Habayit

An Israeli restaurant lost on the East side of Santa Monica, in Los Angeles’ culinary no man’s land, closed at night and almost all weekend: there is very little chance for you to walk into Habayit by chance. And that’s a shame. The Simyonov family has been running this tiny kosher restaurant for years, preparing each pita with a lot of love. The falafels aren’t the usual dry chickpea cubes, they are miniature flavor-bombs embellished with all kinds of herbs, crisp in appearance and tender at heart. The shnitzels, shishlik (chicken kebab) and hummus are some of the other dishes that we love “ala cart” (Pardon our French), with a dollop of homemade skhug.