And New York City restaurant week is a lot longer than just a week.
It's almost a month long
and Michelle Casillo is on the scene to get a look in the kitchen
of one of the many restaurants where you can get a pretty amazing deal.
Michelle.
Hi, I'm here at,
with chef
Arisa
Big Papa.
He's gonna show us some of these menu items that you can
have at restaurant week and throughout the rest of the year,
I mean, they do change the menu up because it's pretty seasonal.
So we're going to start with, um, putting some falafel in the fryer.
Tell me a little bit more about what goes in these falafels.
Well, first off, I love that. You call me Big Papa. Don't stop.
We're celebrating the bounty of summer,
right? So, Israeli food, you have a lot of fresh herbs.
You have a lot of olive oil, a lot of acid. So we really want to,
we want to showcase that. So we're going to do two dishes, both vegetarian.
One is a cucumber gasp
with lots of fresh herbs and little yogurt.
It has a date and cucumber salad, which is kind of interesting.
And then we top it
with some crispy falafel
because it's nice to have that, that textural
contrast. I think you're pouring some gasp
here. So for people who aren't familiar with it, what is gas?
So gasp
is basically a chilled soup.
Traditionally, everybody knows like the famous tomato gasp
Spanish. This one is cucumber based. It has fresh herbs, it has yogurt.
Here,
we have dates and cucumbers mixed with lots of horseradish
just to kind of make it pop a little bit.
And then once the um, the falafel is nice and crispy,
we just kind of drizzle that over. And then we do some fresh herbs
and uh we do some olive oil because how can you not?
Of course.
And for those who aren't familiar gasp
is a cold soup.
We,
we're dealing with some of the hottest temperatures across the country right now.
So this is perfect.
Super refreshing.
Really kind of gets the uh the palate opened up and gets the parties.
Is this a lunch or a dinner? This is actually on both of our menus.
We have it at lunch and we have it at dinner. Great.
So if you're looking for something a little heavier,
talk to me about this summer vegetable plate, what goes on it?
It's, there's more of it, I wouldn't say it's heavier,
but it's uh we have different vegetables.
We have asparagus, corn,
all the vegetables you think about when you think of summer we have tomato,
we have some roasted egg plant
and then we have also the redheaded stepchild of the vegetables okra.
So I'm, I'm on a mission
to make. Uh,
ok, cool. Why don't people like? Ok, I'm a big fan. I love,
it's a, it's a slime thing.
Ok. I get it and
if you cook it right
and really sear it
then it's not, it's not too, too crazy.
So you put something on top of the okra like a weight. How does that help with the sea?
Because it helps to make the contact with the plan.
And the best part about searing vegetables is the,
is that caramelization that kind of brings out the, uh,
the natural sugars of the vegetable.
I know you're a real chef because you are handling it with your hands.
I'm not doing this on purpose.
I forgot my spoon over there, but I'm gonna take it like a champ
and use my fingers and I'm gonna cry on the inside. Yes, sir.
All right. So we have all of
our, uh,
our grilled vegetables. Get that out of the way.
And how long is a good time to throw something on the grill for if you're, I mean,
these are cooked already, we're just making them warm again.
And, um,
you know, if I was cooking them from raw, I would say about five minutes,
you know, you want to, uh, season it with, um,
at least olive oil salt and pepper like this corn.
We throw some Tunisian vegetables, uh spices
just to give it some of that. Uh
North African flair. This right here is, is a avocado.
So it's basically just avocado,
um
lemon juice, garlic
and it just uh
it translates really well, you know,
these ingredients would work obviously with chickpeas,
but it's really nice
with avocado
and it kind of brings part of me,
it brings all the vegetables together.
Well, Chef Ari is gonna continue plating.
And next up, we're gonna try all this delicious food.
You're going to see the finished product and
learn more about Israel and Mediterranean cuisine.
So stay tuned.