Quick Bite: Chicken Salad at Holy Land Mediterranean Grill

Update: I'm sorry to report that Holy Land is no more. The restaurant closed in the summer of 2011—not long after this post appeared. -Lisa

Though summer doesn't officially start for a month and a half, we're getting quite a sneak preview now, aren't we? A very nice thing for hot and humid days is this salad from Holy Land on Neil Street.

The base is HL's house salad, which the menu says is made with chopped romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and scallions and is dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. All that is true, but the cook does his own thing at HL, so when I got this salad the other day it also included tasty black olives and red onions. The salad is then topped with chunks of tender and succulent grilled chicken (one shish tawook, or skewer of chicken). It's a large plate of salad and very filling for $6.99.

If you want to be like me, you can have a small dish of hummus on the side ($3.99). Ordering hummus gets you pita bread, as well (Holy Land, please do something about your pita! Last time I was there it was stale and had been microwaved in an attempt to bring it back to life—which only made matters worse, as within minutes it became hard and dry). I love HL's hummus, topped, as it is, with sumac and olive oil. The combination of that and the chicken salad is just about perfect.

Other salads include tabbouleh, fatoush (highly recommended—there's mint in that one and pita croutons, $4.99), Greek salad (a very good Greek salad with kalamata olives and feta for $5.99), and tahini salad.

You can dine in at Holy Land or call in an order for takeout. If you eat in, you can watch Middle Eastern music videos and drink Arabic tea or American Coke (or Orange Crush!) while you wait for your food to come.

Holy Land Mediterranean Grill
705 North Neil Street
Champaign, IL
217-355-0599
Open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
Credit/debit cards accepted