Press
A kitchen that never
advertised, written up anyway.
Old School does not buy advertising and does not chase coverage. Chicago’s public radio station, its daily paper and its alternative weekly each came out to Harlem Avenue on their own. Click any clipping to read it where it was published.
Owner of Middle Eastern restaurant Old School in Palos Hills brings a personal touch to dining
“Outside of Ramadan, Old School prepares an average of 125–150 meals a day for the restaurant and catering orders. That number jumps to 400 and can go as high as 600 during the holy month.”
Read it at WBEZ.org ↗
Middle Eastern restaurant Old School keeps it commercial-free
“At Mohd Mahd’s Palos Hills restaurant, the poet, philosopher, free thinker, food scientist, and chef offers his own style of radical hospitality.”
Read it at chicagoreader.com ↗
Owner of Middle Eastern restaurant Old School in Palos Hills brings a personal touch to dining
“What he promises he fulfills. Bottom line — you don’t like it, he will say, ‘I’m sorry. Here’s your money back.’”
Read it at suntimes.com ↗
Clippings are screenshots of the publishers’ own pages, shown here to point readers to them. All rights remain with WBEZ / Chicago Public Media, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Reader. Kitchen photograph by Timothy Hiatt for the Sun-Times.
In his own words, to the reporters
“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.”WBEZ / Sun-Times
“I truly believe in the old school of doing business. You take pride in your production, and you feel bad if you fail.”WBEZ / Sun-Times
“There are few things more personal than food and this is personal, it’s not business.”WBEZ / Sun-Times
“I wanted a job that serves my family objectives. I could teach my kids chemistry, biology and physics while cooking.”WBEZ / Sun-Times
Listed & reviewed
4.9 across 783 reviews
Media enquiries
Ask for Mohd.
There is no publicist. Call the restaurant and he will answer, or one of his sons will.