Four for Chef Todd Ginsberg

Four for Chef Todd Ginsberg

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    ​​Chef Todd Ginsberg and his The General Muir partners, Shelley Sweet and Jennifer and Ben Johnson, will open a new restaurant later this year. Yalla will offer contemporary Israeli cuisine. As part of his preparation for the creation of Yalla, Chef Todd made his first visit to Israel in June 2014 to gain a better understanding of the history of Israeli cuisine, as well as its most current interpretations. Chef Todd spoke with us prior to his departure to Israel.

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    1.      How did you get started in the culinary industry?

     

    I was attending college in Norfolk, VA at Old Dominion University and I took a semester off. I was waiting tables all through college, had completed about three years, and went home one day and cooked a meal for my then-girlfriend and her mother. Her mother said “Have you ever thought about going to cooking school? Because you seem like a natural.” So I didn’t go back to college, I went to Culinary Institute of America (CIA) a few months later, and I’ve been cooking ever since, and that was in 1998. I graduated in 2000, and my parents were living in Atlanta at the time. There was a chef I wanted to work for,at the dining room at the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead, so I moved back down here. I’ve been here for 12 out of 14 years here, with 2 years in New York.

     

    2.      First a Jewish style restaurant, now contemporary Israeli cuisine. What’s your inspiration?

     

    I’ve been eating at Pita Palace for 10 years so that was my first introduction. My uncle is from Israel and I ate a little of his food growing up, but not much. I wanted to open a restaurant that had the quality of Pita Palace—falafel, shwarma, laffa, fresh pitas. We took a trip to New York to do some research, and then we to this restaurant in Philadelphia called Zahav by Chef Michael Solomonov and were totally blown away. Chef Michael also did this teaser of a film called The Search for Israeli Cuisine, so between that film and my dining experience at Zahav, we decided I had to get to Israel. I want to do more of a contemporary take on Israeli cuisine, not just what people know now.

     

    3.      What will you do in Israel?

     

    I don’t yet know what contemporary Israeli cuisine means to me, so that’s what I’m going to Israel for. I’ve got a lot of restaurants on my list. For instance, Hamiznon. It’s a modern pita stand so I want to see what their approach is. I know it’s not traditional, things like chicken liver and skirt steak on pita.  

     

    4.      What are you most looking forward to during your time in Israel?

     

    Three things: 1) A meal at Ha’Salon in Tel Aviv 2) A meal at Machne Yehuda in Jerusalem and 3) I’m on the guest list for the Pixies and the Hives concert in Tel Aviv and the next day the Hives are joining my friend and I to do a guided tour of the markets and shuks.

     
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