Culinary foams weren’t invented by El Bulli’s Ferran Adria, the groundbreaking Spanish chef most associated with the modernist cuisine movement. White bean foam, chocolate air, and granadilla clouds may have gobsmacked diners on the Costa Brava coast 18 years ago—and there are carrot, smoke, and potato foams on the menu at Next Restaurant’s El Bulli tribute. But cooks have aerated food for centuries (see whipped cream, meringue, etc), and maybe no one’s been doing it longer than the Yemenis.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Unlike some of the more gratuitous and silly applications of foam that proliferated in the wake of Adria, hulba contributes flavor and texture to the dish, merging with the tomatoey broth and giving it a buoyancy that endures to the bottom of the bowl. Add a dollop of zhug, a salsalike tomato condiment ground with chile, garlic, and cilantro, and its flavor will resonate with anyone who loves Indian or Pakistani food (or the Three Arrows manhattan at Yusho). Or just imagine a tomato wave breaking over your tongue.
Yemeni food has a lot in common with Indian and Ethiopian food, more so than it does the common Middle Eastern kebabs, hummus, baba ghanouj, and tabouli most of us are familiar with. In Chicago that’s partly because there are only two dedicated Yemeni restaurants in the area. Yemen Restaurant in Albany Park is more of a cafe, with only a few specifically Yemeni dishes on a relatively short menu—namely roasted and boiled lamb—haneeth and masloog, respectively. But Sheeba has a full complement of “cultural platters” prepared in this southwestern suburb, which has eclipsed Albany Park as home to the area’s best Arabic food. It’s the only place that serves salta, fahsa, and fattah.
They also do a few typical Middle Eastern sides—hummus, fasolia, ful mudamas—but the Yemeni dishes predominate, including a whole butterflied bass or tilapia rubbed with a seven-spice mix, lowered in the tanoor in a basket, and blasted for 15 minutes; or mushakal, a spicy stew of potato, celery, zucchini, and okra that simmers from open to close; or a sweet version of fattah mixed with honey, dates, bananas, and custard apple.
9052 S. Harlem, Bridgeview 708-237-4004
