The Bestia and Bavel Chefs on Feasting After the Yom Kippur Fast
Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis, of the restaurants Bestia and Bavel in Los Angeles, talk about their food, their partnership and celebrating the Jewish holidays.
'For 364 days of the year, Ori Menashe, the self-taught chef of the Los Angeles restaurants Bestia and Bavel, is obsessed with spices and the flavor they bring to food. But there is one day he lays off the seasoning: the meal before the fast of Yom Kippur.
“My dad always says that it makes fasting easier,” he said recently, and he and his family stick with that tradition. “We eat pretty lightly, because you don’t want to stuff yourself before or after a fast.”
They celebrate the High Holy Days together, and most of the time Mr. Menashe brings food from his restaurants to one of his sisters’ homes, adding spreads like tzatziki, baba ghanouj and hummus to be served along with their dishes, which may include pumpkin and tomato soup and braised short ribs with pomegranates. But for the meals before and after the fast that marks the Jewish Day of Atonement, they stick to chicken soup, roast chicken with potatoes or a simple beef stew.>>>
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