Bavel

-Our Story

Bestia is something we learned how to do;
Bavel is something we were born into.

I couldn t help myself. We had just opened our first restaurant, Bestia, in downtown L.A. s arts district; Genevieve was pregnant with our first daughter, Saffron; but still, the idea for a second restaurant wouldn t leave. It began as a craving. After opening an Italian restaurant and working my way through Italian kitchens for a decade before that, I found that I craved something different when cooking for myself. I craved the flavors of home shawarma, shakshuka, falafel, tahini. So, I began making these dishes on my days off the foods of my father and my grandmother; the foods of my childhood in Israel, as well as my family s roots in Georgia, Morocco, Persia, and beyond. These dishes struck a chord with Genevieve, too. Her father had emigrated from Egypt as a college student, and she felt a tug of nostalgia as she tasted the almost-forgotten spices of her youth.

Then I started scribbling down recipes. Just fragments at first an aroma, a flavor, or a sensation I wanted to capture. During our first vacation after opening Bestia, Genevieve remembers waking up every morning to find me hunched over my notebook, writing. Eventually, what began as a collection of loose ideas developed into Bavel a restaurant (and now a cookbook) that takes the techniques and experiences we ve learned throughout our professional lives and applies them to the flavors of the Middle East.

Normally, Genevieve would have been the first to say no. We had a kid on the way and a busy restaurant to run. But she, too, felt that this was the right next move. Since opening Bestia, we d been offered the opportunity to open other branches elsewhere. But Bestia is not something that can be reproduced. It is unique, and of a place, and it would have felt unnatural to try to duplicate it. The idea for Bavel was different, though; like a new sibling connected but apart. It was a concept that

Ori Menashe is co-owner and executive chef of Bestia and Bavel, which was named Best Restaurant of the Year by the Los Angeles Times, Eater, Los Angeles magazine, Time Out, and Tasting Table, and has been nominated as a finalist for a James Beard Best New Restaurant.

Genevieve Gergis is the co-owner and pastry chef of Bestia and Bavel.

Lesley Suter is the travel editor for Eater, the former food editor for Los Angeles magazine, and a two-time James Beard Award winner for food writing.

I started writing down all the things I want to cook from Bavel and then quickly had to abandon the list. It was a pointless endeavor as I was simply copying the whole cookbook! Ori and Genevieve manage to pull off a style of cooking that is both familiar (and therefore comforting) but also new (and therefore fresh and exciting). This is the sort of food I could live on. Yotam Ottolenghi, chef and author of Ottolenghi Flavor
 
Organized to give you a clear view into the minds of some of the hardest-working chefs in the business, Ori and Genevieve share the building blocks of their famously intense and flavorful cooking. They reveal the keys to mastering this depth of flavor at home through their collection of thoughtfully curated, carefully articulated recipes, with plenty of guidance. PS: The masterful breads included in the book are some of the best I ve ever tasted! Chad Robertson, co-owner of Tartine and author of Tartine Bread
 
By drawing from all corners of the Middle East, their family heritages, and an evocative personal cooking philosophy that remains centered on Downtown Los Angeles, Ori and Genevieve have created something truly one of a kind with Bavel. This cookbook is as compelling as it gets. Michael Solomonov, chef and co-owner of Zahav