I am going to buy this book, but I need to go to this restaurant in Philadelphia too! Basic Jewish recipes like challah and hummus, and beautiful appetizing Israeli kosher dishes that make you hungry just looking at the photos. ( )

. Zahav, which means gold, has certainly struck “gold” with this new book. It is a book of beautiful food, luscious photographs, recipes, and wonderful personal stories. His idea of Israeli food is a mixture of Bulgarian, North African, Ethiopian, Yemenite, and Georgian – all the cuisines that make up the country. Solomonov is not religious or kosher but he clearly has respect for tradition. Zahav doesn’t mix meat with milk and doesn’t cook pork or shellfish. His recipe for his “secret sauce” and its uses take up a full chapter of the cookbook. Other sections include recipes for pita, challah, vegetables, grilling meats and poultry, and desserts and of course his mom’s coffee-roasted brisket. What makes this book so special though are his heartfelt stories behind the recipes and the reflections on the journey that got him there. He is described as a “mensch” with a colorful tattoo of Israel’s seven species – wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates – running down his arm. Whether you enjoy cooking or not, you will still want to read this!

This is THE most luscious Israeli cookbook I've ever seen. With every page I turned, I wanted to faint when I saw the food (or at least have it for real and gobble it up right away). It doesn't hurt that this book starts with the most ubiquitous foods Israel is known for: tehina and hummus. It's like--"Now that I have your attention, let me tell you more..."

After this book grabs your attention, it never lets go. The photos are gorgeous. The large size of the book makes those photographs really pop.

The recipes are unique, but not bizarre. They are the kind of recipes that I'd like to try even though I might not have all of the ingredients yet in my home.

This cookbook also tell the story Michael Solomonov, one of the co-authors who was born in Israel and raised in the United States by an American mom and an Israeli dad. As Solomonov tell us about his life and family as well as about his love for cooking and how to make the dishes he describes, he displays a wonderful and affectionate sense of humor. This is one cookbook I plant to rea cover to cover and then buy. My current copy is on loan from mu pulic library.

I also appreciate very much the accompanying stories about many of the ingredients within the recipes: what they look like in nature, where they are grown, and how they are used.

It is my sincere hope to one day have the pleasure of dining in one of the restaurants in Philadelphia owned and run by Michael Solomonov. In the meantime, I have some serious cooking to do! ( )

Traditional Tabbouleh, p.95, simple and good.

Mmmm, scrumptious. Even if this were only an extended ad for this famed Philadelphia-area restaurant, it'd still be worth the read for Solomonov's engaging stories and the gorgeous photos. The recipes seem beyond my basic skills but sound absolutely delicious, and as a Jew who keeps pseudo-kosher I appreciated the absence of shellfish and pork (a rarity with this genre!). I also liked Solomonov's reasoned take on authenticity and innovation. As he says, he's not an "Israeli grandmother," and to expect an Israeli-American guy in Pennsylvania to imitate a bubbe in Jerusalem doesn't make sense. I came out this still believing that tradition has its place, but that creativity does too. There's only one question this book didn't answer: how to get a reservation! ( )