Naomi Grill celebrates the Sephardic tradition
MADRID -- Patricio Felsenstein's Sephardic restaurant melds Spanish, Moorish, and Jewish traditions. At Naomi Grill Restaurante, you can find all kinds of modern kosher cooking and interpretations of ancient dishes, including the Moroccan favorite chicken tajine, which is a sweet, saffron-scented dish simmered with prunes and the prized local Marcona almonds. The presentation, says Felsenstein, ''has been around for 1,000 years."
Felsenstein is deeply interested in this historic food. His ancestors were part of the 15th century Spanish Inquisition, when Jews were expelled from Spain. He was raised in Caracas, Venezuela, where many Jewish families went to settle.
As a young man, he dreamed of opening a restaurant in the country his ancestors had to abandon, one that celebrated kosher food, which was forbidden to them. ''There's a law that makes it easy for a family with a Sephardic tradition to return to Spain," he says, sipping a glass of mint tea on the tree-lined patio. ''Lots of Jews," he says ''are coming home."
So 11 years ago Felsenstein, 45, and his wife, Vera Gavison, 39, moved to Madrid. They couldn't afford to open their own place, but they watched as many Sephardic restaurants opened and closed.
When Vera's parents moved to Madrid three years ago, Giuseppe Gavison, her father, decided to open a restaurant with his son-in-law. This month they will celebrate the first anniversary.
''The name Naomi means 'my pleasure,' " explains Felsenstein. The dining room embraces both modernity and antiquity, with hand-carved tables and chairs from the artisans of Toledo and art depicting ancient Spanish synagogues. The background to this setting is Sephardic and Israeli music. And the menu boasts North African and Middle Eastern specialties.
The enthusiastic restaurateur has a passion for food, but no culinary training. ''I learned to cook in my family," says Felsenstein. ''We held cooking competitions for fun."
In Madrid, he hired a Sephardic chef, Israeli-born Ariel Kars, to run the kitchen. Before the restaurant opened, Giuseppe and Vera's mother, Luna, went to a market in Tangiers and bought all the serving accessories for the restaurant, including flat platters with cone-shaped tops for the tajine. ''Everything is authentic," says Vera.
Dinner at Naomi Grill invariably begins with small dishes overflowing with peppers and tomatoes (cocha salad), carrots with cumin, olives, and eggplant. Next is the shallow frying pan with the cone-shaped lid that, when removed, reveals the honey-sweetened tajine. Pastella, flaky pastry filled with chicken, almonds, and golden raisins, is another specialty, as is paella Valenciana, with vegetables, rice, and chicken.
Naomi Grill is a family affair, with both Felsenstein and his father-in-law working in the dining room and Vera and her mother helping out on the Jewish holidays. The Israeli chef is delighted that one of the waiters -- another Israeli, also named Ariel -- can understand him when he speaks Hebrew. Felsenstein's ancestors would be surprised and delighted.
Naomi Grill Restaurante,C/Pensamiento 25, Madrid, Spain, 011-34-91-571-69-23. 
