Fully Satisfying Dinner c/o Zahav

A. and I went to dinner at Zahav Restaurant last week. I'd been wanting to try their fare for months, but either couldn't find an eatmate when I had money or didn't have money when I had eatmates. Ah, the vicious money/eatmate cycle. Well, that cycle was, at least for that moment, broken! Because we didn't have a reservation the only sitting option was along the bar/window that lined the kitchen space, this gave us a direct view of the grilling and the saucing and the frying and the baking, and access to the full menu. Our waiter, Eric, was very friendly and gave us the basic Zahav spiel: all the dishes are tapas-like in size, and it is recommended that patrons get about three plates. I had already spent some time with menu and knew that I was going to go with the Ta'Yim option, which included salatim and hummus, three plates and a choice of dessert for $36. We started with the hummus and freshly baked laffa (there was a wood burning oven/hearth that we could see from our perch).
I was extremely interested in the lemonnana cocktail (bourbon, muddled mint, lemon verbena and lemonade) and my interest was rewarded. The stuff was good (but expensive, a glass is $9.50).
The salatim consisted of eight different small portions of salad. All were tasty, but my favorites were probably the beet dish and the chick peas. Also offered were tabouleh, Israeli salad, pickled green beans, an eggplant dish, a tomato dish and one I am forgetting. Carrots! It was a carrot dish!
Condiments came with the salatim. I am a jerk and forgot what they were. The green had peppers in it and a nice subsequent kick, the red had coriander and cumin in it (along with something else) and the dried herbs were another thing all together. We were told to use these condiments in a simiilar manner to how one would use salt and pepper.
I was expecting the beans to have a vinegary kick, but they were kind of sweet. The taste of the beans was reminiscent of raisins somehow.
This was the crispy haloum, Cypriotic sheep's milk cheese with dates and pine nuts. Good, but not as stringy gooey as some haloumi I have had.
This was the cured wild sturgeon with corn, sumac and tomatoes. This was my least favorite. I'm not overly familiar with sturgeon, so I don't know if the lack of any particular taste from the fish should have been expected but I found the fish to lack in any real flavor. The accompanying corn puree etc didn't really make up for the fish. I don't know, I thought it was kind of bland. Not delicate. Bland.
Fried cauliflower with labeneh with chive, dill, mint and garlic. This was a winner, the labeneh had a lovely flavor profile and the cauliflower was nice and crispy. It was a welcome surprise that the veggies weren't breaded.
Moroccan pastry of veal cheeks, almonds and dried fruit. Our waiter had said that other customers thought this seemed more like a dessert, but A. and I had a hard time understanding how something with veal cheeks could be dessert-y...until it came to us, and the combination of the fruit and almonds with the veal really did make this seem more sweet than savory. Not bad, but surprising.
The Farsi, lamb tenderlon, saffron and jeweled rice. This was one of my favorites. Oh my goodness, it really, really was. Just wait a second and you'll see how awesome it was.
A ordered the Monsieur Merguez, house-made merguez, cous cous and matbucha. This was also quite lovely.
Look at the pinky goodness! The grilling took place right in front of our eyes and was done by Michael Solomonov, the main-man-chef.
I had the pot de creme with sesame sticks. It was rich and delicious.
And a Turkish coffee.
This was one of the higher quality meals I've had in a while and even though I didn't love, love every single course, the courses I did love were fantastic. I'm thinking about that lamb right now. One could go there and have a drink and one plate before seeing a movie at one of the two Ritz theaters in the area...I, in fact, went on and watched 500 Days of Summer after dinner.