{"id":185311,"date":"2026-04-04T08:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/185311\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T08:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:55:13","slug":"israeli-chefs-new-york-restaurant-becomes-a-sensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/185311\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli chef\u2019s New York restaurant becomes a sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no shortage of new restaurants in New York<\/a>, nor Israeli chefs trying their luck in the city. But it is rare for a chef who has already established himself at a popular Michelin-starred restaurant to walk away in order to fully pursue his own vision.Nadav Greenberg had such a moment. He entered New York\u2019s competitive culinary scene as the head of the kitchen at Eyal Shani<\/a>\u2019s popular Shmon\u00e9 restaurant in the West Village. He served as executive chef when Shmon\u00e9 achieved its breakthrough \u2014 earning a Michelin star<\/a>. But Greenberg was not satisfied and chose to leave the familiar, secure environment of Shani\u2019s group to join the top tier.<\/p>\n

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Or\u2019esh restaurant <\/p>\n

(Photo: Or’esh)<\/p>\n

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‘I feel like I\u2019m in the big leagues’: chef Nadav Greenberg <\/p>\n

(Photo: Catch Hospitality Group)<\/p>\n

About a month ago, he launched Or\u2019esh on West Broadway in Manhattan, and since opening, reservations have been nearly impossible to secure. Almost overnight \u2014 at a time when war continues in Israel and the country\u2019s global image is under strain \u2014 Greenberg\u2019s new restaurant has become one of the hottest and most talked-about spots in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a crazy dissonance here. I\u2019m a simple guy from Jerusalem who innocently lit charcoal in New York, and the next day I found literally 5,000 people waiting for a table in the reservation system. Everyone is dying to get in and begging me to find them a spot. I don\u2019t understand how this happened \u2014 I\u2019m just a cook,\u201d said Greenberg, 40, who was born in Jerusalem and moved to New York nine years ago with $10,000 and a dog. Since then, he has continued to surprise \u2014 even himself.<\/p>\n

Or\u2019esh is a Levantine Mediterranean restaurant centered on cooking over live fire \u2014 wood and charcoal \u2014 featuring a custom-built grill designed by Greenberg himself. According to Eater, which has already reviewed the restaurant, its Levantine angle moves away from the stereotypical Middle Eastern clich\u00e9s associated with pita and hummus, and instead is expressed through dishes such as Jerusalem bagel, liver cigar, lamb kebab, whole grilled fish and substantial cuts of meat.<\/p>\n

While many Mediterranean restaurants in New York focus on a casual atmosphere, Or\u2019esh takes the opposite approach \u2014 a carefully designed space offering a long, upscale dining experience, with artwork on the walls and attentive service.<\/p>\n

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A luxury experience: Or\u2019esh restaurant <\/p>\n

(Photo: Or’esh)<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe started working on the restaurant more than a year ago. Building a charcoal grill in New York isn\u2019t just insanely expensive \u2014 it also involves complex permits. We were supposed to open in September and only opened in February because of approvals for the grill. Meanwhile, our rent \u2014 $70,000 a month \u2014 kept running as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you get partners on board with something like that?
\n\u201cI explained that there\u2019s no substitute for cooking over charcoal, that there\u2019s no other way to achieve that flavor, and then the budget opened up. The original budget ended up doubling, but this grill is something special. It\u2019s custom-built for me \u2014 there\u2019s nothing like it in the world. It\u2019s huge, the size of a bathtub. Only when you walk in do you really understand what\u2019s happening here. There\u2019s no other food like this in a space like this in New York. Levantine food usually comes with a neighborhood vibe \u2014 here it\u2019s a fine, upscale experience. I feel like I\u2019ve moved up to the major leagues \u2014 like I\u2019m Deni Avdija at the All-Star Game. I feel like I\u2019m in the big leagues, like an NBA player.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A dish at the restaurant <\/p>\n

(Photo: Or’esh)<\/p>\n

Although Shmon\u00e9\u2019s Michelin star in 2023 was awarded to chef Eyal Shani, Greenberg served as its executive chef. He began working with Shani in 2019 with the opening of North Miznon on Manhattan\u2019s Upper East Side and became one of the leading voices of a new generation of Israeli chefs in New York. Michelin inspectors were impressed with his culinary abilities, writing at the time that Greenberg was \u201cthe next Israeli star\u201d \u2014 a prediction that has since materialized.<\/p>\n

At Shmon\u00e9, Greenberg also met the partners behind his new venture \u2014 the Catch Hospitality Group, one of the most prominent restaurant groups in the United States in the past decade, operating venues in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas. The group focuses not only on food but on the overall dining experience.<\/p>\n

The move marks a significant step up for Greenberg. Stepping out of Shani\u2019s shadow puts him at center stage, while Shmon\u00e9 remains closely identified with Shani. Greenberg is part of a second generation of young chefs who trained under leading figures and later developed their own culinary identity before branching out. Similar paths have been taken by chefs such as Tomer Tal, Yuval Ben Neriah and Yaron Shalev.<\/p>\n

Explain how you leave Eyal Shani.
\n\u201cEyal is my mentor and I value what he does. I still speak his culinary language. What was special about Shmon\u00e9 was that we were a young, hungry team \u2014 the goal was to win a star and we went all in. We worked like crazy, bringing ingredients from the market and cooking nonstop. We\u2019d drink at night, sleep four hours and get up for service. The whole team worked around the clock and believed in what we were doing. Shahar Segal told me someone with money would eventually come and take me \u2014 and they even offered me a partnership at Shmon\u00e9. But I asked myself where I\u2019d be in five years. At Shmon\u00e9, I would always be in Eyal\u2019s shadow. I also wanted to show what Mediterranean food can be \u2014 not just cauliflower and food served on cardboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shmon\u00e9 restaurant in New York after receiving a Michelin star <\/p>\n

(Photo: PR)<\/p>\n

So in the end, someone with money really did take you.
\n\u201cI joined an incredible group \u2014 true professionals at the highest level. My partners are Eugene Bar and his wife Valerie, a Jewish American and a former Israeli who live in New York. He came to eat at Shmon\u00e9, said he was opening a restaurant, and on his way home, he texted me to meet. He\u2019s hungry and I\u2019m hungry \u2014 we want to conquer the world together. It\u2019s a perfect collision of two strong forces: Catch\u2019s ability to build an experience and my ability to deliver Israeli Mediterranean food without gimmicks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you aiming for Michelin here as well?
\n\u201cAbsolutely. Michelin knows me \u2014 they\u2019ve written about me. I did what I did at Shmon\u00e9: I emailed them and asked them to come. They replied within 24 hours: \u2018Thank you for your email, we\u2019ll visit if we haven\u2019t already.\u2019 I want to conquer New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

How has the current war and the past two years affected an Israeli business in New York?
\n\u201cThe situation is crazy. What does \u2018Israeli food\u2019 even mean? It\u2019s a philosophical question \u2014 we\u2019re a melting pot of people who brought their cultures together. The restaurant\u2019s name is in Hebrew, and there\u2019s an Israeli chef leading it. I asked my partner if we were sure about using a Hebrew name, and then I realized we\u2019re proud of what we do. We won\u2019t loudly market it as an Israeli restaurant, but you\u2019d have to be clueless not to understand that it is. I feel like I represent something bigger than the restaurant at a time when we\u2019re not at our peak globally. The fact that people want to eat my food is crazy. I see the spark in their eyes \u2014 it\u2019s amazing to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

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7 View gallery <\/p>\n

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‘You\u2019d have to be clueless not to understand we\u2019re an Israeli restaurant’; Or\u2019esh cuisine <\/p>\n

(Photo: Or’esh)<\/p>\n

Where do you want to be in five years?
\n\u201cI want three stars from The New York Times and Michelin. It would close a personal circle \u2014 Shmon\u00e9 was mine, but not really mine. We chefs have egos, and I want my name in Michelin\u2019s history books. In 10 years, I want to sell pots and pans with my face on them. I want financial success too. New York is tough and competitive, but this is the United States \u2014 when you succeed here, you succeed big. It\u2019s a completely different game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no shortage of new restaurants in New York, nor Israeli chefs trying their luck in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-185311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-city-news","12":"tag-ny"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}