10 Dishes from Zahav, James Beard’s Outstanding Restaurant 2019

Zahav in Philly took the top honour of Outstanding Restaurant at this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards. Owned and run by star chef Michael Solomonov, Zahav has been offering up modern Israeli cuisine for years now since its opening in 2008, over which it has placed Israeli cuisine firmly within the culinary landscape of America. 

Dishes at Zahav are made up of many small plates that are made to be shared. It's a format that allows guests to best discover the wide range of influences within Israeli cuisine - from eastern Europe to North Africa and from Persia to the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Solomonov was born in Israel but raised in Pittsburgh. He is no stranger to the Awards, taking the James Beard Foundation’s Outstanding Chef Award in 2017, and the book he released together with business partner Steve Cook, Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, won 2016 Book of the Year Award. 

Zahav is in our list of top restaurants in Philadelphia, which you can check out here. 

Below are some of the amazing dishes at Zahav. 

Spring Mashwe: asparagus over a tehina mashwe salad of geen garbanzo, cranberry beans and wax beans, with preserved lemon and sumac

Kampachi crudo with pomelo cells, sea beans, and mint

Haloumi in Phyllo, carrot spread with almond, orange, cardamom and rose water

Braised dew drop cabbage on smoked tomato matbucha with kashkaval cheese

Branzino, with grapes, caperberries, za'atar, toasted pine nuts, sesame seeds, sumac, and labneh

Chocolate Konafi with fresh mint ice cream and candied lemon peel

Chicken thighs glazed with carob, cooked over charcoal, with crispy chicken skins, pickled persimmon, and tehina

Roasted broccoli dressed with harissa and honey, feta labneh, turmeric Marcona almonds, sesame and nigella seeds

Turkish Hummus 

Haloumi “baklawa” with apple confit, pickled onions, stewed huckleberries with fresh savory