364 TownLine Rd., Mundelein, IL 60060 Ph: 847-566-9755
Mediterranean
and Armenian cuisine
About us:
When the ark of forefather Noya has stuck to top of mountain Ararat, there was a seventeenth day of the seventh month - since then this date is considered happy. The certificate to that - restaurant "Ararat" which has opened on July, 17th, 2006.
Well, all is correct - visitors are involved with the excellent Armenian kitchen, equal which in Chicago is not present. In "Ararat" ancient national dishes - pride of the Armenian culinary specialists are collected. The menu impresses - more than 100 firm dishes where the Shish kebab - a wreath of the Armenian kitchen reigns. Also do not try to prepare for the Armenian shish kebab independently if you are not the Armenian. It is useless. In a shish kebab - the main thing marinade. On each meat - the . The grasses, spices, sometimes - the droplet "Nairi", different wild-growing fragrant grasses and still is a lot of many secrets.
Simply order a little table in "Ararat" where duly prepare more than 25 kinds of the present Armenian shish kebabs - only from the freshest pair meat which is delivered daily, on coals, it is direct in a hall. That is why shish kebabs here - the best in Chicago. And how at them such shish kebabs turn out.
In a word, wish to arrange a holiday of gluttony - to you direct road in "Ararat".
Mediterranean and Armenian cuisine is one the oldest in the world.
Cookery on the grill is a natural cooking method, which was used already in the 9th century B.C. in the ancient Urartian country.
Later, in 4th-1st century B.C. this cooking method was developed and cherished in the Great Armenian country, which spread from Caspian up to Mediterranean Sea.
Cooking is an art and patience is a virtue!
Careful shopping, fresh produce and un unhurried approach are nearly all that is required, but there is one more ingredient-Passion.
Passion for food and love for those you invite to your table.
Ararat, our friendly and comfortable restaurant, offers you an exclusive selection of dishes in charming environment.
Our dishes are masterpieces created by chefs with a passion for food who want to share that passion with you.
Khachapuri (Crispy cheese pie baked in oven)................................................ 2.50
Khachapuri Adjarskie (Crispy cheese pie w/ yoke on top baked in oven).. 6.99
Chebureki (Crispy fried pie w/ ground beef or potato)................................... 2.50
Piroshki (different fillings)...................................................................................... 2.50
Samsa (Traditional pie w/ diced lamb, cooked in oven for 30min).............. 3.50
Sacivi (Chicken in nut sauce. Cold)........................................................................ 4.99
Special order: Acharuli (Crispy 7 layer cheese pie)
Whole Fish cooked in the oven (serving 15-20 people)
Soups .......................................................................................................... 4.99
Vegetable Soup;
Kharcho (Authentic rice soup w/ meat, fried chopped onions, tomatoes and spices);
Russian Borsch (Delicious beets soup w/ beef, cabbage, carrots, onions, greens, potatoes and spices);
Armenian Hash (Traditional soup dish).
Todays Special: (Chefs Selection)
Solyanka (soup from smoked sausages and vegetables);
Piti (Mutton soup w/ diced lamb, peas, greens, potatoes and spices);
Shurpa (Soup w/ root vegetables, diced lamb, chopped onions, chickpeas, tomatoes and spices);
Green Borsch (Delicious sorrel soup w/ beef, oions, spinach, greens, potatoes and spices);
Lagman (Traditional soup w/ lamb, spaghetti, tomatoes and spices);
Khashlama (Traditional soup w/ lamb, eggplant, sweet pepper, onions, tomatoes, greens and spices);
Chanahi (Traditional Armenian soup w/ lamb or beef, white beans, mushrooms and tomatoes made in oven)
Armenian Style Red Beans( w/ walnuts)....................................................... 6.99
Armenian Style Grilled Eggplant Salad .......................................................... 6.99
Israel Salad............................................................................................................ 3.99
Armenian Cheese Plate...................................................................................... 5.99
Assorted Meat Plate........................................................................................... 9.99
Assorted Armenian Pickled Vegetable.......................................................... 5.99
Fresh Garden Salad ............................................................................................ 6.99
Homemade Hummus.......................................................................................... 4.99
Grilled Eggplant (in nut sauce)........................................................................ 6.99
Armenian Pepper Plate...................................................................................... 6.99
Marinated Mushrooms....................................................................................... 5.99
Avocado Salad (2 halves of Avocado)............................................................. 3.99
Stuffed Peppers (feta, tomatoes, greens)...................................................... 6.99
Pork Shish Kebab.............................................................................................. 8.99
Beef Liver Shish Kebab.................................................................................... 7.99
Lula-Kebab (Ground beef).............................................................................. 8.99
Lula-Kebab (Ground chicken)........................................................................ 8.99
Lula-Kebab (Ground lamb)............................................................................ 8.99
Lamb Shish Kebab........................................................................................... 12.99
Lamb Chops Kebab (bone-in)...................................................................... 16.99
Chicken Kebab................................................................................................. 8.99
Stuffed Chicken Thighs.................................................................................. 7.99
Sacivi (Chicken in nut sauce)....................................................................... 8.99
Chicken Kiev (Stuffed w/ butter and herbs)............................................. 8.99
Fish Kebab.......................................................................................................... 9.99
Khinkali (Traditional dumplings w/ ground beef) .................................. 6.99
Manti (Traditional dumplings w/ diced lamb
steam cooked for 40 min)............................................................................. 5.99
Homemade Pelmeni......................................................................................... 7.99
Special order: Pilaf (w/ lamb or chicken)', King Shrimp Kebab, Chicken Tapaka
Fish Sevan (Fish in the dough)
ArArAt packages 2.pdf
Baklava................................................................................................................ 3.50
Napoleon............................................................................................................ 3.50
Beze Kiss (Meringue)....................................................................................... 3.50
Chocolate Cake Potato.................................................................................... 4.00
Special order: Ptichje moloko; Puffs w/ creams
Wine brings out the flavor in food and enhances the dining experience. Restaurant ARARAT offers a wide variety of wines and beers that will complement your meal.
Curious about a wine? We're happy to pour you a sample of our wines, right at your table, so you can try the wine before you order. Its our pleasure to make sure youre absolutely delighted with your wine choice at ARARAT restaurant.
<Prices & Items are subject to change without notice>
ARARAT has provided the very best in catering and event planning services for private and corporate clients in the Chicagoland Area.
Each and every employee at ARARAT is dedicated to excellence in the products served and the services provided. ARARAT uses only the freshest and highest quality ingredients and actively supports local growers and producers that engage in organic and sustainable agricultural practices. ARARAT is committed to making each event unique and the best our clients and their guests have ever attended.
Corporate & Private catering
When selecting a caterer for your next corporate or private event you want to know the food is the very best, the décor is creative and your guests will be suitably impressed. Perhaps more than anything you want to be assured all the details have been taken care of and everything will come off without a hitch. You want a caterer and event planner with an impeccable track record and years of experience with both small and large, complex and detailed special events. At ARARAT catering we understand consistent excellence in creativity and performance is the true key to our success and the reason why so many of our clients are repeat clients. We have simply been the very best for over three decades.
Wedding catering
Of all life's great events, your wedding celebration may be the most personal, exciting and important. You want it to be as unique as you areto reflect your lives and to linger in your memories. ARARAT understands weddings and everything that makes them special, from time-honored traditions to original twists.
ARARAT's wedding designers are available to advise you at every stage. Our designers are dependable professionals, experienced and thoroughly informed about wedding etiquette, who will ease your mind by handling the seemingly endless details that go into planning the big day.
Banquets, weddings, anniversaries!
High art - the organization of the HOLIDAY!
We know , we are able to do it BEAUTIFULLY, FAULTLESSLY and is tasty.
Every event-is an individual unforgettable holiday, attention to wishes, an embodiment of any ideas of the customer, delight, words of appreciation at the end of a celebration..
We have everything to organize your holiday! That - absolutely any banquets, weddings, personal celebrations, corporate holidays in the important and significant occasions for the customer for 35-40 person,
When - 6 days in a week, during time convenient for our customers
It is tasty - more than 100 dishes of author's Armenian kitchen in execution of the chief, more than 30 kinds of shish kebabs, a professional equipments, many products for special dishes are delivered directly from California
We will make your holiday UNFORGETTABLE.
364 Town Line Rd., Mundelein, IL 60060
main phone: 847-566-9755
FOR RESERVATIONS (BOOKINGS) PHONE:
Restaurant ARARAT
Ph: 847-566-9755
Restaurant hours:
weekdays 12.00noon - 8.00pm
weekends 12.00noon - till closing
Private functions also welcome.
Live entertainment:
available upon the request.
Capacity:
seating for 35-40 quests.
PLEASE NOTE: WE DO NOT ACCEPT EMAIL RESERVATIONS / BOOKINGS
To avoid disappointment please phone our restaurant directly. Thank you.
Restaurant named for iconic mountain
Mount Ararat is a 16,854-foot snow-capped, dormant volcanic cone in Turkey, in a province bordering Iran and Armenia, that has been regarded by the Armenian people as their spiritual home since ancient times. Often depicted in their native paintings and iconography, it is the quintessential trademark for the country and, as such, the perfect symbol for a new, authentic Armenian restaurant in Mundelein.
Oleg and Lilia Melkumov, both Armenian transplants, wanted to create a place where people from their native land could taste home cooking and chose the symbol of the Mount as a kind of silent beacon to all who hunger for the traditional cuisine. Far from being exclusively Armenian? Their restaurant features an inclusive menu that encompasses of Uzbek, Turkmenistanian, Azerbaijanian, Georgian and even Russian gastronomy.
Great variety
For newcomers to this type of cuisine, the distinctions may be finite, but the trick is not to lump every kind of food into the same category. For example, though stuffed puff pastry or dumplings may be staples in all these Eastern cultures, it is what they are stuffed with, the spices that are added, the type of dough used and the preparation itself that make for completely unique taste to each one.
For example, an Uzbek Samsa a kind of lambstuffed pie differs greatly from Khachapury, a Georgian, cheese filled, savory puff pastry. Ararat offers both kinds and more varieties, including pieroshki, Manti and Chebureki (with ground beef) for delicious appetizer, lunch or snack ($1.80 to $5.).
For soups are made fresh daily and include authentic varieties like Khashlama, similar to a Russian borsch. The Armenian Spinach Soup is a variation on this dish, made with a beef boullion base, spinach, thick chunks of meat, potatoes and served hot with a wedge of lemon to give it zest ($4.99).
Custom cooking
Nor everything at Ararat is listed on the menu but chef/owner, Oleg, is happy to make you plate of whatever your heart desires from the kitchen. Not sure what to ask for? Chef Oleg suggests requesting stuffed vegetables as a side dish. Ararat makes a combination of meat and rice stuffed legumes such as zucchini, tomato, sweet bell pepper and eggplant for as an a la carte choice that is nearly as filling as the main course, so pace yourself!
As the name suggest, the staple at Ararat: International Shish Kabob House is their charcoal grilled selections of meats. Choose individually or a combination of the pork Shish Kebab Ashtarak ($8.99), Lula Kebab Artsakh ($8.99), chicken breast Kebob Nairi ($8.99) or the succulent Lamb Shish Kebab Dvin ($11.99).
All Kebabs come sprinkled with fresh onions, special ethnic spices like Sumakh (made of dried pomegranate), and are served with sides like the Kamir Lobi an Armenian style red bean salad with walnuts ($5.99).
Ararats brisk delivery business will go as far as Wheeling and Buffalo Grove depending on the size of the order. Every time you come to Ararat there is a new special being offered. , and you can be sure that, as Chef Melcumov declares Everything is made with the best ingredients, ma hands and my heart.
By Lee A.Litas
Pioneer Press
O3.20.2008
Taste of the homeland:
Kebabs an Armenian specialty at Ararat
Oleg and Lily Melkumyan launched their Mundelein restaurant almost two years ago, but word has been slow in spreading. That's a pity, because the cuisines served in this cozy spot are still rare in these parts, despite what the numbers of Russian-speaking cabdrivers in the suburbs might lead one to hope.
Named for the mountain that symbolizes home to the Armenian people (though present-day geopolitics puts it in Turkey), Ararat serves a mix of foods from across the former Soviet Union, not only the Melkumyans' Armenian homeland, but also Russia, Uzbekistan, Georgia and elsewhere in the Caucasus and surrounding regions.
Oleg Melkumyan, who learned his craft in restaurants back home before the couple emigrated 10 years ago, handles the cooking, while his charming wife runs the little dining room. His specialty is well-seasoned kebabs, cooked over charcoal.
On the appetizer list, I can recommend the eggplant named for the city of Van, Armenia. The chilled, roasted, chopped eggplant combines with onion, tomato, bell pepper, black pepper, garlic, parsley and other herbs to addictive effect. It's one of a variety of chilled, Armenian-style salads and spreads. You'll also find red beans with walnuts Karmir Lobio; pickled vegetables Dilijian, shrimp cocktail, cheese and meat platters and house-made hummus.
Hot starters include khachapuri, a Georgian specialty featuring a crisp and flaky pastry crust filled with three kinds of cheese - feta, mozzarella and provolone - served hot and deliciously melted. Another appetizer pie, samsa, hails from Uzbekistan and features a sturdier but equally flavorful crust, wrapped around savory ground lamb.
Other openers include piroshki with assorted fillings, blintzes wrapped around meat or cheese, oysters, crab cakes and a daily house-made soup.
As at many Eastern European restaurants, Ararat's written menu tends to be more extensive than the contents of its larder, listing a cross-section of the chef's repertoire, including dishes available only seasonally, rather than detailing just what they're serving on any given day. There might, moreover, be some additional dishes not written down, so be flexible, and ask what's good when you get there or call ahead if your heart's set on something in particular.
Sometimes things work out better than you expect. Lamb naturally comes to mind when you think of the Caucasus, and I felt unlucky when they were out of both lamb chops and kebabs the day we visited.
If they'd had the lamb, though, we probably would never have ordered the pork shish kebab Ashtarak, and we'd have missed out on a really first-rate dish, a generous skewer of meat, tender and juicy, permeated with herbal marinade and given a lightly smoky charred edge.
Besides lamb and pork, the menu offers kebabs of beef, chicken breast, shrimp and beef liver. Other main dishes include chicken Kiev and several types of dumplings, including pelmeni, a traditional Siberian dish. These little ear-shaped rounds of meat-filled dough don't look like much, but the tiny, tender morsels, served in buttery-tasting jus, pack huge amounts of flavor.
Beverages include beer, wine and routine sodas, plus tea and Armenian coffee.
The menu promises that Armenian pastries are sometimes available, but the only dessert the kitchen had to offer when we visited was an unlisted special of smetanik, a Russian chocolate layer cake whose name translates as "sour cream-ish" for its rich icing, slathered around slightly dry cake with a thin layer of berry jam.
By Leah A. Zeldes | Daily Herald Correspondent
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