Here’s your first look inside Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook’s expanded Dizengoff restaurant
The new restaurant will serve the hummus that Mike Solomonov is known for at such spots as Zahav and Goldie. "We really want to feel like you’re eating in Tel Aviv," partner Steve Cook says.
Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook are bringing back their Rittenhouse restaurant, Dizengoff on Monday, five months after closing to expand into the adjacent space occupied by Abe Fisher at 1625 Sansom St.
Now with 95 seats and at four times the size, Dizengoff has gone full service with a 12-seat bar set aside for walk-ins. Unlike the moodily lit Abe Fisher, whose menu captured the foods of the Jewish diaspora, Dizengoff has bright colors, a modern vibe, and “a very Tel Aviv look that piggybacks off of the original Dizengoff design,” Cook said.
“We really want to feel like you’re eating in Tel Aviv,” he said. “It’s a world capital in the heart of the Middle East — very modern and stylish, but you’re also sitting in one of the most ancient places on earth.”
Boxwood Architects used tiles and wallpaper made from Israeli street posters to evoke the boulevard for which the restaurant is named.
There are two semiprivate spaces (seating up to eight and 12), plus an extended sidewalk patio for the warmer months.
The menu at Dizengoff — say it “DEEZ-en-goff” — remains focused on hummus varieties and house-baked pita. Solomonov said it would be “more casual [than before] but still would have some of the robust and hardy flavors that we’re really associated with.”
At the opening, the restaurant will open daily at 5 p.m. for dinner.
Solomonov said he was particularly excited about the za’atar roast chicken ($30) with crispy garlic, arugula, and sumac onions, as well as the smoked cabbage ($21) with tomato broth and labneh. The menu also includes falafel fried fish ($36) with pickled cabbage, amba, and tehina; slow-roasted lamb neck, chicken schnitzel ($22) with Yemenite pickles, tehina, and schug; and a vegan entree: chickpea and leek aruk ($22) with chard, potato, tomato, and amba. Among sides are p’kaila, a Tunisian sabbath stew with greens and white beans; rice pilaf with turmeric and dill; and crispy fries with tehina ketchup. For dessert, there’s a new, vegan tehina-date ice cream sandwich.
Lunch, starting soon, will be a best-of from Merkaz, the CookNSolo Washington Square West restaurant that closed over the summer (replaced by a location of Goldie), including pita sandwiches and hummus.
Three CookNSolo veterans are in charge: chef Joseph Howard (formerly executive sous chef at Zahav), general manager Wolf Williams (who had that role at Abe Fisher), and bar manager Sean Byrne (who also had that role at Abe Fisher).
Cocktails are twists on classics, such as the Clueless Soundtrack, whose floral aromatics are reminiscent of a Pegu Club; All the Way In, an espresso martini with rum and Baharat spice; and the zero proof Za’atar Girlfriend, with za’atar-grapefruit cordial and lime. Byrne is also focusing on natural wines made with grapes indigenous to the eastern Mediterranean, particularly those made utilizing ancient techniques. Frozen lemonnana will be offered, too.
Reservations for dinner are available through Resy; there will be room for walk-ins each night.