Archive for the 'fresh food' Category
October 23rd, 2009 by elie
Since moving to this area, we’ve watched local restaurants come and go. They usually aren’t kosher or attention-grabbing enough to get us interested. And the latter is probably mostly why they don’t survive.
To service (and survive) the Matte Yehuda area, I suppose you have to be pretty damn good, considering you’re competing with an evening out in Jerusalem - the big city with lots of choices - as opposed to a little local eatery with nothing else around it.
There are a few that thrive though, or evolve enough to thrive. I’m hoping the following is one of them.
In the last month or so, we’ve seen signs crop up along the country roads and yishuv entrances advertising פיצונקה (Pichunka), a kosher meat restaurant in nearby Nes Harim prepared to serve pareve brunches on Fridays, parties of 300, deliveries in the immediate area, and a complete and robust menu. They are even daring enough to lure Jerusalemites outside their paradigms.
Intrigued, we decided to check it out last night; surely it takes beitzim to open a higher-end restaurant in this economic climate in the backwoods of Jerusalem.
The place was already on the way to getting an A+ before we walked in. Location is great for us country folk and close/far away enough to make it intriguing for Gushniks, Beit Shemeshites and Jerusalemites. The venue is nice on the outside, and very classy on the inside. Spacious with two outdoor areas. And you don’t have to worry about parking.
The food was really excellent, but more than that, the menu choices were intriguing and well thought-out. The kind of thing where you choose what you want but you know you’ll be back again to try the other things you didn’t order. I’m not a food critic, so I won’t go into depth, but my husband is qualified and we can say we’d go back there (food-wise) before other places in Jerusalem (especially Emek Refaim). Check out theirrecommendations (more importantly, the photos of the recommendations).
Perhaps the most impressive thing, so rare in Israeli restaurants: a good, appropriate soundtrack. Seriously. The sound system was set up properly, small speakers in different locations instead of blasting a couple huge ones in one corner. The music was light and the level was right. Never underestimate how your venue’s music could turn off your customers.
I’m talking to you, Israeli bar owners.
Prices were decent, or as expected. See them on the menu. In my opinion, it’s worth not eating out for a while so you can save for a real quality meal and pleasurable experience in the hills instead of wondering why you fork out your cash for mediocrity in Jerusalem.
Here’s hoping it actually survives its first year and sticks around a while.
June 21st, 2009 by elie
I’m so hungry I could eat a giraffe… and I will! As soon as my safari animal-shaped shnitzels are done burning.
Sure, my kid is only 2 months old, but I can already partake in the kid friendly-shaped foods, can’t I?
Oddly enough, someone at Shufersal did not get that message about what goes into a package of animal shnitzels. I don’t mean to be discrimanatory, but one of these things is not like the other… one of these things just doesn’t belong…
April 7th, 2009 by elie
Ah, the good old days. Pesach celebrated with the family back in America. My grandmother’s Sephardi dishes, my brothers’ haggadah-reading entertainment.
And of course, who could hold an American Pesach seder with the family without this gem of an experience:
Kedem grape juice! I know plenty of American olim who claim that it’s better than any of the all-natural stuff they have here. Though I think not.
Interested in reliving this American tradition? I found these bottles at a supermarket in - you guessed it - Efrat.
December 21st, 2008 by elie
Happy Chanukah! The kid-oriented yet historically-fascinating holiday has officially begun tonight, and I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t admit I totally didn’t get the memo and thought it started tomorrow. Even with the Hebrew dated agenda book I keep.
I did have some clues that Chanukah was quickly approaching though: sales on candles, this year’s edition of cheap chanukiyah sold in the supermarket, party invitations, and of course - doughnuts.
Sufganiyot - the Chanukah edition of doughnuts - are everywhere, as they always are. This year, I actually found them in a new spot: my supermarket freezer.
Oh, man, really? Frozen doughnuts? Shufersal, you know I love and cherish your homebrand, but this is a first as a product you’ve done that I wouldn’t buy.
I will note that they came with their own packet of white sugar to put on top after you’ve ‘baked’ them.
I will also note the sadness I feel that as I am writing this, a Christmas song was on the Israeli radio, followed by a commercial that used Chanukah music to advertise a product. Oh, diaspora, you follow me everywhere.
December 5th, 2008 by elie
American-style pizza of true cheesy quality is not as easy to find around Jerusalem as you’d think. Big Apple Pizza (which just opened a new branch on Ben Zakai, my old hood) has done a good enough job, but they’ve grown so much you get that American sold-out feeling.
If you want a small, colorful pizza joint, I’d highly recommend American Pie Pizza on Bet Lechem street. I’ve had it before today, but today was the first time I actually went into the place.
The odd thing about walking into American Pie Pizza, though, was that as soon as we heard the other customers speaking, we realized everyone in the store was… French. Then we turned to the pizza guys and started ordering in Hebrew, and they told us to hold on and turned to the French and answered them… in French.
Quoi?
Ok, odd nationality-food mixes aside, the pizza was delicious and I learned how to say ‘mushroom’ in French. Highly recommended experience.
November 28th, 2008 by elie
We’re doing our big Thanksgiving Shabbat dinner as always… But with the way things have been going in Mumbai the last two days, this year is definitely not just about food.
Still no news about the Chabad rabbi and rebetzin and the rest of the Israeli hostages but here’s hoping for good news at Motzei Shabbat…
Either way, I can say that I’m thankful for being safe and warm (and soon quite full of amazing food)…
November 6th, 2008 by elie
In case all that talk of crabits made you hungry, how about some tonsil skewers? C’mon, they’re a great source of unnecessariness:
Courtesy of Tzidkiyahu, a Talpiot Israeli grill joint I still love even if they serve Tonsils for 72 shekels. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what the Hebrew side of the menu said.
November 6th, 2008 by elie
All you can eat salads, falafel and fries. Lots of meat choices. Fair priced-menu.
Tzidkiyahu (סטקיית צדקיהו) is a “steakiya” or grill in Talpiot, Jerusalem, at Yad Haruzim #21.
October 15th, 2008 by elie
My father’s in town, and as I got my habit of fermented grape-consumption from somewhere, we took him over to Ella Valley winery.
The Ella Valley is just about my backyard, nestled in Matte Yehuda. It’s lush, it’s green, and according to the winery’s 6-minute propaganda video, it’s the perfect place to grow the right grapes to create premium, first class wine.
It was an excellent experience. We paid twenty shekel each for a thirty-minute tour (available in English) and then the wine-tasting. You get the twenty shekel back if you buy a bottle at the end.
The wine was excellent. Their products include red and white wines from two lines, Ella Valley (regular) and Vineyard Choice (upscale). My personal favorite? Probably the proprietary RR blend, although their dessert wine was probably the best Muscat I’ve ever had.
(And their website is the best I’ve seen in Israel so far…)
September 3rd, 2008 by elie
When I was back in New York in May, I perchance walked into a Starbucks with some friends and noticed a new drink on their menu: this mint chocolate iced frappuccino thing. I’m all about trying new ice blend chocolate coffee things, so I did.
…And I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. Actually, salivating. I’d been wanting it since I got to New York. Since I knew I was coming to New York. But for the first two weeks of my trip, I was building up the craving… Holding out and waiting to reward myself for something.
I finally broke down today and went to the Starbucks down the block from my New York office, and I wait on line; it’s taking forever before I realized I’m on the wrong line. Then I scan the menu for the name of the drink so I can order it when it is finally my turn, but I don’t see it advertised anywhere and I start freaking out.
So I left in a huff and walked all the way… down the block, to the second Starbucks that bookends my office. For no logical reason, really, since they are all franchises. But it felt right.
I wait impatiently on line, close to breaking down, and get to the girl at the counter. She asks what I want but I cut her off and I’m like, “Do you still have that mint chocolate iced frappuccino thing?”
And I guess I must have looked pretty desperate… I kinda dumped my hopeful order there on the counter next to the register and the fancy granola cookies.
She smiled like a caffeinated angel and said, “Yes, we do! What size?”
And I was like, letting out a sigh of relief. A real physical one. You could see the sigh of relief, like in a cartoon.
It was so gross.
But the drink was damn good and exactly what I was looking for. There’s nothing like pleasing a long distant craving.