Pital’e Offers Upscale, Israeli Dining

By Yehudit Garmaise

    Boro Parkers who want to sit down at tables with tablecloths, waiter service, and be served authentic Middle Eastern food in a restaurant in Jerusalem, can now do so at Pital’e, which hosted its grand opening at 5326 13th Ave. on Wednesday.

   Although Pital’e boasts “the best falafel in town,” said Mr. Nadav Hadad, the restaurant's owner, he explained that Pital’e is a grill house that offers authentic Israeli dishes that customers will not find anywhere else in Boro Park. Mr. Hadad provides Pital’e’s genuine Israeli flavors after moving to Brooklyn four years ago from Jerusalem, where he owned a sushi restaurant.  

    Once in Brookyn, Mr. Hadad started to specialize in his native Israeli food, when he opened Ess and Bentch in Boro Park, which is now closed. Hadad still runs a busy and popular Ess and Bentch in Crown Heights, where he lives.

   Arayes, which are spiced beef or lamb that are stuff into freshly baked pita and then grilled, are one of Pital’e’s signature dishes. Steak, burgers, lamb and beef kabobs, potato fries with parsley and garlic, Yemenite soup, and homemade hummus are other Israeli dishes that the new restaurant serves that Mr. Hadad says, “are extremely delicious.”

   “We make all the pita bread fresh here,” Mr. Hadad explained.

  Fried cauliflower, fried mushrooms, and grilled eggplant with techini are other specialty dishes, added Mr. Hadad.

   Although Ess and Bentch serves more casual food that is taken to-go, Mr. Hadad said that he wanted to provide a nicer dining experience for Boro Parkers.

   “Boro Park mostly has take-out food and not many sit-down places,” Mr. Hadad explained. “Some restaurants have a little shawarma, a little falafel. Here we have everything Israeli in one place that is upscale and has waiter service.

   “You eat here, you feel like are you in eating in a nice restaurant in Jerusalem."