When Philadelphia-based chef Michael Solomonov and his business partner Steven Cook opened their first restaurant Zahav in 2008, diners didn’t really know from modern Israeli cuisine. Sure, there was plenty of falafel and hummus in rotation on menus at cheap eateries. The adventurous home cook had perhaps tried her hand with homemade baba ghanouj or baklava. But the delicious subtleties of the innovative cuisine emerging within Israel were not yet on most Americans’ radar. A mention of za’atar or labneh would be met with blank stares.
Flash forward seven years, and Israeli food has taken a seat among the world’s celebrated cuisines. Zahav, meanwhile, is one of the most popular restaurants in the country. Solomonov and Cook have a mini empire of eateries in Philly (some Jewishly focused, some not). And, just this month, they released their first cookbook, Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking.