Fantastic Falafel and Flavorful Chicken Shawarma and Pargiot - Legit Israeli Street Food at Ta-Eem Grill! [Thoughts + Pics]

Is the maximalist approach to schwarma in its various forms (heavy on salads, sauces, fries, etc) specific to Israeli cuisine? I’m a big chicken schwarma fan but don’t live near ta-eem or TAG and usually find myself in places like Skaf’s, Carousel or even zankou in a pinch, which all seem to have a much simpler take. It’s probably my fault when ordering but i’ve found both Ta-eem and TAG to be sort of overwhelming, flavor wise, compared to what i’m used to.

Hi @ronsilverado,

I’m not an expert, but at Ta-Eem, you can customize your order if you didn’t know. After ordering, e.g., a Chicken Shawarma Pita / Laffa, etc., you can turn to your right and tell the staff there if you want (or don’t want) various Israeli Salads / Toppings / Sauces.

If you order it in full Plate form, all items are served on the side, letting you build what you want, so you could have it minimal and slowly experiment and add whichever Salads / Veggies / Sauces that fit your taste. :slight_smile:

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I agree they are totally maximalist compared to the other places you mention.
I wonder if it is more about “trendiness” than “Israeliness?”
For example, I often go to Habayit on Pico, which is very Israeli, but not at all maximalist compared to these newer-comers.

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Do you mean roasted eggplant? If so, they have that at Ta-eem too. I always ask for it on my laffa.

Very much so. Not unique, but a common feature of Israeli-style places. It’s why I prefer them for shawarma and falafel.

No it’s definitely an Israeli thing and has been for a long time. I like Habayit but one of the reasons I don’t go there more often is the lack of salad options besides Israeli salad and cole slaw.

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good to know
thanks

Has anyone found a good way to turn this into a leftover portion? Mixing it all up and then going to town yields poor results the day after.

Yes I regularly take a box and split a Ta-eem plate into two meals if I’m eating by myself. For a shawerma plate they always give you two pitas. At the restaurant I usually eat around 1.5 to two pitas worth of food (slicing them in half to make pita pockets), with the salads, shawerma, hummus, hot sauce, pickles stuffed into the pitas as small pita sandwiches.

If I’m taking it home, I always ask for an additional pita at the start of the meal, so depending on how hungry I was I will have either one pita or 1.5 pitas remaining for to go. I take their to go box and usually put two side salads in each of the “side dish” portions of the styrofoam container (usually its roasted eggplant, baba ganous on one side and cumin/curry carrots, and roasted beets on the other side). Then I put my leftover hummus on one side of the “main dish” container with the leftover chicken meat in the middle and then I place the cucumber/tomato/cabbage salads on the other side. They also give you a small quarter pita at the bottom of your chicken to sop up all the water from the cucumber/tomato salad, sometimes I keep that to block any additional fluid from running into my chicken. If I don’t have any hot suace remaining I ask for a side of red harissa sauce to go

The next day I toast the pitas in my toaster oven and heat up the chicken on my stove and make more pitas/eat the rest of the leftovers. I don’t recommend mixing any of the meal and then taking it home as leftovers.

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As hungryhippos explained—keep all of the different items separated to store overnight, then heat up the chicken and pita and add the cold salads/spreads to create a new pita “sandwich” or mix and match the salad with bites of the hot chicken and pita.

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Precise!

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I am stunned - stunned! - by how thick and fluffy those pita look. If I had a chance I’d want to know what bakery they came from :wink:

The restaurant looks awesome and perfect for the “I want tons of happy food today, and enough that I can have a fun meal tomorrow.”

Thank you for posting!

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Hi @Happybaker,

Yah, the visuals already look good, wait till you try the Pitas! :slight_smile: So, so good! Hope you get a chance to try it.

Hi @hungryhungryhippos,

Awesome advice! :grin:

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They are quite fluffy and delicious! This, too, is an Israel-style thing. You should be able to find similar pitas at the kosher bakeries on Pico. I’ll try to get a specific rec …

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Tell Aviv Grill. $14.95 for a plate. And a dollar for another pita. I think I’ll get the falafel pita next time ($7.95).

Leftover:

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Since there are so many mentions of Tel Aviv Grill here, I’ve added my thoughts on Tel Aviv Grill from the Weekend Roundup visit we had.

Tel Aviv Grill

And we finally made it out to Tel Aviv Grill. After hearing so many good things about it, and after having had a paradigm shift on what great Chicken Shawarma and Falafel could be like at Ta-Eem Grill, it felt like a great time to try Tel Aviv Grill to compare.

The menu and ordering seems very similar to Ta-Eem: You walk up and order at the register, they have a large flat-screen TV displaying the menu, and it looked like every single table had either Chicken Shawarma or Falafel (which is what we wanted to taste test anyways). :smile:

All of their proteins & Falafel could be ordered (like at Ta-Eem) in Pita, Baguette, Laffa or Plate form.

After ordering, you walk up to the counter area and point out which Israeli Salads you’d like to include with you order.

Chicken Shawarma Plate:

Their Chicken Shawarma Plate is a huge order, with loads of Chicken Shawarma directly cut from the vertical spit, but unlike Ta-Eem Grill, Tel Aviv doesn’t grill / sear the Chicken afterwards.

Sampling each of the Israeli Salads, they are fresh, pretty tasty, but they lack the distinct separation that Ta-Eem’s Salads have. For example, at Ta-Eem Grill, the Spiced Carrot Salad is very unique tasting and standout against their other Salads. Same for the amazing Red Cabbage Salad, crunchy, creamy, and distinctly spiced. These separations help to tease the palate and it makes the dishes even more enjoyable.

The ones at Tel Aviv are fresh, but the flavors seem to blend easily together.

Their Chili Sauce (which looks like the equivalent to Ta-Eem’s Harissa) is fine, but it lacks that distinct vibrant layering that makes Ta-Eem’s Housemade Harissa and Housemade Skhug so fantastic! They really elevate the dishes there.

One distinct difference at Tel Aviv Grill (thanks @CiaoBob @Ns1 for the tip), is that they provide a giant plate of French Fries & Roasted Eggplant, in addition to the Israeli Salads. :open_mouth:

It’s a bit crazy at first (most place might charge you for the amount of Fries and Roasted Eggplant), but it’s all complimentary here, which is a nice touch.

The Fries, even though they are fresh-cooked, are on the soft side (sort of like In-N-Out Fries (cooked once)). :frowning: It’s not bad, but not really “amazing” Fries. The Roasted Eggplant is fantastic though! :slight_smile: Perfectly roasted through and soft, they add a nice layer to each bite.

The Pita Bread at Tel Aviv is thankfully also great (like Ta-Eem), fluffy and fresh tasting. :slight_smile: However, while it’s served warm, that’s all it is. Ta-Eem’s Pita is slightly toasted (but still fluffy, airy on the inside), so you get a bit of textural contrast when you get a bite of the Shawarma, Falafel, etc. with the Pita and Israeli Salads. At Tel Aviv Grill, it’s still nice, but there’s no textural contrast.

They also only give you 1 Pita, even for a full Plate, and they’ll charge you $1 for each additional Pita. At Ta-Eem Grill, we got 2 Large Pitas and 2 Small Pitas (free) with every Plate order we got.

The actual Chicken Shawarma is moist, well-seasoned, and I’d say just as tasty as Ta-Eem’s. The difference is that Tel Aviv Grill doesn’t sear the Shawarma on the flat top at the end, so it’s just moist, directly off the spit. Ta-Eem’s Shawarma has some crisped edges (some gorgeous caramelization) and it adds to the taste.

I liked both of them in their own ways, and thought it was pretty even, which meant both were delicious! :blush:

Falafel Pita:

Tel Aviv’s Falafel was moist, loosely packed, and well-seasoned. They were not overly dense hockey pucks (like some places), and it had an almost “Veggie Burger” taste to it (in a good way). They were very good.

But we liked Ta-Eem’s Falafel better: Ta-Eem’s Falafel were more crisped on the exterior (nice textural contrast again), with the moist, airy interior, and the seasoning was more distinct at Ta-Eem.

Overall, Tel Aviv Grill is another game changer (for us): Delivering Kosher moist, flavorful Chicken Shawarma and airy, nicely seasoned Falafel with a large array of Israeli Salads to go along with it. :slight_smile: If it wasn’t for Ta-Eem Grill, this would be my favorite Shawarma and Falafel place around L.A.

But after trying Ta-Eem Grill 3 times in the last few weeks and then trying Tel Aviv, we just like the flavors of the Israeli Salads, the Shawarma’s searing finish and their Falafels a bit more (sort of like “1” and “1A”). They are both great, and I’m glad we have these options in these 2 distinct parts of the city. :slight_smile:

(Closed Friday Evening and Saturdays.)

Tel Aviv Grill (Tarzana)
19014 Ventura Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 91356
Tel: (818) 774-9400

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thanks for the report.

ta-eem is geographically impossible for us, so I guess tel-aviv is as good as it’s going to get. and yeah that 1 pita thing angered me a little.

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Have you tried Dune in Atwater Village? Curious how their falafel compares to these places. It’s maybe the best falafel I’ve had, but take that with a grain of salt since I’m not a falafel connoisseur. The lamb sandwich though…man that’s some good stuff. It’s something that you would be happy ordering at a nicer sit down place and paying double the price.

Hi @tailbacku,

Yah, I’ve tried Dune before. I thought it was… OK, but to be fair it was about 1 year ago? And they put way too much of their Tahini and Pickles (so it was overly salty and tart and overwhelmed the entire dish). :frowning:

But I remembered the actual Falafel being well fried and crispy. Ta-Eem’s Falafel just had a nice herb/spice seasoning and the Pita by comparison is more enjoyable.

But I’ll go back to Dune next time I’m in the area to try again. :wink: Thanks.

Good to know. I’m definitely going to check out Ta-Eem when I’m in the area.

I ate here the other day at the prompting of this thread and came away very satisfied.

As advertised, the chicken shawarma is some of the best around. They really do get an amazing crispy sear on the chicken. In fact, for a second I thought the skin was still on the chicken, which obviously makes no sense given that it’s shawarma, but such was the crackly crispiness of the outer layer.

While I also enjoyed the falafel, I did encounter an issue I’ve never had with falafel before: I found the interior TOO soft and moist. The outside was perfectly fried, however, the inside seemed mushy, as though it was undercooked. Normally my biggest problem with falafel is a dry interior. It felt like they overcorrected for this pervasive issue. Still good though.

The hummus was also good but I felt too runny, almost tahini-like. Being from the middle east, I’m extremely particular about my hummus, so other’s mileage will likely vary.

I also enjoyed the wide variety of sides that come with the plates.

Thanks for the in depth reportage all!

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