Yosef: Another chef who gave up the Choponi and understood the spirit of the times
Chef Yossi Shetrit (no, not the one from the TV, it's from David and Yosef) leaves behind all the Choponi promoters of the past in his new place in favor of a lack of pretension and a great deal of modesty, in the spirit of the times
My father Efrati
06/10/2022
Thursday, 06 October 2022, 07:30 Updated: 07:42
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Yosef, in the spirit of the era (Photo: Gil Aviram)
The name Yossi Shetrit is immediately linked to the famous and respected chef, the one who at the time led Meshia and the Kitchen Market, who flashed on the screens in every home and has been leading the luxury restaurant Hiba since last winter. But besides the above, hereafter Yossi Shetrit A., there is another Yossi Shetrit, this who for quite a few years, together with David Almakais, led David and Yosef on Montefiore Street in Tel Aviv, in the space where the Trigger meat restaurant currently operates.
David and Yosef was a prestigious and expensive restaurant, whose parking services were used by cars, the price of each of which was the same as the sum of the price of five new family cars, at least.
At its current stop, Yosef, a small restaurant on Jeremiah Street, leaves behind all the memorable Choponi promoters of David and Yosef in favor of a lack of pretentiousness and a great deal of modesty, in the spirit of the times.
Yosef has a really tiny interior space and most of the seating is on the sidewalk, facing the street.
More than a restaurant, this is a neighborhood food bar.
A perusal of the menu quickly makes the pretentious modesty clear.
It has a few mezets, a few dishes in the "vegetables" category, not a lot of options in the "flavors" section, most of them in the proportion of an intermediate dish whose pricing stops before the 70 shekel mark, not even a single "main" one.
We ordered inside but it's a little less hot and humid now, at least in the evening, and it seemed like most of the fun was happening at the outside tables, so we sat there.
The profile of the diners is not necessarily young, and in any case, more than the energy of a trendy place where everyone wants to be seen, the vibe was more neighborhood-like, a place to get to in flip-flops.
Maggi Tomato Carpaccio and Manchego Truffle (Photo: Gil Aviram)
We started with
Matbucha and confit garlic
(NIS 22),
hot peppers
(NIS 18),
sourdough bread
(NIS 22) and
anchovy bruschetta
(NIS 36), all from the Mazet wing.
The cuisine was nice, moderately spicy, homey and real.
The sourdough bread was nothing more than okay, we already ate impressive amounts of it.
The marinated anchovy bruschetta, with herbs, tomatoes and sour cream, was really tasty.
It is evident that it was handled with a good hand and the salty-sour-creamy-crisp combinations worked well and correctly.
Everything we have eaten so far has been very far from the ambition that characterized Sheetrit and his professional partner Almakais in David and Yosef.
In fact, it is really home-made food.
So was the next dish:
Maggi tomato carpaccio and truffle Manchego
(44 shekels).
Thin Maggi slices topped with lots of grated cheese and extra delicious olive oil made another dish that you can actually make at home, with a serious knife, a skillful hand and a choice of good ingredients.
This is not said to diminish.
It was a delicious and fun dish to eat.
We continued to
spicy spaghetti
(NIS 68) and
a shawarma roll
(68 NIS).
The spaghetti, an appetizer size, had tuna ortiz, cilantro and a soft-boiled egg and was fine.
The noodles arrived al dente, the semi-soft egg came out of cooking just in time, the tuna gave a touch of the sea and the cilantro had a little spin.
Why only ok then?
Because it didn't rise to the level of "really delicious" like the one we met in the Maggi tomato dish in Manchego for example, nor to that of the anchovy bruschetta.
We chewed it and finished it.
It's hard to say that we suffered, but we also didn't find any uniqueness in it.
The tuna could have been made stronger, the spicy as well, and something in the combination stopped somewhere and didn't really rise to Mediterranean spaghetti at its best.
It seems that the man in charge of the kitchen can do a little more than that.
The same feeling was also present in the shawarma roll.
Not turkey-based shawarma, but plump beef-based, most likely stir-fried (as opposed to spinning on a large skewer), seasoned with the right spices and not bad in taste, wrapped in a taco circle.
The dish arrived wrapped in paper, divided in two, without any extras.
In order to balance its flavors and make it a little more than what it is, it was necessary to add some leaves, some vegetables or both - a little parshiht addition that would give another dimension to the familiar strong shawarma seasoning flavors.
There is no escape from returning again to what was already written once above: not that we suffered, but it is clear that a little more could have been done.
Last week
Finally there is a place here like the real folk taverns in Greece
To the full article
Spicy spaghetti (Photo: Gil Aviram)
There weren't many options for dessert and we went for the
Tricold cake
(NIS 42), a small taste of which resulted in both of us raising our eyebrows.
About the food so far, one can certainly argue whether a little more effort should have been put into it or if that's the way it was.
The triple was not up for debate.
It was not related in any way to what was presented before it, was probably purchased and not prepared on the spot and was much more than just awkward in its qualities.
Three layers of chocolate covered in a viscous, not entirely edible, completely puzzling layer that evoked associations with desserts from more primitive eras of the local food scene.
A catastrophe whose place will not be recognized in a restaurant.
The summary of the meal at Yosef will try to skip over this delusional tricold and treat it as an exception that does not indicate the rule.
Yosef is a neighborhood food bar.
The food served there is home-style Mediterranean.
In the best moments it is a cute food of its kind, which reveals a cook who knows what he is doing.
At other moments the palate asks for something more and finds it difficult not to feel a certain lack.
It is indisputable that Shatrit has been modest here, even though there is more to his hands and mind than that.
He obviously chose this minimal modesty.
On the one hand, modesty is good and it also allows, among other things, eye-level pricing.
On the other hand, it seems that a little more precision is required in the tuning.
It is possible and necessary to keep the core of the place, the one that is not aimed high, but give something more to add a little more specific weight, added culinary value.
It's nice to leave a place and leave 310 shekels (before liquids and service), but for us it would have been fine to leave a few tens of shekels and get a little more chef.
As a sympathetic neighborhood place, Yosef does its part.
If I lived nearby I would be happy to go down to it in flip-flops, for a glass of wine and a plate or two.
In order for it to become relevant even for those who do not live nearby, more is needed than what is there now.
As mentioned, it is clear that Shatrit is capable of this, but it is a matter of tuning a little differently.
Until that happens, there is no escape from stating, with a certain degree of sadness, that this is a place that only partially realizes the potential inherent in it.
Yosef, Yeremiahu 22 Tel Aviv
invoice:
Sourdough bread - 22
Metbucha and garlic confit - 22
Hot peppers - 18
Anchovy bruschetta - 36
Maggi tomato carpaccio - 44
Spicy spaghetti - 68
Shawarma roll - 68
Tricold cake - 48
Demi Haliza - 60
Total: 387
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