The Bestia and Bavel Chefs on Feasting After the Yom Kippur Fast

For 364 days of the year, Ori Menashe, the self-taught chef of the Los Angeles restaurants Bestia and Bavel, is obsessed with spices and the flavor they bring to food. But there is one day he lays off the seasoning: the meal before the fast of Yom Kippur.

“My dad always says that it makes fasting easier,” he said recently, and he and his family stick with that tradition. “We eat pretty lightly, because you don’t want to stuff yourself before or after a fast.”

They celebrate the High Holy Days together, and most of the time Menashe brings food from his restaurants to one of his sisters’ homes, adding spreads like tzatziki, baba ghanouj and hummus to be served along with their dishes, which may include pumpkin and tomato soup and braised short ribs with pomegranates. But for the meals before and after the fast that marks the Jewish Day of Atonement, they stick to chicken soup, roast chicken with potatoes or a simple beef stew.

Bavel (pronounced Ba-VEL, the Hebrew word for “Babel”), which opened in April, serves Menashe’s Israeli and pan-Middle Eastern cooking. The restaurant has the melancholy honor of being the last reviewed by the late critic Jonathan Gold, who raved about dishes like Menashe’s hummus, colored and spiced with both red North African harissa and green Yemenite zhug (a hot sauce made with fresh herbs), and his braised Wagyu beef tagine with ethereal handmade couscous.

“You can tell he is cooking the food he wanted to cook,” said Nancy Silverton, chef and co-owner of the Mozza restaurants in Los Angeles and beyond, and briefly a boss of Menashe’s. “His flavors are so layered, because he has a great sense of the world of spices and incorporates them into each dish in the wide range of Middle Eastern cuisines.” Menashe was born in Southern California to Israeli parents, who between the two of them had Moroccan, Georgian and Turkish ancestry. When he was 8, his parents sold the two clothing stores they owned and moved back to Israel, where Menashe lived until he was 21. His father loved to cook and both his parents liked to travel, so he and his three siblings were exposed to good cooking at restaurants throughout Europe.

“Growing up, we would travel a lot as a family, and my parents would take us to good restaurants, always paying attention to the taste and direction of the food,” he said. “We also had a lot of big family gatherings where food was the focus. Being exposed to this early expands your thought process.”

After finishing his Israeli military service in 2002, Menashe went with army friends to Argentina, where he did all the cooking. He decided to learn the profession and return to California, where he met Gergis at the now-shuttered restaurant La Terza in Los Angeles.

The daughter of a Coptic Christian, Egyptian-born scientist and a Catholic, Ukrainian-American social worker, Gergis was raised in a secular home. She was hostessing at La Terza when she quit her nascent and not very profitable career as a French horn player.

Menashe left La Terza for Angelini Osteria, where he became sous-chef and then chef de cuisine before leaving to open Bestia in 2012. Gergis, meanwhile, worked in interior design and furniture sales, baking only at home for pleasure.

Once during this period, Gergis brought a walnut shortbread to a memorial service. “I couldn’t get over the cake,” Silverton said. “She is off-the-charts creative. By that one small offering I could tell she was talented.”

When Bestia opened in a warehouse in the Arts District here, Menashe was the chef and Gergis the pastry chef. It was the first time the couple had worked together in the kitchen.

“We both test our dishes and then are right there to give each other immediate feedback,” Gergis said. “Bouncing ideas off each other makes dish creation a little less tedious.”

The restaurant, which paired Menashe’s rustic Italian food with local ingredients in a casual California setting, was a success.

“Bestia gave Ori the confidence to do something from his native cuisine,” Silverton said. “When he was ready to open his own restaurant, his preference was to open Bavel, but he played it safe with Bestia’s Italian California flavors.”

The food at Bavel — which is also located in a warehouse, with an open kitchen with long strands of ivies tumbling down from the ceiling — is more personal to Menashe and more directly connected to his upbringing.

It’s what he would make for his family if he weren’t so busy at his restaurants: for Rosh Hashana, a slow-roasted duck with saffron and preserved lemon; or braised beef cheek with chiles, spices and couscous; and perhaps a grain salad, like a smoked bulgur salad with pomegranates, to break the Yom Kippur fast, even though it’s slightly spicy. (Menashe suggests cooking the bulgur before the fast, so that the salad needs only to be dressed and garnished when it is time to eat.)

Pomegranates, which are mentioned in Deuteronomy, are a sign of plenty throughout the High Holy Days. For dessert, Gergis makes a moist prune-and-apple cake that is flavored with cardamom and cinnamon, a biblical spice; that, too, can be made ahead.

This is the food, Menashe said, that he has always wanted to cook.

“It is part of who I am, part of my journey to being 37 years old,” he said. “It is almost like your autograph.”

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Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Total time: 1 1/2 hours

1/2 large yellow Spanish onion, peeled and quartered

1 celery stalk, halved crosswise

1 small carrot, peeled and halved crosswise

3 fresh bay leaves (or use 1 dried)

1 Fresno or Serrano chile, halved lengthwise

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 pound coarse bulgur (about 2 2/3 cups)

For the vinaigrette:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon minced shallot

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

For assembly:

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

4 tablespoons finely diced red onion

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

16 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces

Kosher salt and black pepper

1/2 cup crème fraîche

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1 Serrano chile, seeded and finely minced

4 tablespoons fresh dill, finely snipped

1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses

1. Prepare the bulgur: In a large, dry heavy pan over high heat, use tongs to char the onion, celery, carrot, bay leaves and chile until completely burnt, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add 8 cups of water and the salt, and cook until reduced by half, about 25 minutes.

2. Put the bulgur in a large bowl. Strain and pour the hot charred vegetable stock over the bulgur. Stir the bulgur and cover with plastic wrap until all the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. (Drain the bulgur if there is any water left in the bowl.) This will yield about 8 cups bulgur. (You can use extra bulgur for a side dish, toss it into salads, like tabbouleh, or add it to soups.)

3. Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette: Mix the vinegar and shallot in a small bowl and set aside for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking until the dressing is emulsified.

4. Assemble the salad: In a large bowl, mix 6 cups of the bulgur, the pomegranate seeds, walnuts, red onion, mint and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the vinaigrette and toss until just incorporated, but don’t overmix. Taste and adjust the salt as needed.

5. In a small bowl, stir together the crème fraîche, garlic, chile and dill and spread the mixture on the bottom of a serving platter. Pile the salad on top and finish with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses and a pinch more pepper.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Total time: 45 minutes, plus at least 1 hour for soaking prunes

1 cup (170 grams) lightly packed chopped prunes

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (270 milliliters) good apple cider

1 cup (170 grams) grated apple (Pink Lady or other tart variety, peeled, grated and firmly packed)

7 tablespoons (100 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for buttering the pan

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (145 grams) all-purpose flour

1/3 cup (40 grams) einkorn flour (or use whole wheat pastry flour)

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

2 1/2 teaspoons cardamom

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup (92 grams) packed muscovado sugar, or 1/2 cup (110 grams) light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

Whipped cream, crème fraîche or ice cream for serving (optional)

1. Put the prunes in a medium bowl and pour in the apple cider. Let soak at room temperature for at least 1 hour or, if longer, refrigerate up to overnight.

2. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, simmer the soaked prunes and cider for 15 to 20 minutes until the prunes are soft and mostly broken down. Set aside and let cool to room temperature, then stir in the grated apples.

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees and generously butter a 9-inch cake pan. In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and cinnamon.

4. In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, then add the vanilla extract and mix until combined. Scrape down the bowl once again, and add the eggs one at a time, scraping down in between each addition. Alternate adding half the prune mixture, then half the flour mixture, to the stand mixer bowl, starting with wet and ending with dry, scraping down between each addition. Take care not to overmix.

5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs and no wet batter. Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert onto a plate. Invert again onto a serving plate and serve warm with whipped cream, crème fraîche or ice cream, if you’d like.