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February 28, 2006

Miriam: Middle Eastern Fusion in Park Slope

restaurant
Apparently there is such a thing as contemporary israeli cuisine and one of the foremost (if not the only) practitioners of the genre is located on Brooklyn's latest restaurant row, Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. New York Magazine gave the restaurant, named Miriam, a go last week and liked what it saw (or ate, that is). It sounds to us like it's worth a visit:

Despite its ambitious food, Miriam clearly aspires to be an unpretentious neighborhood spot. The service is friendly and unfrazzled, and thanks to what must be the most efficient busboy-runners in all of Brooklyn, astonishingly quick. But you’re still welcome to linger—over a silky halvah mousse, with pistachio halvah crumbled on top, or a bottle of Israeli wine, which Miriam pointedly lists under the “South Europe” designation, alongside affordably priced selections from France, Spain, and Italy. With that sort of globally informed, culinarily sophisticated outlook—proud of its heritage but not enslaved by it—Miriam isn’t only elevating Israeli cuisine. It’s reinventing it.

Who's been?
Helluva Halvah [NY Magazine]




Posted by Brownstoner at 11:07 AM | Comments (23)
Categories: Restaurants

Comments

Very yummy! We've been a few times and once they even had 1/2 price on all bottles of wine.

Posted by: Jesse at February 28, 2006 1:55 PM

i liked this place, though i was a bit distraught when my girlfriend spotted a cockroach making it's way across the glass encasing the bar during a sunady brunch with friends...

Posted by: anon at February 28, 2006 2:31 PM

I live around the corner and give it a "just OK." IMHO, food is nothing to write home about.

Posted by: Anon at February 28, 2006 2:31 PM

this is a really good spot.

Posted by: adn at February 28, 2006 3:09 PM

are palestinians allowed inside without appropriate papers?

Posted by: and? at February 28, 2006 3:14 PM

i'm palestinian. just curious if i'll need to bring id papers with me to gain entry.

Posted by: and? at February 28, 2006 3:15 PM

no papers necessary but apparently you might want to wear an idiotic looking beret lol...

Posted by: Anonymous at February 28, 2006 3:20 PM

yeah, if i ever catch that beret/pretentious wine pouring grip dude on the boulevard, there's going to be a confrontation.

patronizing this place would be akin hitting up a south african themed restaurant in like 1985. so halvah is Israeli now? whoa. i guess boosting the land ain't enough. even dessert items aren't safe from plunder. "hide the sahlab little ahmed, they've come for that too!"

Posted by: and? at February 28, 2006 4:00 PM

Why does this restaurant insist on refered to Isreali food/wine as European.

Isreal is not in Europe it is in the Middle East.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 28, 2006 5:01 PM

Brunch was not so good. And I can second the poster above about the lack of spic and span in the place (although few restaurants can really bear much scrutiny in this regard).

Posted by: Anonymous at February 28, 2006 5:10 PM

and?,

Do you recognize Miriam's right to exist? Would you be satisfied if Miriam withdrew to its pre-1967 borders?

Posted by: linusvanpelt at February 28, 2006 5:18 PM

"and?" will only be satisfied when the place is burned to the ground and everyone associated with it is dead.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 28, 2006 5:34 PM

i would offer comment linus but stipulation 1948-b of the patriot act (no criticizing israeli restaurants) precludes me from doing so. and i fear i've already said too much. in fact i was just jiving earlier. miriam is great, and the israeli tamales (in the southern european style) are to die for.

Posted by: and? at February 28, 2006 5:36 PM

5:34 -

and they say israelophiles get hysterical at even the slightest criticism.

Posted by: and? at February 28, 2006 5:39 PM

5:34 -

whoa! and they say israelis and their supporters get hysterical at even the slightest criticism. with measured, nuanced thinkers like 5:34 representing them, i can't see how that rep ever developed.

Posted by: and? at February 28, 2006 5:43 PM

southern europe ... southern europe ... southern europe ... this would be the height of pretention, but it can't be, because it doesn't make any sense.

geographically, culturally, and, partially, racially, there's nothing to which to pretend.

what a world.

Posted by: suzy at February 28, 2006 6:05 PM

I am Israeli, been to the restaurant, and thought it was just plain old average. Thought the service was a little bit Israeli in a way...i.e. slow and arrogant. That's about all that was Israeli. What the hell is Israeli cuisine anyway? Last time I checked, Israeli cuisine was simply a mishmash of dishes from all around the world -- much like what is served in this restaurant.

Oh, and if the restaurant owner is listening -- please don't try to mask your Israeli restaurant under a "Southern European" label. Makes it sound like you are trying to confuse a bunch of spaniards, italians, greeks and turks. Pathetic.

Posted by: Anon at February 28, 2006 6:24 PM

Most Israeli food, as a matter of fact almost all, is ARABIC food...now having said that I ate lunch at an Israeli spot today and liked it....but if they want to be authentically middle-eastern they should give you the same shitty service you will get in the middle-east

Posted by: Umar at February 28, 2006 6:45 PM

This restaurant is mediocre and over-rated.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 28, 2006 8:03 PM

suzy you don't make any sense

Posted by: Anonymous at March 1, 2006 10:32 AM

"please don't try to mask your Israeli restaurant under a "Southern European" label. Makes it sound like you are trying to confuse a bunch of spaniards, italians, greeks and turks"

riiiight like that is the intention to confuse actual southern Europeans. It would have nothing to do with the fact that israelis want to israel to be categorized as part of Europe and not part of the Middle East.

Its not the Europeans who are confused.

Posted by: Anonymous at March 1, 2006 10:49 AM

there are dozens of better, more "authentic" isaeli restaurants in midwood, sheapshead bay, mill basin, etc.

Posted by: Anonymous at March 1, 2006 10:23 PM

Wow, Thanks! Free Texas Holdem

Posted by: Free Texas Holdem at April 13, 2006 9:21 AM

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