Soup’s On

That bowl of heaven was tonight’s dinner. And it was a blissfully simple crock of celery root soup, perfumed with leeks and bulked up with a bit of chicken. Here’s the recipe at Serious Eats. (It’s my biweekly contribution to “Meat Lite,” the column Tara and I co-write there based on our book, Almost Meatless.) Dan and I needed it. We celebrated his return by eating large, delicious restaurant meals both Friday and Saturday night.

On Friday, we went to Meritage, which has been around for a long time but recently installed a new chef, the super talented Anne Coll. The menu is divided into snacks, small plates, and large plates. If I had been there on official restaurant critic business, I would have sampled all parts of the menu. But I was there for fun, and zeroed in on the snacks section. Dan and I shared:

• Tempura jalapenos stuffed with pork and a sweet gingered soy
• Taro tater tots with truffled mayo (Dan’s favorite item)
• Pan fried pork and shiitake dumplings
• Eberly farms chicken liver pate
• Grilled grape leaves stuffed with kobe beef & Vietnamese dipping sauce
• Crispy herb & panko crusted shellbark hollow goat cheese
• Herb crusted lamb chops with roasted garlic and celery root puree with a sweet soy reduction

It was all good, most of it very good, and if you go, don’t forget to order those grape leaves. They were the best thing we had. The most amazing thing is we went during prime-time Friday night dinner WITHOUT a reservation. I don’t quite get why the place isn’t packed.

Last night, we went to Zahav. If you know me or work with me or have ever been trapped in a cocktail party conversation with me about food, you know Zahav is my very favorite restaurant. Not only do they do something really fresh and unusual there (modern Israeli food), it’s the kind of meal that addresses my exact food proclivities. A meal there starts with hummus, fresh flatbread, and at least six types of vegetables. Then there are two categories of what essentially are freaktastically delicious gourmet snacks, followed by meats and vegetables cooked over live coals.

I thought it the first time I ate there, and I thought it again last night: I could eat that food every day forever and be pleased as punch to do it. I’ve never visited Israel, but if that’s really what the food is like (but it can’t be), I’m eventually moving. I would tell you more about it, but I’m writing about it for this week’s Philadelphia Magazine Restaurant Club Newsletter. If you live in Philly, you should sign up to get it in your e-mail here. (Click that top box that says “restaurant club.”)