Itz Kosher

As soon as a parade of Moroccan-style nibbles at Itz Kosher lands on our table, it's easy to imagine we're sitting in a little cafe in Fez or Marrakech, just outside the central bazaar: a bright carrot salad flecked with spicy harissa, Cabernet-colored pickled beets, cracked cured olives and a fresh cabbage slaw with lemony vinaigrette.

The cuisine doesn't belong to the same modern-day genus as kosher pizza or kosher Chinese that you see in certain ZIP Codes. Nor is it an invented fusion of food cultures. Its long history dates back to the Spanish Inquisition, when Jews fled Spain for Morocco and elsewhere. Generations later, after World War II, many Jews left Morocco to live in Israel. Dishes such as hummus and falafel got folded into the Moroccan mix and are on the menu here. Today in Israel, Moroccan food is everywhere — delis, cafes, even in prepared-food sections of markets.

At Itz Kosher, Esther's food bursts with bold, well-calibrated flavors. An appetizer of shakshuka, a peppery purée of long-cooked tomato, red peppers and garlic, is topped with two runny-yolk fried eggs that ooze into the purée as you scoop up mouthfuls with warm, toasted pita. Beef-filled Moroccan "cigars" wrapped in tissue-thin warka pastry come alongside a mound of freshly made hummus and matbucha, a spicy tomato-pepper dip that is otherworldly.

--Linda Burum, Special to The Times, 6/17/10