By Caroline Benveniste
As I planned our January visit to Tel Aviv, I confess that I mostly focused on food. I had a long list of places to try, gleaned from articles and friends’ and relatives’ recommendations. There were also a few places that I’d heard about because the chefs had either opened or were opening branches in New York. While in Tel Aviv, we ate in a variety of venues: shuks (open air markets), fancy restaurants, casual restaurants, falafel stands, and food courts. Pretty much everything was great.
Modern Middle Eastern food is having a moment in the U.S. too. It occupied the number one spot in Zagat’s list of ‘The 7 Biggest Food Trends of 2017.’ After I returned from my trip, I realized that the West Village was teeming with outstanding Middle Eastern food options. The following is a partial, descriptive list:
Breads Bakery in the Union Square area was opened by Uri Scheft, the owner/chef of Lehamim (which means ‘breads’ in Hebrew) in Tel Aviv. The New York bakeries (there is one on the Upper West Side as well) are bigger and have a wider selection than the Tel Aviv ones but otherwise look identical. Their finest products are the challahs, chocolate babkas, cinnamon rolls, and bureks (filled, puff pastry turnovers).
Taïm has the best falafel in the city. The owner and chef, Einat Admony, is Israeli and now owns a number of restaurants here, but the West Village Taïm was her first spot. As tasty as Taïm is, I found that the falafel at Hakosem in Tel Aviv was slightly better. Like Taïm, it has a counter where you order your falafel and the seating is limited. My cousin sent me a magazine article a few days before we arrived in Israel showing Jerry Seinfeld having falafel at Hakosem.
Dizengoff is modeled after the hummusiyas in Israel, and their version of hummus is delectable. The chef, Michael Solomonov is Israeli and has a number of restaurants in Philadelphia, including the impossible-to-get-into Zahav. Dizengoff’s menu is limited, but not quite as restricted as the best hummusiya in Tel Aviv, Abu Hassan. There, your options are hummus, with or without Ful Mudammas (a dish of fava beans with tahini), and the only side dishes are fries and falafel balls. The pita was great at both places, but at Dizengoff, you can watch the pita being rolled out and then baked in a gas-fired pizza oven. Making hummus at home is not difficult, just kind of messy. If you’re inclined to try it, then certainly use the recipe from Zahav, Michael Solomonov’s recently-published Israeli cookbook.
Miznon just opened in Chelsea Market. The original restaurant is in Tel Aviv but Eyal Shani, the celebrity chef behind Miznon, has since opened branches in Vienna, Paris, and Melbourne. The vision of the restaurant is “to take the flavor of each city and translate it into pita.” In Tel Aviv, we had pitas with lamb kebabs and steak, and tried to order the whole Roast Cauliflower (the restaurant’s signature dish that Shani claims to have invented, pictured on page 27) but they had run out. We also had the Run-Over Potato which is basically a baked potato that has been flattened; it was unusual and delicious. The two special dishes available only at the New York Miznon are a Reuben and a Folded Cheeseburger, but we particularly enjoyed the Intimate Hereford (Cow) and Roots Stew, and this time were able to snag a Roast Cauliflower. The day we were there, an Israeli television station, i24NEWS, was interviewing the chef. He told the reporter that he had to open in New York because everyone wants to come here. I mentioned to him that we had been to some of his restaurants in Tel Aviv and he explained, in true celebrity chef style, that he had invented modern Israeli food.
Bar Bolonat is perhaps New York’s most typical modern Israeli restaurant. The chef and owner is Einat Admony who also owns Taïm. Everyone raves about the Jerusalem Bagel, a sesame seed-covered toroidal bread more akin to a Turkish simit than a bagel. It’s heavenly, served warm with olive oil and zahtar (a Middle Eastern spice mix) on the side. You may be surprised to see shellfish and non-kosher meat on the menu, but most restaurants in Tel Aviv are not kosher either. For one dessert, modern was not better: The Broken Baklava is disappointing and pales in comparison to the real thing. Bar Bolonat is reminiscent of North Abraxas in Tel Aviv, Eyal Shani’s fancier (than Miznon) restaurant. And coincidentally, both chefs are also television personalities. (Admony appeared on “Chopped”, and Shani on “MasterChef Israel.”)
Kubeh specializes in kubeh, a type of Middle Eastern dumpling with a shell made of semolina, bulgur or rice, and a filling of meat or vegetables. Melanie Shurka is the chef and owner, and her family background is Israeli and Persian. In addition to the kubeh, I have had the luscious siske (a slow-cooked beef) in a pita with onions, hummus, tahini, and herbs; it was as good or better than anything at Miznon. Many Middle Eastern meals start with a selection of mezes, which are small dishes such as salads or spreads, and the selection at Kubeh is wonderful. We started a meal at The Norman Hotel in Tel Aviv with a similarly excellent meze line-up. In addition to these restaurants, Kish Kush, a couscous spot from Einat Admony, is scheduled to open soon and Mekki, a Moroccan Fusion restaurant, is also under construction.
We had a wonderful walk through the Carmel Shuk in Tel Aviv, and found a Pereg spice shop where we purchased zahtar, sumac, spicy kebab seasoning, and majadra, a grain and lentil blend. Spices and Tease in Chelsea Market has a decent selection of spices in a bazaar-like display, but to find Pereg spices you’ll have to venture to Holyland Market in the East Village. Also in the Carmel Shuk, we found stands selling a large array of halvah. We bought some to take back, but you can also get exquisite halvah at Seed + Mill in Chelsea Market.
Our most unusual meal in Tel Aviv was at Samarkand, a restaurant that serves food from Bukhara, Uzbekistan. We were taken there by an acquaintance who had come to Israel from Bukhara; he ordered enough food for 20 even though there were only five of us. One of my favorite items was the Lepeshka, a bread that looks like an oversized bagel but is soft, fluffy, and yeasty. There were also lots of kebabs, and meaty rice pilafs that are a local specialty usually made by men and cooked in gigantic pots. There is one Uzbek restaurant in Manhattan, but not in the Village: Taam Tov, upstairs in a building in the Diamond District on 47th Street, serves all the dishes mentioned above.
Finally, in Tel Aviv, all-day brunch spots abound. The most famous is Benedict which has five locations throughout the city. In addition to pancakes, crepes, French toast, etc., they offer Shakshuka (eggs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce). Coincidentally, Benedicts Brunch Bar in the Village also serves an all-day brunch but to get Shakshuka you’ll have to visit Dizengoff on weekends.
The establishments referenced in this article are listed below:
Breads Bakery
18 East 16th Street (between Union Square West and 5th Avenue)
Taïm
222 Waverly Place (between Perry and West 11th Streets)
Dizengoff
Chelsea Market, 75 9th Avenue (between West 15th and West 16th Streets)
Miznon
Chelsea Market, 75 9th Avenue (between West 15th and West 16th Streets)
Bar Bolonat
611 Hudson Street (at West 12th Street)
Kubeh
464 6th Avenue (at West 11th Street)
Spice and Tease
Chelsea Market, 75 9th Avenue (between West 15th and West 16th Streets)
Holyland Market
122 St. Marks Place (between Avenue A and 1st Avenue)
Seed + Mill
Chelsea Market, 75 9th Avenue (between West 15th and West 16th Streets)
Taam Tov
41 West 47th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues)
Benedicts Brunch Bar
516 Hudson Street (near West 10th Street)
