What to Eat in Pittsburgh

Hamsah is an unassuming little place on Murray Avenue, right near the Greenfield Co-Gos. We were there on a weeknight, and the place was hopping. It’s an order-at-the-counter kind of place, so we got in line and grabbed menus.

I heard the woman at the register telling the guy in front of me that if he orders an entree, he can get a bunch of salads on the side for $2 each. That’s when I REALLY got excited.

I know I’ve said before how much I love Ashkenazi Jewish food-bagels and lox and matzoh balls and kreplach-but I also have a very soft spot in my heart for Israeli food. As a kid, there was an falafel place called Yacov’s on Murray Avenue. I remember my mom getting takeout falafel sandwiches, and I would always have a taste. I remember the tahini running out the end and how messy and delicious the whole thing was. When I moved to Philly for school, I encountered the concept of an Israeli restaurant that serves many different types of “salads”-carrot salad, beet salad, cabbage salad, that sort of thing – that can be eaten in a pita sandwich with falafel or accompanying any main dish. Mama’s Vegetarian (still talking about Philly) is a great example of this. There’s also a chain called Maoz that operates in NYC and according to their website, Florida and a few international locations. When we lived in Birmingham, a fantastic Israeli restaurant like this opened called Eli’s Jerusalem Grill. It was wildly popular, and eventually, we helped them open a second location in Piztz food hall, where we were food scouts/consultants. Then an Since moving to Pittsburgh, we haven’t encountered any Israeli restaurants, period, and certainly not any with this style of food.

When it was my turn to order, I explained that I definitely needed a bunch of salads and also wanted to try good variety of the rest of the menu. The woman suggested that I get the shawarma entree, along with as many side salads as I wanted, plus the appetizer sampler which would include hummus, falafel, and a bunch of other things. Oh, and my entree came with pita. Homemade pita. Be still my heart. And they have laffa bread (basically a large flat bread, also delicious to eat along with basically anything you would eat a pita with). Homemade too. Everything but the desserts is homemade.

Brief explanation for those who might not intuit this: Hamsah is a kosher meat restaurant, meaning that there is no dairy. (It means a lot more than that to those who keep kosher, but we’re definitely not the best people to explain this.) This also means there are lots of options for vegans-if it doesn’t have meat in it, it definitely doesn’t have dairy in it, so it’s safe. The desserts are kosher non-dairy (pareve) deserts from a local company. The focus at Hamsah is the homemade food, so it doesn’t surprise me that they outsource dessert.

We sat down and waited for our food. This is a very kiddo-friendly place. First of all, it’s a neighborhood place. Everyone is really welcoming. Second, they have high chairs (and more than one, too!.) Third, the food comes out pretty quickly. As adults, Mr. Foodie and I value these things (ok maybe not the high chairs), but people with kids will probably agree that these attributes are especially good for kiddos.

They started to call out our food. First, the appetizer platter. Oh my. Super creamy hummus, outstanding grape leaves, and these amazing potato-filled fried phyllo things. And the falafel-nice and light, not greasy at all, with the perfect crunch. All eaten with the homemade pita and laffa. Definitely the best pita in town (ok I know I said that a few weeks ago about Farmer Baker, don’t make me pick favorites!!), and perhaps the only homemade laffa in town?

Then, the shawarma. It’s a tragedy that we didn’t get a picture of the spit-they cut the meat (which is actually turkey!) to order. Super moist and full of flavor.

The shwarma is pictured with two salads: beet and carrot. Both absolutely perfect examples of these dishes. We also ordered the following salads and sides:

(They gave us a taste of tabbouleh, which we didn’t actually order. I’m not usually a fan but this was really different – not grainy, very citrus-y, delicious.)

Smokey, creamy baba ganouj:

Fried eggplant – very lightly fried, great flavor:

And finally, the pickles, a great accompaniment:

Check out the gorgeous pita and laffa, which was as good as it looks:

The woman at the register, whose name is Andrea, came over to see what we thought of the food. That led to a really nice stroll down Pittsburgh Israeli food memory lane. My memory is only of Yacov’s, but apparently, after I moved away, a place opened on Murray in the current Crazy Mocha location called Pinati. One of the owners of that place opened Hamsah – here’s a nice Jewish Chronicle article about Hamsah’s owners. Andrea also confirmed my suspicion that Hamsah is the only Israeli restaurant in town, filling an important hole in the Pittsburgh food scene.

Note: Hamsah is closed Fridays and Saturdays.