This Pop-Up Heralds The Bay’s Jewish Food Revolution

PHOTOS AND WORDS BY ANDY SAMWICK

If good things are worth waiting for, Hadeem is destined for greatness. This Jewish food pop-up has had outstanding responses recently at Buddy, proving so with an all-time record high in a single night of highest sales. On June 4, Hadeem’s chef Spencer Horovitz (also of Itria, Slug Bar) and crew posted up at Birba, the wine destination in Hayes Valley where the wait times were over two hours-long for a table.There was no complaining on this sunny Sunday afternoon, though, where so many fans and peers waited and dined on this fantastic, revolutionary cuisine.

Indeed, a Jewish food revolution is way overdue, and Horovitz is a chief innovator with dishes including his black sesame hummus that combines various flavors originated in Middle Eastern cuisine while evoking savory umami notes. I tasted it again in his Strange Flavor-Style dolma that had this melted leek and medium-grain rice wrapped in grape leaf with tahini and chili crisp and in his Taramasalata salad of Greek tarama roe spread, potato, cucumber, crispy chickpeas, and the addition of Caviar Co. smoked trout roe. That smoked trout roe is also divine atop Horovitz’s ahi tuna tostada, dressed with harissa, urfa mayo, Brokaw avocado, pomegranate ponzu, and shiso leaf on a La Palma corn tostada. The dish is an  incredible and masterful combination of Mexican, North African, Turkish, and Asian cuisines alongside seasonal California components. 

Then there’s the RC Provisions Pastrami dumpling with morel mushroom, brown butter, sauerkraut, and dill, each bite  savory and meaty and stunning.I had similar emotions and adoration for his chicken liver mousse tartine cherry and walnut haroset on Estepan shokupan (Japanese milk bread). For dessert, we ended with the stone fruit salad of ripe K&J stone fruit, coconut yogurt, sudachi, and tomatillo schug. This Yemeni spicy coriander paste (somewhere between a green salsa and a chimichurri) marries the sweetness to the savory and fiery sauce that drapes over a suite of apricots, nectarines, and peaches. And of course, we couldn’t leave out the five spice hazelnut babka, this time dressed with tahini butterscotch and fresh strawberries. It was really beyond my imagination and definitely worth three hours of my weekend to experience and savor.

Andy Samwick is a bon vivant who brings decades of food and beverage insight to the table.

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