[Salli Vates]

I really enjoyed this new Syrian place. Their pita bread is more like a chapati. Everything is made there by the owner, who comes from a small village in Syria. She said that where she's from, women don't work but only cook, and she wants to spread the word about how good the food is! She gave me a bunch of dessert for free... sugar-dusted, dense little semolina cakes stuffed with dates. I can't stop eating them. Gazala's is at 709 9th Avenue and opened last Saturday.

[omnivorette]

What else did you eat?

[Salli Vates]

Hummus with olive oil, olives, chakchoka (I guess this is like the Israeli shakshuka), tabouli, date cakes. Tamarind drink came with it.

What else did you eat?

[Behemoth]

The cakes are probably maa'moul. They are usually served on holidays. My favorite is the kind stuffed with walnuts.

[Orik]

She said that where she's from, women don't work but only cook.

Well, she's not from Syria and where she's from 19.6% of women work vs 56% of the women in the majority ethnic group

But some of them cook.

[StephanieL]

Yes, Gazala is an Israeli Druse restaurant, certainly the only one in the city. N and I went here last night. It's a really cramped space, so perhaps pretheater isn't the best time to go. In the front window are piles of boureks and pans of baklava, and the "pita" bread is made fresh here.

We first split a bourek filled with tuna, black olives, and red peppers, which came with a health salad/slaw made with red cabbage, red onions, and parsley, among other ingredients. The pastry itself is very flaky and rich, and the filling was well seasoned. We then got a veg appetizer combo--we picked hummus, baba ganoush, Turkish salad, and labanee (whipped goat cheese spread with sumac? zaatar? dusted on top). The first two were good examples of the genre, and the labanee was creamy but not overly rich. But the Turkish salad, oh my. The waitress warned us it was spicy, and it really was. It's like the most condensed pepper jam you could ever imagine.

The pistachio baklava was just OK. It was very syrupy, and he nuts were roasted and finely ground, so they tasted kind of burnt. The little fridge near the kitchen had a few custard-based concoctions, but I'd just stick with mint tea or coffee. If you really want dessert, Kyotofu is 2 doors down, and there's always Poseidon Bakery if it's early enough.

[Sneakeater]

This place really ought to be better.

Part of my problem was faulty ordering: too many tomato sauces.

The best thing probably was the pita stuffed with cheese.

The second-best thing were the eggs served poached in a cast-iron skillet in a good tomato sauce. This might have been the best thing if it weren't served MUCH too hot to eat. I'd personally prefer they let it cool off in the kitchen before bringing it out: it's too much of a temptation sitting there in front of you.

The third-best thing were the ground lamb-beef (or was it lamb-veal?) patties in a tomato sauce, with pine nuts, that was worse than the one in which the eggs were served. (I guess it's spiced differently.) This just seemed crude to me.

I know mainstream Lebanese/Syrian isn't Druze, but Alfanoose is eons better. The cooking is much more careful and refined. That's cheap eats at its miraculous best. This, to me, is just good because it's cheap.

At least I've now eaten Druze cooking. Someday maybe I'll get a chance to eat really GOOD Druze cooking.

[djk]

i only went here once, just a couple months after it first opened. and with the exception of one or two things thought exactly the same as you sneak. it's do-able because it's cheap but otherwise why bother. hated the hummus. really liked the poached eggs in tomato sauce. and i think there was some good bread - don't remember anymore. interesting that it didn't get all that much better.

[Orik]

I never sat down for a meal there, but the burekas that you can pick up in the front of the shop are extremely good. (as in, easily better (and of course more expensive) than 99% of what you can get in the middle east)

[Sneakeater]

Florence Fabrikant reports in today's Times that Gazala Palace is opening up a meze place on the Upper West Side.