studying abroad in the south of Spain in Granada and a week long visit to Morocco. The Sweet Chicken features almonds, raisins, and onions in a classic Moroccan combination. We have tried a variety of dishes and all have been good. If you are a lamb fan who likes the mixture of sweet and savory I recommend the Lamb Fez, which is flavored with prunes, almonds, cinnamon, and honey. Please note the lamb dishes vary in being served as lamb shank or lamb cubes, I would ask how they are prepared if a bone-in preparation is not your favorite. 

We finished our meal with a coconut and mango layered cake, which was quite light and a good ending to the meal. If by some miracle you have room left in your stomach you should get a plate of Moroccan cookies and an order of the mint tea. Tea is serious business in Morocco (given that they are culture that does not drink) much of the socializing revolves around tea, and this SUPER sweet stuff does not disappoint. For me, it also brings back vivid memories of Granada’s teteria’s.

As we were leaving, the owner suggested we scope out the back room. Funnily during the meal I had lamented to the fiance that anyone only seeing the front is only getting half the experience. The front is nice, but the back area is like being transported to a new world. I told him we had been before on a previous visit, but thank you anyway. If you get a choice I would try to get seated in the back area, it really has great ambience.

Overall:

Food:5/5-a great example of the cuisine, with a wide variety of options and serving sizes

Service:5/5-the perfect kind of attentive where you feel paid attention to but not smothered

Ambiance: 4/5-5 for the back area, 3 for the front, average 4.

 

Confession time…I play favorites with restaurants.

We all have favorite restaurants.

Totally normal right? I think so, but it is still something I struggle with. As a self-proclaimed lover of food, it is a little ridiculous that I tend to go to the same restaurants over and over. Yes I do try new ones, and yes I must have tried something new at some point to have gathered this list of favorites, and yes many of these favorite are in this category because they always have something new or different for me to try. Still the same it is sad…a bit. The poor neglected restaurants I rip out of the New and Improved section of TimeOut Chicago or used to e-mail to myself during my former days of being a menu database analyst. I so infrequently make it out of my usual haunts to get to try them.

So what makes somewhere worthy of being a “favorite restaurant”?

Glad you asked.

First, I like a non-miserable (enthusiastic would be ideal)  waitstaff. I am aware that being on staff at a restaurant can be exhausting to say the very least, but it is nice when the people I am paying to serve me food (and that generally get a more than gracious tip) seem to at least not mind being there. What am I hoping for? I like when the waiter or waitress knows what makes the quirky dishes tick. Peanut butter and bacon atop a burger…intriguing. Then the waitress knows that the peanut butter is made in house and has a texture more comparable to a creamy cheese…sold! If the restaurant specializes in a kind of beverage, it is nice if the staff actually knows about them. It is not helpful to go to a gastropub and find out the person waiting on you actually hates beer…not helpful at all. I am not looking for a life story from staff when I visit for the first time…but if I have been back a few times, please feel free to chit chat…or if it is a slow night and I know you aren’t neglecting others feel free to make a few recommendations. Overall I like when staff knows the food and knows what makes it unique.

Second, the food. I know, I know, the food should always be first at a restaurant. However if the service is bad or snooty or not there at all, I am not even thinking about the food. That said I don’t find myself at restaurants with great service and bad food…ever, or if I do I don’t make it back, and they certainly aren’t favorites. My favorites are all in categories by themselves, unique to the mood I am in.  I don’t have two favorite Thai restaurants, I have one that I have loved for more than a decade. However I am from Chicago, so when it comes to pizza I have 3 favorites. That’s necessary here. You have a Chicago Pizza deep dish favorite, a thin crust if you make me favorite, and a cheap quick fix favorite. I admit I even have two favorite deep dish favorites: my favorite authentic Chicago-Style deep dish and my starter deep dish (also better for reheating) for newbies. Favorite restaurants are places that have something nowhere else can replicate if they tried. Favorite restaurants might consistently make the dish you love the same way over and over or they might constantly have something new to offer. Favorite restaurants are places where you know that the veggie chili is best on Wednesdays and Saturdays because the batch has sat around long enough to meld.  Favorite restaurants are places where you know if the older lady is cooking your Thai food will be extra spicy, but otherwise it won’t have the same heat.

The more I think about it the more those are pretty much the only factors that matter to me. There are some things that might give a place an edge every once in a while, patio anyone, but overall that is  all that matters to me. The way I am treated when I am there, and the delicious things they have to offer. At the end of the day it is simple I love places that make me love food.

 

Hi, my name is Claire.

Welcome to Claire Loves Food.

I’m a long term food lover. I like to think of myself as a pretty good cook, decent at improvising, and ready to try anything the culinary world wants to throw my way. I used to be a food researcher, and it has left a lasting impression!