Burekas
by Celia Cheng
February 27th, 2008
GAZALA PLACE
709 9th Ave
(48th & 49th St)
212-245-0709
Though the four-month-old Israeli/Middle Eastern restaurant could be considered a hole in the wall, Gazala Place seems to be on everyone’s radar. The tiny shoebox of a restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen seats less than twenty, and its rustic décor is a clear contrast to its trendy neighbor, Kyotofu. Yet Gazala Place has been very successful in drawing in customers who willingly wait, and amassing much praise from critics.
The secret behind Gazala Place’s crowds is the homestyle cooking of the eponymous chef, Halabi Gazala. All prepared by hand; it’s comfort food that warms you up inside and out. Prices are reasonable and the food always hits the spot. Though the restaurant doesn’t seem like the type of place that would take reservations, it would be to your advantage to call ahead to check availability, whether for lunch or dinner.
There are several noteworthy dishes, starting with the appetizer, kibbe: whole wheat meatballs stuffed with chopped meat, onions, pine nuts and homemade spices and herbs. Just listening to the description makes my mouth water, and each bite of the kibbe fulfills its promise.
The homemade grape leaves are also outstanding. I generally avoid grape leaves on menus because they usually come cold, straight out of a can. At Gazala, however, the grape leaves are hand rolled so they don’t all look uniformly perfect in form, yet they are consistently delectable. The grape leaves, prepared with or without meat, are stuffed with rice and spices and accompanied by homemade yogurt, and my favorite part is that they are served warm.
The lentil soup is another knockout. I tend to expect lentil soup to be heavy and full of brown lentil grains, which I don’t find particularly appetizing. Gazala’s version, however, is smooth, light, and bright yellow in color. It was so flavorful I assumed there must have been other ingredients in it, but Gazala assured me that it was just cooked red lentils. Wow! When you’re good, even the simplest of ingredients is scrumptious.
The burekas seem to be one of the most popular dishes each time I visit. The sesame encrusted phyllo dough is fluffy and flakey, stuffed with homemade goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. Perfectly smooth and creamy, the sun-dried tomatoes are well mixed into the cheese, so that the filling is peach colored with little specks of tomato. The result is perfectly balanced flavor. It’s hard to stop oneself from inhaling the whole bureka, but it’s substantial, so I’d advise taking your time and savoring it.
Some of Gazala’s most notable handiwork is the Druse pita she makes at the front of the restaurant. The pita is paper thin, made of whole wheat with a dash of cornmeal. It’s not particularly flavorful but has a great texture and when served hot, the pita is the perfect accompaniment to the appetizer spreads like the hommus moudammas (hummus with fava beans) — another must-have.
I know I’ve recommended five cravings already but it doesn’t end there. I’ve saved the best for last. Though I’m not a sweets fan, I cannot pass up the dessert osh al-saraia. Gazala won’t say exactly what it is other than it’s a dessert that she learned to make from her grandmother and that now her own version is even better. The waitress describes it as shredded dough with some kind of cream on top. Each critic that has reviewed Gazala Place has a different description ranging from Irene Sax’s “custard that has the texture of clotted cream and the scent of orange-flower water” in the Daily News to Salli Vates’ “halfway between sweetened cheese and cream.” Gazala is adamant that it’s not a cream, but wouldn’t tell me any more than that. I couldn’t decipher what the mystery “non-cream” was, but it did remind me of cream cheese or sour cream-based frostings. Whatever this mystery dessert is, it’s delicious. And at the end of the day, I was happy to retire from the guessing game and just enjoy the perfect finale to a good homestyle meal.
Posted in Bread , Cheese , Hell’s Kitchen , Israeli
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Olivier’s Alsatian Flammenkûche
by Celia Cheng
April 23rd, 2007
DB BISTRO MODERNE
55 W 44th St
(5th & 6th Ave)
212-391-2400
It’s been a while since I last visited DB Bistro Moderne. I remember it to be very pleasant, the staff professional and the food delicious, all of which is still true. But for the purposes of Cravings, I didn’t have a particular craving. Of course, the talk of the town back when the restaurant opened in 2001, was the original DB burger, then one of the most decadent and expensive burgers in town — a sirloin burger filled with braised short ribs, foie gras and black truffle served on a Parmesan bun (it’s now $32 but was $27 when first launched). Since then, many burger joints and restaurants have emulated the concept of high-end burgers at prices that make DB’s seem cheap by comparison. From my perspective, the rest of the menu is so stellar that there are plenty of other goodies to choose from.
The current executive chef, Olivier Muller, is from Alsace, so I decided to try his specialty on the menu, Olivier’s Alsatian flammenkûche. It is absolutely exquisite! Flammenkûche is a typical Alsatian savory tart or flat bread, topped with cooked onions, smoked bacon and fromage blanc. Though the ingredients are all strong flavors, there’s a delicate restraint in assembling them on this thin-crusted tart that makes it an elegant and not overpowering treat. While The Bar at The Modern — another Alsatian-influenced restaurant — is one of my favorites in town and it also has a flammenkûche on its menu, it pales in comparison to the one at DB Bistro Moderne.
The portions may seem dainty, but it’s rather deceiving because the food is filling. I shared the flammenkûche with a friend and ordered a yellow fin tuna tartare with celery coulis, fennel, mango and curry dressing. The curry dressing and tuna tartare juxtaposition is what intrigued me. How would the clean, unadulterated taste of raw tuna work with the forceful flavor of curry? Under Olivier’s expert hands, the ingredients work in unison as friends rather than enemies, as if they had reached a pact to let one another shine modestly in their own right rather than either trying to steal center stage.
A glass of Ayala champagne to accompany my meal completed the ideal power lunch. And my experience overall reminds me now that DB Bistro Moderne is a good choice to return to for a snack at the bar anytime, preferably with a glass of wine and the flammenkûche to start.
Posted in Alsatian , American , Bread , Cheese , Midtown West , Pork
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Lepeshka (Bukharian homemade bread)
by Celia Cheng
February 16th, 2007
TAAM-TOV
41 W 47th St, 3rd floor
(5th & 6th Ave)
212-768-8001
After Peter Meehan’s review of Taam-Tov in The New York Times last week (February 7, 2007), the restaurant has been overwhelmed with a new set of diners quite distinctive from the regulars. These new explorers have come to this hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the Diamond district as a destination spot, pulling out the Dining Out article to reference dishes they need to try. I was among this crowd, eager to add Taam-Tov to my list of favorites.
One of my most beloved restaurants in 2006 was Café Kashkar, the Uighur restaurant in Brighton Beach, so imagine my delight at finding out that there’s a closer alternative for Central Asian cuisine in the City. The thought of being able to have manty, lagman and pilaf whenever I pleased was just to good to be true. And as it turned out, it was. Though my heart fluttered in anticipation of food as delicious as Café Kashkar’s, I was disappointed, dish after dish. Taam-Tov is a bit of a novelty as a Central Asian restaurant in Manhattan, but the food is definitely mediocre and leaves much to be desired. However, before I go off and completely dismiss it all together, there was one thing that was so outstandingly yummy that it will make it into the Craving section of this site: the lepeshka, Bukharian homemade bread.
The lepeshka from Taam-Tov is not just better than Café Kashkar’s, it’s in a league of its own. I would not think to go back to Taam-Tov for the food, but there isn’t a loaf of bread I crave as much as theirs in the City. To me, lepeshka looks like a pie, with the center flattened. It’s a dense bread. I almost would choose the adjective “strong” to describe it. The outside has a thick hard crust that is crunchy and fun to bite into. The inside is chewy but not fluffy as the texture is rich. It’s so satisfying that I couldn’t stop myself from eating more and more of it, dipping it into the avocado salad. The waitress offered me the option of ordering half a loaf instead of the full loaf since I was dining by myself but of course I opted for the full loaf and brought home what I couldn’t finish, and even by the third day, I was amazed at how satisfying it still was, even though it had become significantly harder.
The lagman, a beef noodle soup with vegetables seemed tasty upon first try, but as I continued to finish it, I noticed that the overpowering flavor of garlic didn’t allow me to taste anything else. I am a garlic lover, but not when it’s used to cover up flavor as opposed to enhance it. The lamb ribs were actually not bad. The meat was flavorful and tender but not to the extent that it slid off the bone. I decided to try the bakhsh, Bukharian pilaf, which turned out to be rice sautéed with parsley and diced chicken. The meat was hard and rubbery which made it inedible as well as unidentifiable. I had to ask two different members of the wait staff what it was before learning that it was chicken. This dish somehow managed to remove any juiciness from both the rice and the meat. The beef stroganoff was unremarkable and had dried out by the time I brought the leftover home.
At the end of the day, Cravings is about finding what’s good on the menu, so despite the mediocrity of the other dishes, Taam-Tov wins a gold star for its homemade bread. And if it’s too embarrassing to just order a loaf of bread for $2, get the avocado salad to accompany. The mashed avocado with tomatoes slightly resembles a fine guacamole. This was fresh, refreshing and very enjoyable. Okay, so I lied, it wasn’t just the bread that was good, but the two went hand in hand.
Posted in Bread , Kosher , Midtown West
