There’s a restaurant nestled in the hills south of Jerusalem in a small village called Nes Harim that is worth a visit the next time you’re looking for something a little quiet, better than average. Pichonka is a rustic, spacious place with comfortable wicker chairs and a comfortable ambiance that surrounds you from the moment you enter until your meal is complete.
I’m a tomato soup junkie. It’s been a comfort food of mine since I was young. The finest tomato soup I ever had was at Le Marais in New York. It was a Tomato Fennel Soup. I tried for years to recreate it, until I realized they had lied. So I make a Tomato Star Anise Soup that is on my list of restaurant recipes.
I was paging through Mollie Katzen’s Still Life with Menu when I came across her recipe for tomato soup with coconut. A quick search in the pantry revealed that I had all of the ingredients, so I made the recipe.
I want to like cumin. I really do. It has an earthy bass that balances brighter flavors. but so help me, I can’t get over the fact that it tastes like armpit. (more…)
Up a flight of thirty or so stairs on Emek Refaim is La Boca, a Latin-inpired restaurant in Jerusalem. With its comfortable, high-backed leather chairs and deep brown tables, the restaurant held the promise of a good meal. And it delivered, mostly.
Along Emek Refaim are a motley collection of restaurants ranging from fast food to haute cuisine. Sushi Bar Rechavia trends towards the higher end of the spectrum. My wife and I enjoyed a quiet dinner for two at this busy restaurant. We were fortunate to have our meal sponsored by dear friends of ours. Not to seem ungrateful, the restaurant was overall a pleasant and delicious experience. When billing as a high-end restaurant, though, consider that your clientèle are more discriminating, and therefore expectations are higher. While this might seem like nit-picking to some, it is nothing more than my professional evaluation, and not a review. It is perhaps how I would do things.
Selena is an upscale restaurant on Emek Refaim. If this seems to be a trend in my restaurant posts, well it’s because this is a very popular restaurant street in Jerusalem. We were seated right away, and a pleasant waitress told us the specials, then took our order after about ten minutes of our deliberations. The ambiance was nice with soft jazz playing in the background without being overpowering, and it was warm in the restaurant, which was a relief from the cold December night. We noticed that the restaurant’s clientèle were all English-speaking.
