Martha Stewart fell in love with the eggplant carpaccio, the New York Post wrote that the Cubana was "immediately addictive," and the oh-so-Israeli song "Queen of Roses" blasted from the speakers. We ate at Nur in Manhattan and came back to share.
A pleasant and smiling hostess, who seemed to have witnessed many restaurants opening and closing in the city, welcomed me at the door to Nur. Meir Adoni's new restaurant opened two weeks ago on 20th Street near Broadway on the southern edge of Midtown Manhattan - an area recently declared the hottest in New York's culinary scene. The hostess ushered me to my chair at the bar, which was positioned at the entrance of the intimate restaurant space in a modest basement floor.
The design of the place is simple and clean with light shades of white, cream, and marble, light wood paired with delicate green colors and Middle Eastern touches such as painted floors - a reflection of Adoni’s complex flavors?
Adoni, who due to administrative procedures had to postpone the opening of the restaurant by 6 months, was a bit raspy, which was understandable four days after the official opening. "As a cook and a chef whose essence in the world is to serve food to people and excite them through food, this restaurant allows me to reach millions," he said excitedly. Adoni has been talking about this dream for many years, and over the past year, he has been traveling back and forth from Tel Aviv to New York to finally realize it.
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Although one would have to reserve a table two weeks in advance, right now, the place is half empty - the kitchen is practicing the complex dishes of the Israeli chef, and they are making it a point not to overload the system. At the moment, the restaurant is only open for dinner, but later on, it will also be open for brunch and lunch in order to become a focal point for businessmen in the neighborhood.
Adoni – sporting a chef's jacket with the logos of each of his four restaurants (including the two that he closed) in Tel Aviv (Catit, Mizalah, Blue Sky and Lumina), and a New York Knicks baseball cap – was running around the kitchen and between the tables, making sure everything was all right, watching over the staff and every plate that left the kitchen.
At a small table in one of the corners, an elderly client sat alone, stopping the chef to thank him for one of the best meals he had eaten in recent years. Adoni smiled broadly, a little embarrassed, shook his hand and went back to the kitchen.
Adoni's goal is for his diners to experience the unfamiliar flavors of the Middle East with an up-to-date twist. "This town has everything, except for Middle Eastern cuisine, a trend that is beginning to develop now, but there is not one restaurant that carries the language of the whole region to fit the New York's current fast-paced beat. I do not make authentic dishes here, although the menu is based on the culinary repertoire of Middle East, I'm mixing it with my spirit."
So what do we eat here?
When I asked Adoni which dish he thinks will turn into the restaurant’s star, he pointed to the eggplant carpaccio. Martha Stewart, who came to eat here two days after the opening, was apparently very excited about it. This is a typical dish of Adoni's: a roasted eggplant, finely sliced, to which he adds raw tahini and silan in a tempting spiral, roasted pistachios, coriander seeds, crispy feta crumble, rose water, chives, and basil. Eggplant never looked better. The flavors are unique (sweet-salty-sour) and the texture is crisp and crunchy.
Some of the dishes, such as a Palestinian tartar and a veal brain fricasee came, with slight changes, from Adoni's restaurants in Israel. The "Jordan River" dish (Moroccan donuts as Adoni calls them), was surprising and sweet: smoked trout mixed with almonds, leeks, thyme and butter, wrapped in date carpaccio, and fried in a mixture of sfinge. All this is rolled with a mixture of sugar and Moroccan spices and then served with citrus vinaigrette. The result is alternating waves of crispness and smoked tender fish.
Local ingredients, especially seafood, are also included in Nur's dishes, like the "Morocco Beach" dish which was inspired by a Moroccan carrot salad: octopus with veal glaze and spices, colored carrots, carrot cream, and yogurt with cumin and black lentils. Other dishes with creative names are the "Gefilte Shrimp" with pickled vegetables and horseradish, "Cherayme Casablanca" - fish and mussels served alongside couscous, and "Turkish delight on the Hudson" - grilled goose liver served with jam, dried figs, pistachios and honey yogurt in Cafe Tamarind's vinaigrette.
Bread is also honored in the restaurant and has its own section in the menu. You can find Adoni's famous Cubana served with a soft Jerusalem bagel with garlic and honey. "Bread is a passion in the Middle East, and I respect that," he says. "This is our heart."
Prices range from $7 to $67 for a scallop dish. The portions are generous and many of them are for sharing. In the local landscape, and considering the fact that this is a bistro, this is not a cheap restaurant.
And the reactions?
Despite the prices, it seems that New Yorkers are excited about the new restaurant. The culinary website Grub Street has already ranked Nur in sixth place on the list of hot restaurants in New York this week. The New York Post published an article a week after the opening, calling the food "creative and essential", noting that the Cubana bread is "immediately addictive." Don't take their word for it, try it for yourself. We promise you won't be disappointed.
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Nur
34 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003, USA
Phone: +1 212-505-3420