Bavel

April 5, 2021
The owners of L.A. restaurant Bavel take Middle Eastern cuisine "into the realm of the personal" with this excellent collection of professional recipes adapted for home cooks. Starting with pantry items, the authors walk readers through spices, sauces, stocks, pickles and ferments, and dips and spreads. Directions for homemade spice blends come with helpful tips, such as using a food dehydrator for herbs, while the "Bavel Spice Rack" sidebar breaks down the "building blocks" of each spice's flavor profile. A chapter devoted to vegetables stands out with a simple yet pleasantly spiced Moroccan carrot salad with meyer lemon yogurt, and a marinated tomato with smoked harissa placed atop a creamy feta base. Shifting into entrees, a brief but worthy chapter of "Family Recipes'' showcases Hingali—savory dumplings that can be made in batches and frozen—and a Peshalo—noodle soup chock-full of cabbage, spinach, and carrots—that's ideal for chilly days. Ambitious recipes, such as Aged Duck in Three Parts, which features duck breast kebabs, pan-fried confit duck legs, and homemade duck broth, are rounded out with flavor-packed dessert options, including a pine nut torte with orange cream and coffee. This inspired gem lets Middle Eastern cooking shine on the home table.

March 31, 2021
A husband-and-wife team of Los Angeles chefs, Menashe and Gergis (Bestia, 2018) turn their attention from their first restaurant to their second, Bavel. Named in honor of the Biblical city of Babel, their new eatery features the cooking of the Middle East. Located in the trendy Arts District, Bavel recreates the foods that Menashe recalls from his Tel Aviv upbringing, but the chefs don't limit themselves to Israeli cuisine. They explore Moroccan, Armenian, and Palestinian traditions as well. This cookbook, loaded with color photographs, entices the eye while stimulating the palate. Menashe and Gergis' vivid prose encomia of hummus, pita, and baba ghanouj make even those dishes' beige hues enticing. Shawarma and other meats and Mediterranean seafood feature prominently, and there is a relatively simple-to-prepare version of shakshuka, the currently faddish meal of eggs baked in tomato sauce. Gergis contributes some elegant pastries and a prune and apple cake with toffee sauce. Food this precise and faithful to its origins demands a pantry full of Middle Eastern spice and herbs that can be sourced online.

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