Adjusting Expectations – Doris Katzavim (Butchers)

About four years ago, I was travelling up north when I started to look for something descent to eat. In general, the restaurants around Rosh-Pina do not offer something exceptional. Even though around the town entrance, right behind the gas station I found Doris Katzavim (Doris Butchers). The Beef displayed raw in front of the diners really aroused and the steaks were simply amazing.

The Beef display

Few years have gone by, and “Doris” has made a name for itself as one of the best steakhouses, opening two more steakhouses – In Tel Aviv and Zichron Yaakov. The Tel Aviv branch has recently closed its doors so when travelled with family up north for Mom’s birthday, Doris at Zichron was an obvious pick.

Doris is a steakhouse offering local Beef from the Golan Heights, which definitely has quality. According to some reviews it seems that the glory that it has back then, has quite crumbled. That was a chance to check it out.

The appetizers

With eight people sitting around the table (plus a baby), it is not that simple to serve easily nor with a constant smile upon your face but I think the Doris team managed to pull it off. The service was good and attentive to our needs. Even though, it is a shame that the appetizers were simply bad.

Beef Carpaccio

Yes, I do know this is a steakhouse and we all come there to eat some dead cows, but the appetizers, which included Eggplant with Tehini, Chickpeas, Egg salad, Cauliflower, Beets and Sweet Potato, were quite embarrassing and tasted as they were taken out of a tin can. The other starters, which included vegetables salad, Wheat groats Salad and Beef Carpaccio were much better (especially the Beef Carpaccio).

Fillets of Beef

Most of us took steaks for main course. There were few Fillets of Beef, a T-Bone Steak, a Lamb Burger and I took the Hanger Steak (which some say is the ultimate test for a quality Steakhouse). One can’t argue that all the steaks were good. They felt as quality, fresh and tender. Even though, most of the faces around the table looked disappointed. At these prices, at that restaurant, you would expect to have one of the best steaks you ever had. It wasn’t the case – not even close.

Hanger Steak

The side dishes – Onion cakes, over Potatoes and grilled vegetables – were quite nice, so as the sweets – a classic and tasty crème Brule, an Apple Crumble and an excellent Kanafe (though not as good as  the one in Kalamate).

Kanafe

Summarizing Doris I would state that it is an expensive Steakhouse with some good steaks, but unfortunately, not exceptional relatively to other places (up north or in Tel Aviv).

The Check Please (8 people) – Highlights

Beef Carpaccio – 59 NIS
Mezze Plate – 59 NIS
Wheat Groats Salad – 25 NIS
T-Bone Steak (400 gr) – 129 NIS
Fillet of Beef (250 gr) – 137 NIS
Hanger Steak (250 gr) – 137 NIS
Crème Brule / Kanafe – 30 NIS each

All in all – 1490 NIS

Summary:

Food: Steakhouse
Price: Very Expensive
Location: Zichron Yaakov

The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale:

3 Forks

Contact Details: Doris Katzavim
Address:  near Baron Gardens, Zichron Yaakov| Phone: 04-6397030 |
Sun-Thu 12:00-23:00 Fri-Sat 12:00 – Late
http://doris-k.co.il/ (no English)

On the road – Nof Ha Carmel

Sunny Saturday in the middle of January is something one can’t miss. We took the company car and headed north to the Carmel View Road, the one that located in Israel, not San Diego. Faulty yet amazing road, that ended right before Isfiya because of pothole on the way. When the road ended unexpectedly, due to this pothole, we found ourselves hungry in the middle of Isfiya, looking for a place to satisfy it.

Carmel View Road

After long search after a restaurant named “Keter Ha Carmel” (Carmel’s Crown) which we could not found, we sat at Nof Ha Carmel (Carmel’s view) that presented itself as chef restaurant. In practice, it didn’t remind us any of the chef restaurants we know from Tel Aviv, but it was definitely a good place.

Salads

We started with “Salads”. Salads in the Arabic style restaurants means filling up the table with all kind of salads. This time the variety was exceptional in comparison to other similar place (such as Haachim and even Haj Kahil). To the table, one by one, we were served Pita bread, cauliflower, Matbucha, Tuna salad, cabbage salad, Labaneh, Pickled Carrots, beet, 3 kinds of vegetables salads and hummus. All of them were quite good and tasty.

Mansaf

For main course we shared Lamb Mansaf – a soft and full of tastes meat that laid over amazing rice that was getting its taste from the lamb, and all of this wonder on top of pita bread. For dessert we took the traditional Kanafeh  which was too sweet in our opinion and can definitely be optional if you choose to adopt our recommendation.

Kanafeh

All in all, Nof Ha Carmel is a good option if you are around and looking for Arabic style food (which is pretty much all you can find in this area). And if you can – we strongly suggest trying the Carmel view road as well.

The check please (2 people)

Salads with main course – 29 NIS
Salads without main course – 35 NIS
Mansaf – 85 NIS
Kanafeh – 30 NIS
Soda water – 7 NIS
Pepsi – 10 NIS

All in all: 196 NIS

Summary:

Food: Arabic
Price: Medium
Location: Isfiya, North

The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale: 

3.5 Forks

Contact details: Nof Ha Carmel

Address:  Main road Isfiya | Phone: 057-9441083 |
Opening Hours:  Monday-Saturday 11:00-20:00 |   http://www.rest.co.il/RecordPage.aspx?RestID=1017#1

Out of Range – Northern Israel Special

Lately we have been celebrating our 3 years anniversary. Although the upcoming wedding, we decided to take a break for one weekend in the North of Israel. Shahar, as always, took the responsibility of planning our trip and chose the Golan Heights. As part of the planning he was looking for good restaurants in the area. Unfortunately, the North of Israel is not as vibrant as Tel Aviv and there is only a little diversity, where most of the places specialize in steaks. When the hunger attacked us – we found ourselves trying to choose between one steaks restaurant to another. Eventually, we were at both of them and this post will summarize them.

Marinado

Near Ein Gev kibutz, we found the original branch of the famous Marinado chain. The place started as a butcher shop and over the time became a big place with a butcher shop, a restaurant and a cook store, all in one. The chain owns another two butcher shops, one of them is our regular butcher shop as it is located very close to our apartment.

Lamb Burger

When it comes to atmosphere, we felt as if we were in the middle of a working day lunch and not as we were – trying to have a romantic dinner. One major factor that contributed to our feeling was the fact the restaurant is located inside the cook store, next to the butcher. According to the fact that we were in the middle of a shop, the place was over-lit.

Fillet of beef

We took the fix priced meal (have I already mention that we felt like a working day lunch?) which included a lower priced starter, a main course and soft drinks.  We will spare you the details as the starters were mediocre at best and the main courses were good, yet nothing to blog about. We decided to skip the dessert and bought a very good chocolate in their store. Thank god we were in a middle of a cook store…

Moshbutz

On our second evening we were luckier with our plan for a romantic dinner. Moshbutz is located in Ramot Moshav and has a great view to the Sea of Galilee. The place offers more than steaks and I (Inbar) could easily find something else to eat as I was sick of the beef.

New York steak

For starters we wanted to take pickled trout with Anise and tomato. At that night the fish was replaced with Salmon. It was a nice dish but didn’t meet the expectations. We also took the Apples and Pomegranate Salad that was fresh and good. For entrées Shahar took New York steak which was one of the best steaks he had and I took Trout fillet that was only good and was served with fried vegetables (although presented as steamed in the menu).

Trout Fillet

As dessert we had the leftovers of the chocolates we bought the day before in Marinado’s shop.

Marindo

The check please (2 people):
Roasted Eggplant – 28 NIS
Green salad – 29 NIS
Fixed priced (Fillet of beef) – 69 NIS
Fixed priced (Lamb Burger) – 46 NIS
Soda water – 6 NIS
Coke – 6 NIS
2X Tishbi wine – 30NIS

All in all: 213 NIS

The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale:

3 Forks

Summary:
Food:  Steak House in the middle of the day
Price:  Medium
Location: Golan heights

Contact details:
Address:  Ein Gev Kibutz, Golan heights | 04-6658555 |
Opening Hours:  Sunday – Saturday 12:00-Late
http://www.marinado.co.il/site/default.asp?marinado=626

Moshbutz

The check please (2 people):
Pickled Salmon – 32 NIS
Apples and Pomegranate Salad – 38 NIS
New York steak – 112 NIS
Trout Fillet – 82 NIS
Soda water – 11 NIS
2X Gewurztraminer Wine – 50NIS

All in all: 325 NIS

The Cizer-Kobrinsky Scale

3.5 Forks

Summary:
Food: Romantic Northern Steak House
Price: Medium-Expensive
Location: Golan heights

Contact details:
Address:  Ramot Moshav, Golan heights | 04-6795095 |
Opening Hours:  Sunday – Saturday 12:30-Late http://www.weekend.co.il/ramatg/moshbutz/index.html