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.

Best of 2009, Meal Edition

Well, another year has gone by; another 365 days of eating and drinking and living all wrapped up. With 2009 on the verge of being over, never to be seen again, it's time for my second annual 'best of' round up. Last year I included 17 memorable meals, but this time around I tried to be a little more discerning with my choices. Taking a tougher approach wasn't too difficult. I ate a great number of meals and had my share of fun times, but the truth is, I feel like I didn't quite eat as well as I did last year or in the years before it. That is not the right attitude, however, for a best of meals list, so let's pretend I didn't say that. Instead, let's take a look at all the great stuff I did eat.

While technically a 2008 meal, the Christmas lobster from last year deserves a mention.
While I have had my fair share of oysters this year, the crispy salmon skin salad and oysters from Aqua Grill were truly marvelous.
K.'s visit to Philly, and our trek to South Philly, led to the surprising find of the best donut of the century.
When I lived in Chicago, anyone who knew about the blog would ask me if I had eaten at Lula Cafe. Their main suggestion was that I try the banana cream pie, which just made me not want to try the place due to my unfortunate lack of interest in bananas. But when I went back for L. and B.'s wedding, M. Lady and I went for brunchy breakfast, and I really loved the earl grey tea and eggs Benedict from that I consumed in their entirety.
My first, and only thus far, visit at Zahav, was great from the opening pickled treats to this perfect bite of lamb.
Sometimes the circumstances of a meal can accentuate its overall awesome-ness. This was certainly the case when M. and I shared a smoked salmon, tuna fish and triscuit snack by Crystal Lake.
Just having L. visit Philadelphia for the first time this summer was great, but the lamb I cooked in her honor made it that much better.
When A.S. invited me up to her family's house on Cayuga Lake, I expected a lovely few days of reading and swimming, but I didn't expect some of the best pizza of the year (sorry Luigi's).
The seven course tasting meal at Le Bec Fin was a lovely eating experience, from the first course that really woke my tongue up to the marvelous cheese cart.
Thanksgiving at XIX included everything from butternut squash to pork crackling, but the seafood aspect really made it special.