Back when I lived in Bloomington, one of my favorite lunch spots was an Israeli restaurant, not too far from the edge of the Indiana University campus, called Falafels of Jerusalem. They were a hidden treasure amid the bars of Kirkwood Avenue, featuring killer sandwiches, lamb scented with cumin, and shakshouka so good that it was always a struggle to order anything else.
The owner was the husband of a fellow graduate student in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology — which, I admit, suggests a certain kind of bias in me. But what I can say that I think will convince you is this: after six years in Philadelphia, there are only two restaurants that I really miss from my time as a Hoosier; one is the Runcible Spoon — which is certainly the platonic ideal of breakfast places; and the other is Falafels.
At any rate, Shai — the owner — and his wife — the folklorist — headed back to Israel at about the same time that I left for Philadelphia. And as these things go, I lost track of them for a while. But today — oh, today — a voice from out of the blue (by which I mean Facebook blue) pointed me toward this:
This is vegan shawarma, the first installment of Shai’s new series of cooking videos on YouTube. So far, he’s also got hummus, schnitzel, vegan spicy sauce (which seems very close to my very favorite thing at Falafels), and a few more.
Without reservation, I would recommend that you subscribe to his YouTube Channel, which he calls Today’s Special. If you like Mediterranean cuisine — which, don’t we all? — it will make you very happy, and very hungry.
