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Location: 617 N Wells
Cost: About $25 per person

One of the Chicago food scenes best qualities is the wide variety of BYOB options. Unfortunately, those places are limited (for the most part) to restaurants outside of the downtown and near north areas. Jenny, Arif, KVG, and Josh were in for dinner, but none of us wanted to go all that far. Luckily, we found a rare spot in Kan Zaman to fit our criteria.

Logistics
Kan Zaman is on the western edge of River North. The food is Mediterranean, and the atmosphere is pretty relaxed. The place was pretty empty which surprised us all since it was such a pain to make a reservation. The patrons that came in after us were all in larger parties. It was BYOB like I mentioned above, and there was a $3/person corkage fee. The food was pretty cheap at about $15 or less per entree, and the portions were large. Our service was fine although the food took some time to come out.

The Food
We started off with some Hummus, the Baba Ghannouj, and a plate of Dolma. The baba was my favorite of the appetizers, but I was hoping for a larger portion. The Dolma came warm, which tasted just fine but was a little unexpected. Everyone got the choice of soup or salad and went with the Lentil Soup since it was so cold outside. It was thick and warm without too much salt.





For the main course Jenny got the Shish Tawook, KVG got the Chicken Shawarma, Arif got the Beef Shawarma, Josh got the Kafta Kabob, and I got the Beef Shish Kabob. I think I came away with the best dish. The chunks of filet were a well seared medium rare. Each plate came with a hefty portion of grilled veggies and rice. The Shish Tawook was moist while the chicken shawarma was on the drier side. The beef shawarma and the kafta kabob were well seasoned but were both on the drier side as well.




Overall
Id heard that Kan Zaman had a lively atmosphere, but on this particular Friday night, it was dead. I appreciate the BYOB but not the corkage fee. The food was good for groups and relatively inexpensive, but multiple dishes missed on either preparation or seasoning. Im giving Kan Zaman 2 out of 5 Pearls.