Zahav

Zahav, the Israeli tapas restaurant in Philly's Old City/Society Hill neighborhood, has been on my to-do list since the day they opened in Spring of 2008. Since they've opened, Zahav has received all sorts of local praise (City Paper, Philadelphia Inquirer ), as well as national attention (Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Esquire, James Beard Foundation) Amongst the glowing reviews, were a few (mostly on Yelp) claiming Zahav merely serves small portions of Israeli street food at inflated prices.

A recent birthday gave me good reason to check out Zahav and form my own opinions. Despite all the positive attention, it's quite easy to snag a table at Zahav during the week if you arrive early, as we did, but I'd recommend a reservation on weekends.

(Also, pictures will go from decent to down-right horrid as the sunlight disappears, but know that every plate was simply, but beautifully presented.)
I started the evening off with Zahav's hugely popular Lemonnana cocktail of bourbon, mudled mint, lemon, and verbena - a drink akin to a mint julep and mohito. Later I moved on to Cava, since it was my birthday! My partner moved on to white wine after his cocktail, and we both found that our Cava and white wine were chilled to a lower temperature than should have been, making actually tasting our beverages difficult.
Along with an explanation of Zahav and it's food, the server presents the table with a dish of olives and pickles (one pickle was eaten before I snapped the pic) as an appetizer, and a dish of chili paste, harissa, and za'atar that was explained as condiments to be used, or not to be used, if you like, throughout the meal.

The servers at Zahav are very professional and eager to explain any foods or drinks you are unfamiliar with. The three different people that attended to us, besides our main server, were a bit much, but they got the job done, for the most part, unobtrusively. We even had one server approach our table to start up a conversation by asking us if we had ever been to Israel. I'm not sure where this conversation would have gone if one of us had not been to Israel or if we were not in a chatty mood, but this was not the case, and it actually was a lovely conversation. My point being, Zahav is very attentive, if maybe a little too attentive.
After reading so many reviews, and even asking people for recommendations, I pretty much knew what vegetarian dishes I was going to order. I was also aware of Zahav's "Taste of Zahav" menu that includes salatim (salad) and hummus, a choice of three plates, and dessert for the bargain price of $36. The only catch with the "Taste of Zahav" is that everyone at the table must participate. We participated because it really is a bargain, unlike many tasting menus that, for vegetarians at least, are more expensive than ordering a la cart.

The salatim is a daily selection of eight salads brought to the table on a tower holding eight oval dishes, each with a few tablespoons of the different salads. That evening we enjoyed cucumbers in yogurt, sweet red pepper puree, pickled beet salad, pickled turnips, tabouli, eggplant salad, spiced chickpeas, and savory carrots.

All of the salads were simple, fresh, delightful, and quite a fun and varied way to start the meal. A few of our favorites were the more boldly flavored salads: the spiced chickpeas, savory carrots, and pickled beet salad. And here's the famed laffa bread made fresh daily and baked to order, which is thin, crispy, and deserving of all it's fame. The accompanying hummus is the tahini hummus, although Zahav features three other kinds of hummus, and people rave in particular about the Turkish hummus (next time!). Zahav's tahini hummus is silky smooth with a mild tahini flavor. Even though this large dish hogs the tiny table, we requested it be left for the entire meal so we could lick the bowl.
The crispy Halloumi with date jam and pine nuts is one of the dishes almost everyone raves about, and, indeed it was my favorite dish of the evening. No stranger to Halloumi, I adore this salty Cypriot cheese that stands up to high heat, and Zahav has fabulously paired it with sweet dates.
To the left are burmeulos, leek and mint fritters with sheep's milk cheese and honey. The mild, lightly minted, smooth innards contrast nicely with the crisp outside, but we were not fond of the squishy innards nor the smooth puree the burmeulos sat atop of, not for taste reasons, but for textural reasons - we felt we were eating fried baby food, albeit tasty baby food.

And to the right are the fried cauliflower atop a chive, dill, mint, and garlic herbed yogurt. And, yes, these are the fried cauliflower featured in Food & Wine, and your server will definitely remind you of their 15-minutes of fame when making recommendations from the menu.

We loved the fried cauliflower, but who doesn't love fried cauliflower? Even cauliflower haters, like it when it's fried. The tangy yogurt sauce tasted more of dill than any of the other listed herbs, but certainly was not overpowering.
My partner ordered the salmon gravlax, which are essentially tiny, bite-sized potato latkes topped with salmon and radish. I didn't have any, but these were enjoyed, especially the extra crispy latkes.
Top left, continuing clockwise: the galil, the jaffa, baklava, and passionfruit semifredo.

From the grill, I ordered the galil: fried baby eggplant with pomegranate reduction, tahini, and pistachios. This dish was my least favorite of the night. I ordered incorrectly, since I'm picky about eggplant and only like tahini in small quantities. The eggplant was smothered in tahini, which I find bitter, and the pomegranate reduction was simultaneously sweet and bitter, making for a dish wholly unappealing to me. My partner, on the other hand, loved it.

My partner also ordered incorrectly when he ordered the jaffa: branzino with braised fennel. The branzino was cooked perfectly, but fennel is a vegetable he can only tolerate in small quantities.

For dessert my partner ordered the baklava, and I cannot remember it's full description, but I think it had pistachios in the pastry and a scoop of chocolate mouse. The nuts were very finely ground and the pastry was not overly sticky with honey, so the baklava was unlike any I've ever had before. I liked Zahav's rendition, although my partner prefers the more ubiquitous baklava with larger nuts and sticky honey. The chocolate mouse was rich and very satisfying; you knew you were eating chocolate.

The passion fruit semifredo with drizzled honey was made with labneh, an strained yogurt, and contributed a pleasant tartness to the frozen dessert that paired well with the various sweet and tart tropical fruits. We both agreed that this dessert was the better of the two, and that it was all-around awesome.

At the end of our meal, we were both beyond stuffed, and for the caliber of our surroundings, service, and food, the $36 per person tasting menu was certainly a bargain.

The food at Zahav was simple, fresh, well made, well presented, and top notch. I think most that have eaten there will agree with that statement.

To address those that feel Zahav serves food that can be had cheaper and just as good on the street, I do see your point. I don't believe for a second that Zahav's fried cauliflower is any better than Moaz's fried cauliflower if I were able to get Moaz's fried cauliflower straight from the kitchen while it's still hot instead of cold from the salad bar. And, I'd take Moaz's garlic sauce any day over the sauce accompanying Zahav's fried cauliflower, but that's just a personal preference. Likewise, I bet there's a humus out there just as good as Zahav's tahini hummus. But at Zahav, you're paying for atmosphere, service, dining experience, in addition to well prepared food. And not all of Zahav's food is comparable to street food (I don't think there's any branzino with braised fennell on street carts). And, I'll say it again, the $36 tasting menu is a bargain. You really can't compare a six-course, sit-down meal to a sandwich on the go.

Zahav
237 St. James Place, Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-626-8800
lunch: Mon-Fri, 11:30am-2pm
dinner: Sun-Wed, 5pm-10pm; Thurs-Sat, 5pm-11pm
latenight menu: Wed-Sat, until 1am