(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)
CHEAP EATS
Tastes like Israel
(Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)
Jerusalem Pita & Grill co-owner Rada Roda says she wants to re-create a bit of Israeli culture in her Coolidge Corner eatery. She has succeeded. The 21-seat place is informal, you see infants and their young parents beside very senior citizens, and the loud music has a tinny quality. You would never call the fare here refined - meze-style appetizers, rolled sandwiches, an array of kebabs - but Roda uses lots of exotic spices in her cooking (and not much salt) and the results are an interesting mix of several Sephardic Jewish cuisines.
A giant green bell pepper stuffed with beef and rice ($12.95) has an intriguing cumin scent. The vegetarian split pea soup ($4.95) has as much flavor as any bony version I've tasted. Roda tells me later that it also contains fresh peas and carrots; she's secretive about what goes into her cooking but says almost everything is made from scratch.
One of the few exceptions is thick pita, which Roda and her husband, Baruch, who opened Jerusalem Pita in January, import frozen from Israel. The puffy rounds arrive hot from the oven and they're nothing like the very thin pita made in this area. Jerusalem Pita's menu is Glatt Kosher, which means only the highest grade of meat allowed in a kosher kitchen can be served. The quality shows in lamb shish kebab ($16.95); the meat is crusty at the edges, rosy inside, tender, flavorful, and moist. A side of grilled vegetables, none too crunchy, includes red bell peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, zucchini, and green beans.
Rada learned to make falafel ($5.95 appetizer, pictured below; $6.95-$7.95 sandwich; $11.95 entree) from an old recipe in Baruch's family. He has an Iraqi heritage but both he and Rada were raised in Israel. A falafel appetizer consists of the golden chickpea balls sitting on a bed of hummus, served with the pita. The smooth hummus isn't very lemony, the dark falafel is packed with herbs (they're green when you bite into them). Pull a piece of falafel across the hummus and you get a bunch of wonderful tastes and textures. Baba ghanouj ($5.95) is pure pureed eggplant with a little tahini; the dish has the mildest smoky taste.
Small sandwiches are wrapped in the puffy pita, larger ones in homemade laffa, a thin, almost stretchy, bread something like lavash. Many include Israeli salad ($5.50 for an appetizer), the finely chopped mixture of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. Neither the tomatoes nor the cucumbers has much taste, though the bread is divine.
A special one night of Israeli chicken ($12.95) has the quality of a North African tagine, the meat falling off the bone, slow-cooked with potatoes in a dark sauce of aromatic spices.
The place is packed, seating tight, something of a mishmash. Waitresses are scrambling. If you get Veronica, consider yourself lucky. She's Midwestern-nice and gives you her undivided attention. No matter how many kids are fidgeting around her.
SHERYL JULIAN
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
