Zahav

Society Hill, St James Pl, Philadelphia · Israeli · $$$$

Michael Solomonov built Zahav in 2008 around the overlapping food cultures of Israel, Persian and Yemenite and Bulgarian and Moroccan, most of it cooked over live coals. The hummus tehina reset expectations for a lot of American cooks, and the laffa comes off a wood-fired taboon oven built into the dining room. It took the James Beard award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2019 and still runs more like a dinner party than a shrine.