Once in a while, one gets to step into a restaurant that has the ability to whisk them right back…read moreto childhood memories; a foreign place; sounds of a market; and the equivalent of a culinary trip on the spice Trail.
Arais Machne Yehuda his one such place. Living up to its namesake, the Machne Yehuda market in Jerusalem, made famous, not only for its colorful stalls and sellers, but also for the outstanding food one can get at the market.
But in order to pull that off, you need the perfect storm of the following ingredients: caring, sensitive, owners who treat you like a household guest.
Culinary wizards who understand their ingredients and know how to make the best out of them.
Appreciative crowd, who knows good food. Period.
When all these come together, what you get is a touch of magic. And Arais is exactly that. A touch of magic on Ventura Boulevard.
Let's talk some of the ingredients. The warm chickpeas (hummus) that came to the table, at a perfect temperature, and with just a hint of lemon, were the ABSOLUTE BEST chickpeas I had anywhere outside of Jerusalem. I don't say this lightly. Most Mediterranean, restaurants and almost all Israeli restaurants pride themselves on their chickpea preparations. There's a saying in Israel that Israel will forever argue about which chickpeas are the best, which chickpeas make the best dish, which preparation of chickpeas is better than the others. Basically Israeli's lives revolve around evaluating chickpeas. So by telling you, this was the best I've had outside of Jerusalem, what I'm really trying to say is that these weren't "good chickpeas for Tarzana", but rather some of the best anywhere in the world! And that was just the side dish!
The formula is a known one. Take acidic vegetables as a side dish, mix them with rich and fatty meat dishes, where the acid of the vegetables in the pickles cuts through the richness; couple that with side dishes, where each dish adds to the overall experience; and what you get is exactly that magic that I told you about earlier on. When you mix that with knowledgeable owners and and welcoming atmosphere, what you get is a short trip to far away lands.
Arais Machne Yehuda on every chord.
If I have one single comment, and trust me that taking into account, the totality of the experience that was amazing, I would tell you that the pita bread that the Arais came in, was a bit salty.
I let the owners know my dislike of tahini, something that has cost me relationships, and has earned me the jeers of many an Israeli; but they insisted time and time again that maybe I should try it "just this time". I explained that once every five years I do in fact, try tahini just to find out that I still don't like it, but my words fell on deaf ears.
And you know what? They were right. Both the tahini and chimichurri sauces were perfect accompaniment for the rich lamb meatballs, nestled in the pitas.
I was expecting a little bit more heat and the chimichurri to complement the tangy and oily taste emanating from good olive oil and chopped herbs. But alas, the heat came from the deep-fried jalapeños that I had on the side. The look on one of the owners faces when I ate six of them in a row and then proclaimed they were "mild", was priceless.
Since this was my first time there, I also got fat chunks of deep fried and then roasted potatoes, a perfect accompaniment to the already rich meal.
I highly recommend this Mediterranean/Israeli gem in the heart of Tarzana. If you're ever looking for Israeli food, this, my friends, is it!
