5 Things You Didn't Know About Michael Solomonov In the late summer of 2005, Solomonov met Steve Cook, who was trying to replace himself as chef at the popular West Philadelphia BYO Marigold Kitchen. During an interview with The Atlantic, Mike said that he doesnt like to get caught up in the accolades and allow them to feed his ego. A 2011 James Beard Award winner for "Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic," Chef Michael Solomonov is the executive chef at Zahav (237 St. James Place, 215-625-8800), Philadelphia's renowned modern Israeli restaurant. While those two chefs have created new restaurants in the context of their original successes, Solomonov and Cook are operating in that postmodern mode. Hes turning down requests to open Zahav restaurants across the country. Of course, this temptation can make it difficult to make healthy choices and stay in good shape. How this chef went from heroin to hummus - New York Post Your brother was going to leave all that and come over here. We put the kibosh on that idea.. Of course, right now also happens to be smack in the middle of the age of the rock-star chef/entrepreneur, and Solomonov has already walked gingerly into that wave of heat. Solomonov rose up like a boxer lifting himself off the corner stool to fight another round. Now, its like the Beatles.. It was only when he returned to Israel at 18 that he began his food career in earnest, accepting a job at a traditional bakery which was the only place that would hire him due to his lack of Hebrew. He attended the University of Vermont for three semesters where he studied art before leaving and moving back to Israel which is where he was born. Most people would assume that someone in Mikes position would think of himself as the best in the business. How a Chef Beat His Drug Habit With a Healthier Lifestyle Three dishes that he highlights in the NPR interview are shawarma, falafel, and sabich, a pita sandwich filled with fried eggplant, eggs, tehina, and pickled mango. Solomonov is visibly fatigued. He pushes it onto a plate to be served with hummus. For the character from Fiddler on the Roof, see, Last edited on 27 February 2023, at 04:16, "Two Philadelphia Restaurants Named Among Nation's Best For Wine", "After a Killing, Michael Solomonov Turns to Israeli Food", "What James Beard Award-Winning Chef Michael Solomonov Is Making for the Super Bowl", "Philadelphia chef takes readers on culinary journey with Zahav", "Munch goes to Philadelphia (for 25 hours)", "The Untold Truth Of Mike Solomonov From Where Chefs Eat", "Why Philly's Mike Solomonov Is The Genius of Modern Jewish Cooking", "In 'Zahav,' Michael Solomonov Explores Israeli Food", "The 2016 Beard Award Winners! Since then, Cook and Solomonovs cookbook, Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, has won two James Beard Awards. You don't earn a bunch of James Beard awards and show up multiple times on Eater's list of essential restaurants without doing something right, and Solomonov has certainly accomplished that with Zahav, his passion project. I love origami Ive been doing it ever since I was 6 years old. If you're a human and see this, please ignore it. If a Cook and Solo empire emerges, it will be different from what weve seen before. In addition to cooking, hes also written cook books to help others learn some of the tricks of the trade. StarChefs notes that after his tenure under Vetri, Solomonov took a job as the chef at businessman Steve Cook's Marigold Kitchen. Were a restaurant thats successfulafter five years, he said. Chef Michael Solomonov's top spots in Philadelphia | CNN Inside Michael Solomonov's Israeli Restaurant, Laser Wolf - Food & Wine There are many talented chefs who achieve fame and open restaurants without ever having gone to culinary school. Mike enjoys sharing his talent with the world. I definitely drank too much and went off on a couple different tangents, which is obviously a mistake that doesnt help you deal with anything., At one point, Solomonov got the idea of moving back to Israel and joining the army himself. These wings are ridiculouscrazy good, bro, says Chef himself. Addiction is a disease that impacts countless people all over the world. 3 records for Michael Solomonov. MICHAEL SOLOMONOV - Zahav We were humbled to the point where we just had to cook and give great service, Solomonov says. And hes going to have to figure out how hes going to deal with that. More recently, the chef dedicated an episode of his webseries, "Bringing Israel Home," to his brother's memory. In that role, the voluble Israeli-born, Pittsburgh-bred total-high-energy dude has started to have his ticket punched on the celebrity-chef ride. And hes got that next-level kind of drive.. Michael Solomonov Reveals That He's a Recovering Crack Addict For years, he was addicted to cocaine and and heroin, but it took him a while to realize that he he had a serious problem. Something went wrong. A receptionist leaned over the kitchen counter and looked to where Solomonov crouched with his energy drink. Emotionally, I was utterly fucked up. After a trip to Israel for his brothers funeral, he returned to the Vetri kitchen. Peis Society Hill Towers and into the restaurant called Zahav will likely see its young salt-and-pepper-haired chef and co-owner, Michael Solomonov, flipping a pie-sized floppy disk of bread dough onto a flat paddle and shoveling it, with a quick shrug, into a brick oven thats been fired with compressed hardwood to a blazing 800 degrees. Its the latest in a tat collection that includes a string of elephants on his biceps (he cant remember the inspiration); a rooster on the other arm, laced with a Hebrew prayer and his brothers name; and another on his shoulder that reproduces his brothers army insignia. The Sephardic dish is laced with warm spices, such as allspice and turmeric, rich with onion and garlic. According to The Atlantic, at the same time he was struggling to get Zahav off the ground, he was regularly smoking crack behind the wheel of his car and driving while high. And I was not a good person to work with. [3][4] In 2021, The New York Times named his restaurant Laser Wolf as one of "the 50 places in America we're most excited about right now. Its heading toward two a.m., and Solomonov has finally shed his apron and enlisted two of his top young chefs for a pilgrimage to one of his favorite restaurants, a Korean fried chicken wings joint in Cheltenham called Caf Soho. Reading allows people to not only learn new things, but temporarily escape the stresses of daily life. Michael soon returned to the U.S. to finish high school and start college, but David stayed and assimilated in Israel. "You can see what's happening; people are falling apart," he says, noting the sharp rise in anti-anxiety medication prescriptions and overdoses since the pandemic began. As a teenager, he and his family started to spend long periods living in Israel. Starting with the perennial Zagat Guide favorite Union Square Caf, Meyer developed a series of Manhattan restaurants (Tom Colicchios Gramercy Tavern was an early example), each more famous than the last. He entered rehab in 2008 and was able to turn his life around. [7][8] He was raised in Pittsburgh,[8] where he attended Taylor Allderdice High School. David Solomonov was three days from being discharged and had volunteered for duty that night to give a more observant member of his battalion leave for the high holiday. You may not know him yet, but his work at Marigold is the best possible introduction, affirming him as one of Philadelphias most promising young culinary talents with a technique that is already mature.. I dont know what thats a product of, but I think its because were doing well every night, having good services back-to-back.. That was the criterion for the partnership to work. With surprise hits like Zahav and Federal Donuts, Philly's most iconoclastic chef seems poised for the big time. I just thought it would be good to jump out of airplanes together, he said. Theres nothing that brings people together quite like a good meal. The Israeli-born, Pittsburgh-bred chef might be best known for his life-affirming hummus at restaurants like Zahav, but before he was helming kitchens and collecting James Beard Awards and Chef of the Year Eater Awards, a young Solomonov was teaching himself to fold paper flamingos (yes, he won an award for that, too). But Im not ready to do that right now. In a world of graphic addiction memoirs written by teenagers, Solomonovs reticence is refreshing. After meeting with financier Steven Cook, they opened Zahav in 2008. The resulting Citron & Rose garnered . At the age of 18, he returned to Israel with no Hebrew language skills, taking the only job he could get - working in a bakery - and his culinary career was born. [17], "Laser Wolf" redirects here. I got really into photography when I was in eighth grade. Appear on the James Beard Awards Semifinalists List. [10] He then moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to cook Italian cuisine at Chef Marc Vetri's upscale Italian restaurants. It's as rudimentary and as soulful as it gets. Add the lemon juice and teaspoon salt. Are they, as Food and Wine recently suggested, poised to helm the next Philadelphia restaurant empire? Jose Garces built a kind of Incan Empire, his restaurants all rooted in some sort of south-of-the-border cuisine. Over the course of his career, Mike has made several TV appearances on shows like The Chew, Iron Chef America, and Beat Bobby Flay. It is no coincidence that my business partner is somebody whom I met through Squirrel Hill. I feel that the next five years are going to be a lot more active than the past five years. There was more attention last year when the pair engineered the much-buzzed-about opening of a high-end kosher restaurant on the Main Line, Citron and Rose. Rebecca Anne Gans, daughter of Richard and Lisa Gans of Chesterfield, and Michael Solomonov, son of Ella and the late Yuri Solomonov of Chesterfield, were married April 16, 2011 at Congregation Shaare Emeth, where Rabbi Andrea Goldstein officiated. The car was for his younger brother, David, who was about to be released from his obligatory duty in the Israeli army and planned to move back to the States and continue his education. Its hard to see where Mike is or where we are on a timeline. The foodie phenomenon is reaching its postmodern phase, and the hive mind of serious diners seems to swing wildly in its passions between the extremes of rococo molecular gastronomy on one hand and street food savored off a truck on the other. Like most of us, award-winning Chef Michael Solomonov has been cooking at home a lot this year, much more than he would normally find himself doing as an owner of multiple restaurants. I would take the cheese off pizza, wipe all the sauce off with napkins, put the cheese back on and eat it. If Vetri's name sounds familiar to you, it might be from his appearance on "Iron Chef America," or because he famously partnered with Urban Outfitters. While those two chefs have created new restaurants in the context of their original successes, Solomonov and Cook are operating in that postmodern mode. We didnt listen, Solomonov says. Ten careful courses lay before him, from the Negev olives to Fred Flintstone-sized rib-eye steaks and kiwi sorbet. He pushes it onto a plate to be served with hummus. FedNuts, as devotees like to call it, now has three locations and counting, including the frequently mobbed counter in the stands behind left field at Citizens Bank Park. The first job I ever had was at a Subway sandwich shop in Pittsburgh. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the industry knows that the hospitality business can be brutal, and having a world-class chef and a great concept isn't always enough to overcome the harsh economics of running a restaurant. Weve gotten praise from the Israeli press, the chef reports proudly. Solomonov said he wanted to tell me something off the record. [15] Zahav: A World of Israeli Cuisine was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Book Award in the International cookbook category. However, Mike likes to stay active and hes always loved to do things like go snowboarding and swimming. His day began early with his toddler son, named for his brother David, waking him. Good things and bad things are all triggers for recovery and I still have to be really disciplined. Positive emotional states and celebrations have indeed been identified as high-risk situations that could trigger an addiction relapse. Just days after announcing the split, both Cook and Solomonov were talking about revisiting the concept of high-end Ashkenazi Jewish food on their own. Michael Solomonov's income source is mostly from being a successful . I was a talented actor, Solomonov said. I dont know what thats a product of, but I think its because were doing well every night, having good services back-to-back.. She is the granddaughter of Gil and. It was so different from what I was doing prior, he says. Although his first cooking job was at a bakery in Israel, he moved back to the United States after he decided he wanted to pursue kitchen work long-term. Boxing helps the crickets and monkeys in your head, Solomonov told me. He isnt shy about revealing his inspiration. Solomonov was 27 now, scarred by loss and headed for a confrontation with his obsessive and addictive nature. And as the diners left the restaurant later, they would receive some marshmallows to take home, tucked into tiny bags with origami cranes. [13][14], In 2015, Cook and Solomonov published a cookbook based on their restaurant Zahav. Mike is so high-energy, says one friend, who helped teach him to surf. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Beyond the raves and accolades, here are five things you probably didnt know about Solomonov, straight from the star chef himself. I lived in the office at the restaurant for a few months. He said, I could believe the things that people constantly write, or let my head get big and get arrogant, and Id go right back out.. He initially felt like an outsider there, partially. Service is over, and the Zahav chefs are chowing down. Then Solomonov steps back into the blast zone of the open oven, slips the paddle under the dough thats now charred and crunchy, and pulls it out for a quick sprinkle of olive oil and a dusting of the Middle Eastern spice mix called zaatar. This morning, Chef just wants some big waves. Let's try to take a step to correct that by delving into the untold truth of Mike Solomonov. Everything You Need to Know Before the Eagles NFC Championship Game, Everything You Need to Know Before the Eagles Play in Super Bowl LVII. Its heading toward two a.m., and Solomonov has finally shed his apron and enlisted two of his top young chefs for a pilgrimage to one of his favorite restaurants, a Korean fried chicken wings joint in Cheltenham called Caf Soho. Awesome, right? I even originally went to college to major in photography. At all., We were getting all the accolades that you could get, but we were doing, like, 30 covers on a Tuesday. Boxing helps the crickets and monkeys in your head, Solomonov told me. He won the James Beard Foundation awards for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic in 2011, Cookbook of the Year in 2016, and Outstanding Chef in 2017. He now has several years of recovery and sobriety behind him. Finally, Chef found what he neededhe pulled a can of Red Bull out of the cooler, cracked it open, and drank it quickly, staying out of sight behind the counter. Mike loves to read, but due to his busy schedule, he doesnt always get as much time to read as he would like. I believe that you are as successful as the people you choose to have in your life and the people who have chosen to have you in theirs. And it just didnt work. Send 150 words about where you grew up and what it means to you now to opinion@philly.com Some answers maybe featured on Philly.com and in the Inquirer. But the only way it makes sense is to do what we like to do first and maybe the money will follow.. Theres plenty of people who can do that.. After watching him apply spices, the actress tells the chef, on live TV, Now I know exactly what kind of lover you would be.. Zahav ships our famous Pomegranate Lamb Shoulder nationwide with Goldbelly straight from Philly right to your doorstep. Talking about food. I broke up with my girlfriend. Per NoCamels, after David died, Solomonov decided to hone his Israeli cooking skills. The chef visits farms, bustling marketplaces, factories, and families' home kitchens in an effort to grasp what makes Israel's food scene so special. Theyre here, Chef, she said. Because of my responsibility to other people in recovery, I need to figure out how Im going to be more specific and more detailed. That isnt the case at all though. It was the only thing we based our decision on to work together. Michael Solomonov - Wikipedia The dough is an Iraqi flatbread called laffa, and not long after it hits the bricks, it puffs up so fast that the process looks like time-lapse photography. Just weeks before this, the brothers had spent time together in Israel, where the family had repatriated when Michael was 15 and David 12. He was using crack cocaine and heroin. One need he identified was an area kosher restaurant, and in a fortuitous turn of events, chef Michael Solomonov was looking to do kosher at the same time. The places Solomonov took Allen to showed the breadth and diversity of the contemporary Philly food scene, giving viewers a deep look at what makes the city's food so special. His wet suit is in the trunk, and on this bright and cool spring morning he is barreling down the A.C. Expressway toward the ocean. In a nod to more recent fast-food crazes, they have also introduced a fried chicken sandwich that might even be better than Popeyes. And at one point she said gently, Frankly, I think hes doing so much these days., I asked Solomonovs partner whether so much could be too much.
