On the Hummus Hunt in Israel
In this month’s issue of Food & Wine, Philadelphia chef Michael Solomonov explores Israel’s kebabs, eggplant salads, and hummus in search of the best versions to bring back to America:
When I go home to Israel, I’m on a strict five-meal-a-day eating regimen,” says Philadelphia chef Michael Solomonov. “I just can’t get the same flavors here in the States.” Recently, he set out to change that: Solomonov, who spent the past two years as executive chef of Marigold Kitchen, has opened a new restaurant, Zahav, serving the foods of his home country: smooth, nutty hummus; light, chewy Yemenite flatbread; and dozens of variations of eggplant dishes, ranging from a tangy stew to sabich, a fried-eggplant pita sandwich.
To educate and inspire his staff before Zahav’s opening, Solomonov took them on a weeklong tour of the restaurants in Jaffa and Tel Aviv and around Ganei Yehuda, the small Israeli community where he was born. The group set out to hit four kebab shops one day, five hummus parlors the next. A daylong eggplant extravaganza segued into a night of club-hopping and ended with a predawn bureka, a savory breakfast pastry stuffed with tangy Bulgarian feta cheese.
One of Solomonov’s goals was to show his colleagues how different cultures have shaped the food of Israel.
Read the full story by Jen Murphy.
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One Comment:
That article in Food and Wine was part of my inspiration to make sabich at home for the first time. So freaking good!
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