re: Finally made it to Shaya, and it was worth the Hype, and $9 for hummus

Four of us went to Shaya last week for the first time for lunch. It wasn't packed, though there were quite a few people on the patio. There were at least 3 or 4 tables inside available and one was a table for 6 and plenty of seating at the bar. Open Table had shown no availability at the time, but we got a reservation through someone we knew there. Guess we didn't need to do that since it never filled up while we were there.

The pita. The pita. That pita. Oh my! Best I've ever had, though I haven't had a lot of homemade pita, but this was just monumentally good. Steam comes out of the middle when it's served. When they say it's hot and to be careful, there's good reason. It stays warm for a pretty good while, too. The pita and tahini hummus alone are good reasons to go there. Delicious. I also love za'atar seasoning, so I liked the za'atar oil served with the pita. I'm not going to repost pics of dishes which have already been posted.

I loved the baba ganoush. I love it, period, but this was so good. It had a slightly smoky and charred flavor, but in a very good way. The waitress said they put the eggplant over the grill and cook until it's all charred on the outside. Then, they take out the meat and make the baba ganoush. Whatever they do, it sure tastes good. We had two orders of it plus one Israeli salad under the 3 for $15 deal. She told us the servings were small and several folks love the baba ganoush which is why we ordered two. The salad was cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley and za'atar dressing of some sort. Really good.

My parents both ordered the duck matzo ball soup to start. The waitress was kind enough to let them know the soup was huge and they should order one bowl which they would divide into two. The divided bowls were huge servings. This was the only downer. They thought the broth was weak and the one matzo ball was way too big and too dense. Wasn't bad, but it wasn't something they really enjoyed or would order again. No pics of it.

One person got the lamb kabob which I tasted. Very good, but not really a kabob. There were no skewers and the texture was more like ground lamb. There was a tomato, pine nut, tahini and cilantro sauce which was very good.



I had small plates of falafel and avocado toast which were not as small as I expected. Thankfully, they were shared. I loved the falafel. It was different from any I've had before. The inside was very green. Really good with the tzatziki sauce.

The avocado toast was a very generous serving with smoked whitefish on top and pink peppercorns. Fresh, pretty and delicious. Just so much food. You can really do a lot of sharing here and come out cheaper than you think.





One of us had the chicken schnitzel sandwich. Yet another huge dish which should be shared if you're eating anything else. The bread was sesame challuh and great. I love sesame seeded bread. It was beautifully toasted to a golden brown on the inside. Looked like it had been lightly buttered before the toasting. It came with a harrissa mayo sauce, but this person is not a mayo sauce fan, so he used more za'atar oil for it which he said was delicious. The fries were not standout other than the seasoning. I couldn't figure it all out and forgot to ask, but it had a good flavor and was not overly salty. May have had some allspice and other type seasoning.


The last dish was the sabich which was on pita with fried eggplant, preserved mango, soft cooked egg, pickles and tahini with a cabbage salad which I don't think had much of anything on it, if at all. Very generous sandwich and enjoyed by that diner. I didn't taste it.


Gin bloody mary was pretty good and nicely dressed.


We shared a dessert of blood orange sorbet made with locally made yogurt with strawberries and blood oranges. Outstanding.

Looking forward to going again.