Palestinian kitchen · Palos Hills, Illinois

Old Schoolcooked by hand, every day

“There are few things more personal than food — and this is personal. It’s not business.”

4.9 783 Google reviews 22 seats, no waitstaff No tipping, ever 5 hours in the oven, every lamb

If you need a knife to cut the meat, you’re getting the food for free.

Mohd Mahd · chef & owner

Who is cooking

One man, two sons,
and nobody else.

Mohd Mahd hires no cooks. He grinds the spices, renders the fats, breaks down the meat, and seasons every plate that leaves this kitchen — the way his mother’s kitchen would have done it, with a food scientist’s hands.

I do not hire cooks at all. Every single bite my customers eat is actually seasoned by my hand, by me, and monitored and controlled by my boys.

Mohd Mahd

His story

Slow-roasted lamb shoulder resting on saffron rice, scattered with toasted almonds. — The old-fashioned lamb · five hours in the oven

An overhead table of Old School dishes: rice, stewed lamb, yoghurt and sauces in small bowls. — A table laid the way he sends it out

How it works today

There is no fixed menu.
There is a list, and it changes.

Every morning he writes down what he is cooking and sends it to about seventy regulars. They write back. Most of the day’s sixty to a hundred meals are spoken for before the doors open.

Walk in without a message and you will still eat well. But the kitchen would rather run out than cook something twice, so the list is the surer way in.

Get on the list

In the works

Old school taste.
A new way to order it.

The morning message has run this kitchen for years, and it works. It just doesn’t scale past the people who already have the number. So Mohd is building the app version of it — the same daily list, in your pocket, with the whole menu behind it.

01A lower price for ordering in the appOrders placed through the app come in cheaper than any other way to buy the same food. It costs the kitchen less, so it costs you less.
02The full menu, written down at lastEverything the kitchen makes, not just what fits in a morning text.
03Today’s list, pushed to youThe same message the regulars have had for years — you just won’t need to know somebody to get it.

Ask to be told first

Catering trays of saffron rice and slow-cooked lamb laid out with salads. — Catering laid out for a hundred

What comes out of the oven

Lamb, mostly. Cooked until
a fork is enough.

Roasted lamb with slivered almonds over rice.

A roasted quarter on saffron rice with almonds.

Photographs by guests, from the restaurant’s Google listing.

See the whole table

What guests say

4.9

★★★★★

783 Google reviews

He answers nearly every one of them himself. That is the part worth reading.

★★★★★

“We had the lamb neck, and it was absolutely outstanding. The meat was so tender it practically melted in our mouths, and it was packed with flavor. You can tell it was cooked with a lot of care and patience.”

Thank you very much Siraj, we truly appreciate both your person and patronage and you are always welcome

Siraj Nabulsi · Google

★★★★★

“Walking into this place feels like stepping back in time to a traditional family kitchen, where food is prepared with care, generosity, and authenticity.”

This sure is one of the feedbacks that are so humbling, heart touching and rewarding .. yet add so much energy and dedication to us to keep us going

Mustafa Muwafaq · Google

★★★★★

“This was the best lamb we have ever had!! The rice was perfect, the salad was perfect. The serving was huge — my husband and I shared and still brought some home.”

We are beyond thrilled to have you, and appreciate your patronage and feedback … thank you very much

Julie Lehmann · Google

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