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

Different animals, but I’d put it this way. While both are must-eat for me when I visit New York, there are many great options for pizza in the city that are generally on par with Prince’s. Nothing is on par with Dizengoff for pita and hummus.

I’d trade every single one of the NYC-to-LA transplants coming in the next few months in exchange for getting a Dizengoff here.

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It’s been recommended on Eater for years :slight_smile:

can you remind me which listicle that was?

jay kay jay kay. thanks for the essential 23 hot dog stands fall 2017 edition.

:money_mouth_face:

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Split a Schawarma plate with a buddy the other night…insanely good

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Speaking of Tel Aviv Grill only here, the best way (which I found out last night) is to simply order the damn thing to-go to begin with. You get what seems like more of everything, and a million little containers for the sauces to boot.

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Update 1:

This was the third stop this past week, to be comforted by the great, stellar food we have in this city (after our trip up north changed our paradigm on certain dishes). I couldn’t wait to dig into some great comfort food…

Falafel Pita (Chickpea Beans, Fresh Herbs and Spices, Fried):

As with our previous 3 visits, the folks in the kitchen ask what Israeli Salads you’d like included with your Pita (we just ask for everything). :wink:

Biting into the fluffy, warm, toasty Pita Bread (which again tastes nothing like a typical dried-out husk of cardboard that most people think of when you think “Pita”), gives way to the crunchy exterior and moist interior of the Falafel, bound together by the creaminess of their Tahini and crunch of the various Israeli Salads added in…

it is just simply sublime! :heart:

The Falafel are incredible (as usual), and everything just comes together when you get a bite of it all. :blush:

Pargiot Plate (Grilled Chicken Thighs with Garlic and Onion, served with Hummus, Israeli Salads, White Cabbage, Parsley and Pita Bread):

I love their Shawarma, but thanks to @LAgirl’s recommendation, I think we love the Chicken Pargiot Plate even more. :wink: Just look at how juicy and succulent this looks:

The Sauteed Chicken Thighs, Onions and Garlic is simply delicious, well-seasoned, not too salty, moist, juicy, aromatic. :slight_smile:

We love taking one of their amazing, fresh-baked Pitas (delivered daily to Ta-Eem from a local Jewish bakery)…

Adding in the Red Cabbage Salad and a bit of the Pickles (or in another bite, some of the Curried Carrots):

A bit of their Housemade Hummus + Tahini Blend:

(Remember to ask for “Spicy” and ask for the Spicy Sauce on the Side, which gets you…)

Housemade Harissa + Housemade Skhug (Spice Mixture of Jalapeno Chilies, Garlic, and other Spices):

And taking a bite…

You get delectable, juicy, tender AWESOMENESS! :heart: :blush:

This is seriously SO GOOD! I can’t believe we’ve missed out on this for so long. :cry: :smile:

Oh! And thanks to @Bigmouth, we remembered to ask, and indeed Ta-Eem Grill also has…

Complimentary Grilled Eggplant:

This was delicious! Lightly spiced, tender, slightly smoky Roasted Eggplant. Wow! :slight_smile:

@Ns1 and all, you can also ask for an extra Pita (or 2) and they were happy to provide it, free of charge (whereas at Tel Aviv Grill, they charge $1 for every extra Pita, and they only gave us 1 per order (here it’s 4 per order and extras were free)).

Ta-Eem Grill remains such a great, casual place to dig into crispy, crunchy, but moist interior Falafel, even tastier Chicken Shawarma and their Chicken Pargiot Plate, fantastic Israeli Salads (complimentary with each plate order), and great, fluffy, warm toasty Pitas! The QPR is insane: We could order just 1 Chicken Pargiot (or Shawarma) Plate and there’s enough food to feed 2 - 3 people at $16.95. :open_mouth:

But most important, this is just great food. The combination of the Housemade Skhug & Harissa, Chicken Pargiot (or Shawarma or the Falafel), some of the Red Cabbage Salad (or other Israeli Salads of your choice) with the Fresh, Toasty Pita = one of the Best Bites of 2017! :heart:

Hours
Sun - Thurs: 10:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Fri: 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Closed Friday Evening and Saturdays.

Ta-Eem Grill
7422 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Tel: (323) 944-0013

http://ta-eemgrillinc.com/home.html

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Looks delicious! After seeing that photo, I’m getting a Taeem craving!

(yes, w/ the included large assortment of salads, “spreads” and pita the “plate order” is 3 meals for me. just a ton of yummy food. If I’m just looking for 1 meal, I’ll get either the schwarma or pargiot pita and that’s still a hefty portion)

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Hi @LAgirl,

It was thanks to your recommendation that got us to try the Pargiot plate in the first place. :slight_smile: And I started to get hungry again writing the post. :smile:

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Nice! I could swear they have the eggplant just by itself (i.e., not sauced) like Tel Aviv Grill, but perhaps I’m mistaken. May have to make a visit myself for some field research!

EDIT: Looked on Yelp and it looks like my mind is playing tricks on me, as all references there are too the salad. Tastes great either way, though!

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I’ve never tried the eggplant (never noticed it for some reason), but will try it out next time. Thanks to both of you for the heads up!

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Fucking Salivating - love that place.
Anyone know what the Hebrew imprint on the pita means (I am assuming that’s a Hebrew glyph)?

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Maybe I need to give this place another shot?

Me and my wife and adult kid seem to be in the minority here. None of us were impressed.

We had falafel, chicken shawarma and grilled chicken breast.

Falafel was gooey inside, chicken dry. Hummus was good, though.

Personally we all agreed, we’d rather go to Hummus Bar or Joe’s for our fix as long as it requires a drive from the valley or SM.

Hummus Bar & Grill is still Killin’ it? Good to hear. Our last visit was two years ago. We are way overdue.

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Sorry to hear about that @Gr8pimpin.

I can only speak for our 4 visits, but they’ve been consistently delicious each time.

We’ve only been to Hummus Bar once (about 2 - 3 years ago), and found it OK, but nothing that made me want to drive out to the Valley for.

Give it another try! Might’ve been an offnight :man_facepalming:

This is one of my local spots and I’ve eaten here somewhere between 50 - 100 times and really never had a bad meal (it is repetitive because I usually get the parigot, falafel, or shawarma).

If you’re looking for something to stay away from the merguez and schnitzel are pretty basic…

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Taeem was good when I had it. The chicken is less spiced than Tel Aviv, but what they do well is crisp the chicken.

I personally like both, although quite different in their shawarma preparation. If you like the chicken flavor to shine through more, hit up Taeem. If you want an aggressively spiced shawarma, go to Tel Aviv.

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I agree, I wouldn’t drive from over the hill to go to Hummus Bar.

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This is actually my one issue with Ta-eem. The shawarma could be spiced more aggressively. I still haven’t been to Tel Aviv yet, but I personally prefer the shawarma at places like Hummus Bar for precisely this reason.

Ok, I was passing Tel Aviv grill in Tarzana so I had to stop.

Yeah, I DEFINITELY prefer this.

They offered me fries, fried eggplant, pickles, whole olives and pita on top of all this grub! Shawarma was much moister and seasoned.

Plus while they were preparing my plate, one of the guys kept feeding me falafel from over the counter.

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thanks for the report, now I don’t feel so bad about ta-eem. The dollar pitas are a bust though =X

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