Palestinian restaurateur Ash Taleb’s latest venture is a melting pot of cuisine and culture
Ash Taleb is the owner of Tala House in Andersonville. Courtesy photo.
Long before “organic” became a trend in the West, Ash Taleb was eating organic food and raising chickens on his family farm in Palestine.
The restaurateur moved to Chicago in the ‘90s, working his way through kitchens before he eventually started running restaurants of his own.
Ash Taleb. Courtesy photo.
In 2024, Taleb opened Tala House in Andersonville, taking over the neighborhood’s Bongo Room and bringing a new perspective to the space.
Taleb talked to Mustard Magazine about his relationship to food and how moving to the melting pot of Chicago exposed him to different cuisines—and cultures—from around the world.
“I was born and raised in Palestine, in Gaza City,” Taleb says, sipping from a cold Topo Chico bottle. “We grew up eating good food.”
Taleb came to Chicago as a foreign student nearly 35 years ago. “I did go to school, but as a foreigner, I could not afford to work and go to school at the same time, for a long time,” he says. “At some point I had to choose between school or making a living.”
While the owner of Tala House hasn’t visited Palestine in 20 years, his approach to food is inextricable from his upbringing. “Back home we grew all our veggies and raised our chickens,” he says. “We had a very light diet too. When you look at [Tala’s] menu, most of the dishes are very light. Eating good, healthy food and also eating light food—it’s very important.”
Taleb worked in kitchens and in the back of the house before moving up, eventually making his way to the front of house and management. In the ‘90s, he opened his first restaurant with his brother and sister and has been in the industry ever since.
Taleb’s most recent venture was the now-shuttered Mexican restaurant Mesa Urbana in Lincoln Park, which closed in February 2024. Tala House opened its doors three months later in Andersonville.
Ash describes Tala House as “eclectic.” The restaurant is sleek, clean and modern—a blank slate that lets the food do the talking.
“We want to be able to add anything we like, it doesn’t matter if it’s from India or the Philippines,” Taleb says. “When we find something we love to eat, we want to share it with people.”
Taleb refers to the cuisine at Tala House as “New American,” but perhaps “New Chicagoan” is more appropriate, as the menu is reflective of the many different styles and cuisines one can stumble upon in the city.
Cocktails on the patio. Courtesy photo.
“People ask me, ‘What is this cuisine about?’ and I say, ‘What is it to you?,’” Taleb retorts in his soft-spoken but direct style. “Chicago is a melting pot. You can go within a five mile radius and be in China Town or Little Italy. You can go Uptown for Vietnamese. There’s no shortage of good food in Chicago from one neighborhood to the other. They all have their own characteristics and flavor and vibe.”
Behind the scenes of Tala House is Chef Mauricio Trujillo, who was also the head chef at Mesa Urbana. Trujillo has worked alongside Taleb for nearly 10 years, and the two craft dishes together—cooking, tasting and eating everything—before it’s greenlit for the menu.
Chilean sea bass with shiitake mushroom risotto. Courtesy photo.
Take the tuna crudo tostada—fresh fish bathed in sesame and habanero oils on a bed of whipped avocado mousse—which borrows from Mexican cuisine. Or the homemade labneh and shishito peppers, which Taleb says you won’t find anywhere else, “unless you are invited to somebody’s house.”
The Palestinian recipe is made just how his family made it back home, and contains only one ingredient, fermented milk. The entire process for one batch of labneh takes up to six days to be table ready.
Drinks like the ¡Ay mamá! meld Latin and Indian flavors and textures, creating a drink similar to a lassi, with coconut puree, lime juice, mint and mango.
And for dinner, the ora king salmon is glazed with tamarind and served atop roasted tropical fruits, including papaya and even more mango. The choice of cooked fruit provides a savory, semi-sweet pairing that contrasts perfectly with the delicate and buttery fish.
The patio at Tala House. Courtesy photo.
Meanwhile, the Chilean sea bass, with mushroom risotto and lemon butter, is a hearty cold-weather dish that you’ll want to try before patio season begins.
Taleb calls his global approach “cooking with no boundaries.” Inspired from different regions all over the world, Tala House’s vision bucks trends and eschews pigeonholes, focusing on dishes that taste and feel memorable, regardless of their origin.
Tala isn’t just a name that rolls nicely off the tongue. Named after Taleb’s niece, it’s a word used all over the world. “I was looking for a name that does not [limit] me to a specific cuisine,” he says. In Filipino, the word “tala” means a bright star. In Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani music, “tala” describes a rhythmic structure. In Persian, it means gold.
Tala House’s vision could be boiled down to the idea that food is a way to connect and understand one another, to bridge gaps regardless of language, barriers or borders. A way to show love, hospitality and respect.
“If you go visit someone in Jordan or Palestine as a guest, we wonder, ‘What can we do to make you feel welcome and comfortable? How can we make you feel like family?’” Taleb says. “The way we welcome you, the way we want to cook for you. You sleep in the best bed in the house, in the best room in the house. I want people, when they come here, to feel that.”
With Tala House, Taleb’s mission is similar to his approach with people.
Food, after all, he says, brings everyone together.
Tala House 5022 N Clark St. 773-739-9414. Open Wednesday through Monday. Reservations at talahouse.com.
