RESTAURANT AVAZI IN TALPIYOT

Remember Pollo Loco? Well, the crazy bird is no more. In its place is a brand new restaurant called Avazi. The place has been totally redone and recast in a most eye pleasing manner. The fare is somewhat typical of an Israeli Steakiah, but there are significant differences.

First of all, the food is superior. So is the service. Even with a large crowd, the place is somewhat quiet and it is easy to have a conversation without having to shout.

We had the usual array of salads on the table: cole slaw, red cabbage in mayo, two carrot dishes, three eggplant dishes, matbucha, Mediterranean salsa, egg salad, and who remembers the other sixteen little dishes. Oh, and the dishes are, of course, renewed as needed.

The laffa was fresh from the oven and quite tasty. In addition, they brought a plate with tomatoes, herbed, oiled and rebaked laffa, broiled onions and spiced potatoes cut in half. Later on , they brought a plate of fried rings of onion (no breading, just fried), fried egg plant sticks, felafel balls and some other stuff which we seem to have lost in our notes.

We had the skewers of meat which were fairly generous in size. The entrecote skewer had meat that melted like the proverbial butter- that”s how soft it was. And the taste was sublime! The lamb skewers were equally good judging by the reaction of those in our party who ate them.

They gave us a palate cleanser after the meal to help prepare us for dessert. Then they brought a plate of watermelon slices for us to share. The desserts were of the type that make diabetics go into shock just by looking at them! We ate the fruit, so we passed on the cake.

Two teensy, tiny complaints: turn up the A/C and serve the water a tad faster and with more ice. What is it with Israelis and ice? Doesn’t anyone have the recipe???

Other than those two complaints, however, we would go there again and again and again. We had a great time and enjoyed a really great meal.

Avazi is located on Rechov Yad Charutzim in Jerusalem. Go there!