This Tarzana Food Truck Delivers Some of LA's Most Compelling New Israeli Cuisine

Israeli food is trending in Los Angeles right now with high-profile, full-service restaurants like Bavel, Kismet, and Mizlala celebrating the tiny Middle Eastern country's robust flavors. Other chefs and restaurateurs have taken the movement to the streets. Tarzana-based Burekas Plus may be the best of a new wave of Israeli food trucks that also includes nearby Falafel on Wheels, Hummus Yummy, and Pickles & Peas.

Burekas Plus owner Shevi Rubinstein worked for famous Tel Aviv chef Haim Cohen in the pastry department at a restaurant called Dixie. She draws on her family's sixth-generation bureka recipe for the truck, a breakout hit after just seven months on the road, with steady crowds including many Israelis.

The flaky, savory phyllo pastry is substantial at Burekas Plus, stuffed with either cheese, spinach & cheese, cheese & olive, or potato. At noon, they were down to just one bureka ($7) filled with briny feta cheese and green olives. Edges formed crispy cheese skirts during the baking process. The top comes studded with black and white sesame seeds. Each plate comes with sliced hard-boiled egg, punchy pickles, nutty tahini, a tomato slurry folded with olive oil, and house hot sauce spiked with schug, a fierce, herbaceous Yemeni condiment.

Shaul Rubinstein, the food truck's frontman and a character in the best sense of the word, has strong opinions about food. He's dismissive of anybody who takes shortcuts or uses lesser ingredients. When asked if anybody's copied them yet, Shaul says, "Nobody can do what we do because they don't want to do the work." He singled out burekas as especially painstaking to make. Every morning, his wife gets up before dawn to shape and bake.

Hummus with falafel comes as a plate or in pita. Each plate ($10) hosts six garbanzo bean fritters with delicate crusts flecked with cilantro and garlic. They stay soft for at least 30 minutes, not that anybody in their right mind would let them sit around that long. Shaul said lesser falafel will harden quickly due to bread filler, whereas his wife's version is pure and maintains integrity.

The accompanying hummus was also a revelation, impressively creamy, made with classic chickpeas, tahini, garlic, and lemon juice. She takes the added step of using a chinois to get the hummus so smooth. Tahini lashings, an olive oil drizzle, chopped cilantro and more schug helped to fill out the floral plate.

Sabich ($8) is a signature Israeli sandwich that's particularly good at Burekas Plus. They import thick, fluffy pita from Israeli, slice open the top, and fill to bursting with hummus, tahini, fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, crunchy cubed cucumber, tart pickles, chopped tomato, and scallions. Add amba, the pickled mango slurry, for kick.

Everybody loves a good off-menu dish, and Burekas Plus serves a secret dessert. The magic word is malabi. The milk-based custard is similar to panna cotta, and particularly creamy at this food truck, topped with crushed pistachios, fluffy shredded coconut, and a fragrant sugar syrup crafted with rose water. Mix to integrate the different flavors and textures. Shaul shuns lesser malabi, which use powdered custard and watery store-bought sauce. Apparently, this sweet secret is out, since Burekas Plus sells 30 to 40 orders per day.

Shaul Rubinstein is a longtime restaurateur who's had success in Israel and on both American coasts, including an Italian restaurant in Jacksonville. He's returned to his roots by teaming with his talented wife. The couple initially parked down Ventura Boulevard at Bank of America, but relocated to a side street next to an Office Depot, still visible to drivers in a space that lets them stay put during rush hour from 4 to 7 p.m., when parking spaces become tow zones.

Good food - fast

After a long day at work, it might seem easier to zap a frozen dinner in the microwave than to cook something on the stove.

But it doesn't have to be that way, said Leslie Cerier, an Amherst-based vegetarian chef and educator with more than 40 years of cooking experience.

"For me, it's about being creative, flexible and stocked," she said.

Cerier, 65, runs the blog "The Organic Gourmet" and has taught culinary workshops around the world, as well as locally, at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge and for the Northeast Organic Farming Association in Amherst. She has also published several cook books.

In her own cupboard, Cerier said she stocks quick-cooking grains like kasha, amaranth, roasted buckwheat, quinoa and teff, a fine grain about the size of poppy seeds. Those grains are particularly good for fast meals because they're packed with protein and carbohydrates on their own, she said. Red lentils are another good option.

Using those staples, Cerier said she can make seemingly complex dishes like coconut curry lentils and quinoa pasta with cilantro pesto in about 15 minutes.

"I'm always thinking about nutrient-dense, nutritious food," she said. And if a dish doesn't have enough protein or carbohydrates on its own, she adds in seeds, nuts or vegetables.

"If I make eggs, sometimes I'll make an omelet with veggies and cheese, and that's delicious and quick. Or if I fry up two sunny side eggs and put some dulse next to it, and have that with chai tea, I'm pretty happy."

Buy in bulk so there's always something in the cupboard, she advised. And to maximize the shelf-life of grains, which can keep for months at a time, she suggested moving uncooked grains into progressively smaller and smaller jars as they're used to minimize oxidation.

To add flavor, Cerier stocks a diverse array of spices and herbs that include parsley, rosemary, dill, thyme, dried cayenne, fennel seeds, coriander, cumin, curry powder, black pepper and high quality sea salt, to name a few. Herbs and spices can be a good way to reinvent familiar dishes, Cerier said.

"That helps me make the same meal twice if I want to, or change it," she continued.

Planning ahead and incorporating leftovers into future meals is equally important. Don't think of leftovers as another round of the same meal, Cerier said. Instead, think of them as ingredients for the next meal.

"Let's say I just made a pot of beans. One way to make a new dish with those beans is to turn those beans into a dip, a stew, or add them to a salad," she said. "I could get local organic tortillas, refry them with spices and eat them as a taco with cilantro."

Ultimately, Cerier said cooking fast requires an understanding of each individual ingredient and its cooking attributes.

"For me, I'm very sensual - I want to taste it, smell it, see it, engage with the food, and then, when I have a relationship with the food, be quick with it," Cerier said.

To that end, Cerier said it's important to experiment with flavor combinations, try new foods and learn to enjoy the process.

"So many people who come to my class have never tasted amaranth, or made a peanut sauce. (Students) will immediately leave class and go shopping. All of a sudden, they're tasting things they've never had," Cerier said. "People should always cook from their hearts. Your joy of cooking is also the nutrition."

Coconut Curried Red Lentil Soup

The red palm oil and red lentils give this soup a beautiful orange color, Cerier said. Feel free to use any greens you like - spinach, collards, kale, mustard greens or even nettles. You can also swap ghee or extra virgin coconut oil for the red palm oil.

Fun meets flavor by way of food trucks

The aroma of delicious food and sweet treats filled the air Aug. 22 as the parking lot at St Ann Catholic Church hosted several food trucks and hungry customers. Food vendors included La Bete, Slideways and Scoop's Ice Cream Truck.

Patricia Clements, the education director at St. Ann, organized the weekly event over three years ago.

“I was familiar with several of the Baptist churches in Richmond, and they were doing food courts on Wednesday nights. I knew a couple of the folks who ran them, and they said it was a real good [way to] build the community and support local businesses. It wasn't meant to be a money maker, but to be neighborly,” she said.

The event takes place every Wednesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. during the summer months. “We always have two entree trucks and one dessert truck,” Clements said.
The community also gains from hosting the event.

“We ask the trucks when they have a really profitable night, if they could give a donation to the youth activities scholarship fund, and they usually will. Our youth wins, and the trucks do as well,” she said.

A frequenter at the St. Ann food court, La Bete grilled and fried dozens of meals last week.

La Bete means “the beast” in French, and their slogan, “Sate your Beastly Appetite.” The food truck is owned by Randy Boodram and operated by his sister, Krystal Saywak, and a friend, Akeem Hendrickson.

Boodram and his sister grew up in New York before moving into the Richmond area. Here they worked on their family-owned food truck before opening their own four months ago to service the Chesterfield area.

“We're trying to make a name for ourselves, trying to keep business local,” Boodram noted. “I am self-taught. I never went to culinary school. I had to learn all of this stuff. Growing up in New York, I got competitive and I wanted to grow. My high school was outside of a farmers market, and I enjoyed that a lot.”

La Bete's menu is mainly Caribbean, Creole and “New American” flavors. They have a wide variety on the menu that includes beer battered fried chicken, mac ‘n' cheese and chipotle steak tacos, but the crowd favorite seems to be the braised oxtails.

“Our menu changes every night [in order to] keep it interesting and seasonal,” Boodram said. “All of our dishes are inspired from traveling and trying new things.”

Another popular food truck is Scoop's Ice Cream. Scoop's is owned and operated by Sandy Farnam, who often gets help from her daughter and granddaughter. Farnam specializes in selling Hershey frozen goodies and offers more than eight flavors of ice cream for those who like sweet treats.

Similar to Boodram, Farnam started from scratch. “I bought a truck, and I did a lot of this myself,” she said. “It was a lot of hard work, but it was fun.”

Although Farnam has been in business for over two years, she wasn't originally in the food business. “I sold real estate for 30 years, and I still flip houses, but [owning a food truck] is fun. Everybody smiles. This is so rewarding,” she said.

Slideways serves sliders and gourmet french fries and is based in Richmond.