Miznon restaurant. (Photo by Toosu via Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Last May, Shani opened the latest addition to his NYC restaurant group: The aptly named Shmon\u00e9, which is located on West Eighth St. \u2014 \u201cshmon\u00e9\u201d is eight in Hebrew. The restaurant\u2019s fresh approach \u2014 it features a new menu daily \u2014 landed Shani in the Michelin guide for the first time ever earlier this year, nominated for coveted star status. According to Michelin, \u201cthis small, sleek space punches way above its weight with dazzling Neo-Levantine cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very, very happy for that, [but] I\u2019m not focusing on getting Michelin stars,\u201d Shani told the New York Jewish Week.<\/p>\n
In fact, though he takes pride in all his restaurants \u2014 and voices enthusiasm for every culinary feat \u2014 Shani doesn\u2019t believe Shmon\u00e9 is \u201chis most creative spot.\u201d And yet, he said Shmon\u00e9 is a very personal place to him, one of his most beloved restaurants. Ever the raconteur, he spoke about the energy that he puts into his food there and the harmony that results. \u201cYou need the magic,\u201d he said. \u201cI cannot explain it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As with all his restaurants, Shmon\u00e9 has an open kitchen, which allows diners to observe the \u201cfood choreography,\u201d as he called it. \u201cI\u2019m not cooking without a precise address,\u201d he said. \u201cI will cook for you when I see you. I am cooking for your eyes. If I cannot see you, I\u2019m not cooking for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local sourcing and farm-fresh ingredients play a key role, too \u2014 something that Shani sees as very Israeli. \u201c[Our ancestors] used to eat very pure, very close to the earth,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you serve pure food to people it reminds them of something that\u2019s exciting them.\u201d The staff at Shmon\u00e9 comb the Union Square Greenmarket for fresh produce, while their chicken is sourced from a small farm in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Shmon\u00e9\u2019s menu is divided into categories by \u201ccreature\u201d \u2014 though Shani utilizes an unconventionally broad definition of the word, including not only animal life but produce, breads and desserts. A \u201cwheat creature\u201d could be focaccia with sour cream; an \u201cearth creature\u201d could be tomato ovaries and green chili or a \u201cstretchy stracciatella lasagna\u201d served in a pyrex tray. Shani\u2019s distinctive sense of humor is evident throughout the menu; for example, Shmon\u00e9 previously served a dish called \u201cI think I\u2019ve managed to make a better mashed potato than [renowned French Chef Joel] Robuchon and it\u2019s vegan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shani, 64, was born in Jerusalem and now lives in Tel Aviv. A self-trained chef who had studied cinematography, he cited a few inspirations for his career, though a major one was his vegan grandfather, who lived upstairs. Shani\u2019s grandfather served him raw food, juices and salads and, in taking Shani to vineyards and markets, taught him to appreciate the purity of vegetables and fruit.<\/p>\n
After his army service, Shani traveled for two years in Europe. But when a girl broke his heart, he returned to Israel and lived on a friend\u2019s farm in the north. It was there that he decided to become a chef. \u201cI lived there for a year like a priest \u2014 I ate from the fields and drank the water that I took from the ground,\u201d he said. \u201cOne day, there were some hunters who were my friends and they came to bring me four porcupines. I lit the fire and ate [them], drank two bottles of wine and fell asleep in the middle of the field. I woke up in the morning and decided that all I wanted to do was cook.\u201d<\/p>\n
After painting houses for a while, Shani got a job in 1988 at Hotel HaSharon\u2019s restaurant in the Herzylia Pituah neighborhood of Tel Aviv. He admitted he did not know how to cook but promised to work hard. Once he advanced to sous chef, the future restaurateur could be found racing to the parking lot to refer to the Julia Child cookbook he had tucked away in his car.<\/p>\n
In 1989, Shani opened his first restaurant, Oceanus, in Jerusalem. A small, 24-seat space, it offered bouillabaisse, focaccia, fish and salad, and it was there that Shani began to really hone his skills. It closed after 11 years and was followed by Ocean in Tel Aviv, open for two years. Then, in 2008 he and his partner, Shahar Segal, opened the trendy, high-end HaSalon in Tel Aviv, serving up modern takes on Israeli cuisine with some Italian influences. This was the start of his restaurant empire in Israel; soon HaSalon was followed by the casual Miznon and seven others.<\/p>\n
After he established himself solidly as a force in Israel, Shani expanded the Miznon chain to Paris in 2013, then Vienna in 2016, followed by Singapore, Melbourne and, eventually, New York, where Shani said he was seduced by the city\u2019s exciting, vast and diverse food scene, calling it \u201cthe essence of American culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, Shani said he feels challenged to upend New Yorkers\u2019 culinary expectations. \u201cWhen they are putting walls around me it\u2019s seducing me, it\u2019s seducing me to break them,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s my nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Cox9VcYv9kn\/<\/p>\n
From that first Miznon outpost at Chelsea Market, Shani expanded to eight restaurants across Manhattan, including a two-story Miznon North sit-down restaurant on the Upper West Side in 2019. (One Miznon branch has since closed.) That same year he opened HaSalon on Tenth Ave., where he serves dishes like \u201cHell\u2019s Chicken\u201d (a play on the neighborhood, Hell\u2019s Kitchen), and a hand-rolled 12-foot pici pasta noodle, inspired by the notion that everything in New York is big and presented on a large scale.<\/p>\n
Shani opened Naked Tomato, a skewer restaurant with generous salad accompaniments, in Hudson Yards during the pandemic. There, he became notorious for serving a single tomato on a plate for $24, inspired by a \u201cperfect tomato\u201d that he came across in an upstate New York greenhouse. \u201cIf a dish is a sentence, my culinary sentence is one word and that is the subject,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I\u2019m doing something with tomato, it will only be tomato: no sauces to warp it, cover it or mask it. You have to serve it completely naked. You are standing completely naked in front of your plate, in front of your audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shani explained that, with each new restaurant he opens, he visits each location and tries \u201cto get some signals.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can feel the environment, I see my team, I\u2019m looking at the architecture, absorbing the atmosphere, the energy, the vibe of the place,\u201d he told the New York Jewish Week. \u201cIt\u2019s like a new ingredient coming to me and something inside myself assembling [assembles] them into the shape of a new restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shani says he immerses himself fully into the process of opening a new place. \u201cI\u2019m there and all the outer world disappears, all the noises are cut and I\u2019m completely focused on one thing, and that is the only thing that exists in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the new places keep coming: Since 2021, Shani has opened restaurants in Toronto, London, Miami and Boston, and, most recently, Dubai. Currently in the works are expansions to Amsterdam, Mexico City, Barcelona and Zurich, and two more New York eateries are also coming soon: a Miznon outpost uptown at 2895 Broadway, near Columbia University, as well as a \u201cgastro bar\u201d called Port Said, which is slated to open at 350 Hudson St. this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you are establishing a restaurant you cannot change it anymore \u2014 it\u2019s got its own character,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause I\u2019m changing all the time, I\u2019m opening restaurants all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the recent Michelin nod, even though it was for a New York-based restaurant, Shani said it was \u201cone of the most wonderful things that can happen for Israel,\u201d as it will continue to enhance the country\u2019s reputation as a culinary destination.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsraeli cuisine started 70 years ago \u2014 it began without roots in any tradition,\u201d he said. \u201cNothing is shaping them besides their ideas and imagination. Israelis are importing ideas and then shaping them in their own way, and that makes the cuisine so special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shani is not shy about the impact he has made when it comes to introducing Israeli food to the world. \u201cI\u2019m the godfather of Israeli cuisine,\u201d he said. \u201cThe main structure of Israeli food was built by me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, no matter the price point or location of his various restaurants, Shani believes his food brings people joy. \u201cI think it\u2019s about giving happiness to people, he said. \u201cThat is my cuisine.\u201d<\/p>\n
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