A Dinner for two at Tommy’s

Tommy’s is a small and cool venue located on Keren Kayemet st in the heart of Jerusalem. The reason I found this little joint is because I happened to have stumbled upon a Facebook contest that they where holding. And I won a dinner for two at the restaurant, So the one night me and my wife had free, (literally) and went to check it out.

Tommy’s is a small hole in the wall type of joint that make most of the food in house, like the salads and sides. The seating area is located outdoors but there is still an element of privacy because there are no seats on the street, mainly on the patio.

So we looked at the menu, and it really emphasized the name of the place” sophisticated street food”. Everything they serve has a little twist and isn’t your run of the mill fast food joint. The menu is composed mainly of grilled meats, but also have different types of dishes on their specials menu. The chef also made it clear that they cook their hamburgers on the flattop, and that got me excited!

After browsing the menu and talking to the chef about what to order, we ordered a hot pullet salad(pargiyot) salad, an entricote hamburger,  for the sides we ordered a blooming onion that’s made in-house, and sweet potato fries with pink lemonade.

Because i’m a gentelmen I’ll start with what my wife ordered. The pargiyot saladwas really good. It wasn’t your run of the mill salad with just chicken and vegetable, it came with bulgar, arugula, sweet potato,  and the chicken itself stood out by being packed with flavor. One of the better salads I’ve had at a fast food restaurant. The entricote burger was done like I asked, medium. It was very juicy and full of meaty goodness. I asked for some coleslaw on the  side and it made the burger taste even better. The sides were a bit dissapionting though. The blooming onion was a mess and very hard to eat and lacked seasoning. The sweet potato fries weren’t crispy, it needed to be fried twice like a pomme fritte otherwise it just gets soggy, like in our case. what really rounded out the meal was the pink lemonade that was perfectly mixed and had a great balance between sweet and sour like a good lemonade should have.

All in all it was a very good experience and you will find me returning there to enjoy another meal. but trying  different things too!

A carnivores dream sandwich at Carne

  Carne Carne is a fun place for foodie who enjoy two things: a great sandwich, and really good beef. Carne has been able to create this match made in heaven. The only competition that I see that they really is Just Meat on the Ben Yehudah Midrachov, but I feel that they are very different in approach and in price. Carne (rabbanut Yerushalayim) is run by two young guys who like to make sandwiches, and make sure the customers are happy. For the full experience you need to let them build you the sandwich, let the artists do their work. Located in an alley between Ben Sira street and Ben Shatach street, the restaurant is very small, not to many places to sit, but you can either sit on one of the 2 tables outside, or on the bar. The menu there is pretty simple: Entricote, chicken, homemade sausages and for those who for some reason don’t eat meat, they have a grilled portobello sandwich as well. The regular sides of fries, potato wedges and onion rings, but they didn’t have onion rings available the day I went.  I met a foodie friend from my Israeli Foodies group group Neil Gillman who also has a blog, and a great perspective on food and life. We decided to order 2 sandwiches and try the: Entricote and the homemade sausages with a side of fries and potato wedges. I feel that any time a restaurant offers something made in-house like potato wedges, they will always be better than something frozen or processed. We also asked the owner to make the sandwiches with the whatever he thinks is best. So, how good can a sandwich be? Um, amazing! Well the entricote was amazing. The meat was full of flavor and cooked really nicely, the gepata bun with a nice crunch on the outside, the fresh vegetables and really nice sauces to compliment it all. The homemade sausages had very nice texture but the sandwich itself was lacking. It was missing that kick you get from spice in the sausage, and he didn’t put in mustard. Once we added a bit of heat it took it to a much higher level. Sometimes all a sandwich needs, is a nice kick in the taste buds! The fries were generic but the wedges were very nice. Oh , and the gherkins(the really small pickles) were a delightful compliment to the sandwich as well. The prices weren’t bad as well. To get a very fulfilling and satisfying meal for 60 shekel in my opinion is very reasonable. In my opinion, Carne offers a really great sandwich for those who are looking for some really great street food!