[shahar]

Hey everyone. It's me and I'm elated. After seven months of headaches, pains, suffering and fights the light is near.
Tonite I'm serving food for the first time from the kitchen of my new restaurant. Still lots to be done. The grill doesn't work. No kitchen staff(except of an intern). Walls are still being painted.
But now it's a kitchen. There's the smell of food to temper the smell of paint and sweat.

Now for the hard part.

[kuan]

Congratulations! Can you tell us where and what you serve?

[shahar]

For tonite's meal I got beef, okra and cherry stew in a sweet and spicy tomato sauce. Majadrah. Grilled romaine dolma with beef and pinenuts. Sage Tzaziki. Cumin scented tomato and jasmin rice soup.
Tasting some of the up coming dishes with friends, family.

[Andrew563]

Frigging awesome, live the dream man.

[castironchef]

Congratulations!

[Botanique]

Shahar - I wish you much joy this evening, and for many more to come. It would be an honor to be a ghost in your kitchen and smell the wonderful aroma your Sage Tzaziki, and the mixture of all the aromatics coming from your dishes.

[shahar]

Thank you all. I'll keep you posted on progress, but I can tell you one thing. Everyone yesterday was glowing after the meal. Some were sceptic at first when reading the menu, but after tasting they jump aboard. So now I have the servers excited and proud of the food.
That could make thing so much smoother and easier once we open.

If you want to come the opening date is October first 2005.
Or november, january.
Maybe hopefully if buddha's willing - February second(my birthday). I'll tell you when it happen and by all means come and taste. Tell the servers the internet sent you.

[panini]

Umm, what time??we're family right?

Break a leg-my friend
pan

[shahar]

The place is called "Shouk"(pronounced Sch-oo-ck'). Which means market in hebrew. Sort of a mix of farmer's market, bazaar and Qasbah.
It's in Philadelphia, Pa.
South street neighborhood. It's a meza hooka lounge. Food is meza - East Mediterranean small plate. Casual, young place. With meza you order small simple dishes ranging from 3.5 to 5.5 with the idea that between four people you can have twenty five plates on the table!
Just don't call it "middle easter tapas". That's like calling ceviche - south american sushi(based on the misconception that sushi equals raw fish, while in fact it means the rice or more precisely vinegar, or "to vinegar". But I digress).

The dishes range geographically from Morocco(carrot and pinenut salad) to Israel(roasted baby eggplants with chestnut stuffing).
From Syria(beef with dried cherries and okra in a sweet and spicy tomato sauce over couscous) to northern Iraq(cinnamon scented chicken stuffed crispy carrot dumplings).

The challenge was to create a menu that was digging deeper into what arab cuisine has to offer beyond falafel, while keeping it modern and creative, and at the same time keeping it focused. There's modern ideas, techniques from other cuisines and such. But only in an organic way. No wasabi humus here(actually that sound weirdly appealing. Would be similar to wasabi mash. Hhmmm...)

[David Chenelle]

Shahar, Congratulations, I hope that you will be successful and above all have FUN!
David Chenelle