We returned from California for New Year’s Eve, which gave us a chance to go to the soft opening of our much-anticipated new downtown Covington restaurant Tavi, from the Besh Restaurant Group.
Tavi lives up to its billing as a little Shaya. It is much smaller and a bit less glamorous, but actually perfect for the food and place. I was disappointed that the backspace would not be a private courtyard for outdoor dining (still hoping at some point…) but there are four charming blue Mediterranean French tables and chairs out front with wispy plants, lending atmosphere to the sidewalk. It definitely works.
Inside, the focal point is of course the oven, which turns out those puffy pita loaves. Risking blasphemy here, I do not understand the gushing over these, and on this night Tom and I didn’t even finish a whole one.
We got a lot of food but didn’t order the big Tavi Sofra, a selection of kebabs and sides as well as dips. At $120 this is actually the value meal. But on this night Tom was intrigued by the salmon, and I by the shrimp, so that is what we got.
Before that, there was, of course, hummus. We got the fried chicken hummus, which had to be and was indeed fried chicken thighs. About four small cubed pieces of chicken were dusted in an unusual crumb, and covered with a lot of “stuff.” In this case, it was a green pile of Aleppo pepper, Tunisian spices, and date salsa verde. Underneath it, all was a schmear of creamy hummus. I don’t know if I’m just so hooked on the lamb ragu version of this or I’m just jaded at this point, but I was not wowed.
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The waiter demurred when I asked about the Fattoush Salad, directing me to the Israeli Salad. I do love that one, but we always get it at Shaya. I wanted to try something different. After having it I agreed with the waiter that I prefer the Israeli, but this was also quite good. A little sweeter vinaigrette than I expected (must have been the dates,) this pile of greens was punctuated by heirloom carrots, green onions, and crispy za’atar pita croutons. I liked this enough to get it again.
The salmon was great. An ample finger-type slab of fish was brushed with caramelized harissa and crusted beautifully, then placed atop a sea of plump couscous “risotto” and sweet corn. This was a pleasing mouthful of food. Nothing extraordinary, but definitely tasty.
The shrimp, which the waiter cautioned me about, was a disappointment, but not for the reason he flagged. He told me an earlier portion he delivered to a table was a little overdone, which is to me a plus. Many years ago I had a raw shrimp experience at a restaurant that has scarred me for life. I want my shrimp bright white in the middle.
What I didn’t like about this dish was everything else. The shrimp were coated in a glaze without a discernable flavor, maybe because the sauce on the tiny couscous beads beneath took center stage. This was a thick red sauce that just lay there, so thick it didn’t move. And couscous comes in plump beads which I generally like, and tiny ones which I generally don’t, depending on what is with it. This tended to be a miss. The sauce sat there on top of a pile of unattended tiny couscous which seemed to clump. This dish could benefit from some tweaking.
For dessert, Tom got cinnamon babka a la mode, and I had chocolate tahini mousse. I’ve been wanting to try babka for a while. It reminded me of a blondie minus chocolate. The texture was dense like a blondie, but it was all cinnamon. The housemade vanilla ice cream was creamy and delicious. Tom loved this.
Recently I did an interview on the Food Show (airs 2-4 weekdays 990 AM) with Rose Berenbaum, author of The Cookie Bible, which had a recipe for chocolate cookies with tahini. I have seen this pairing in other places too, and I wondered why these would be paired. Peanut butter and chocolate cannot be improved upon! This dessert came nicely swirled in a glass with a Besh signature brittle, this time of black and white sesame seeds. Besh brittles are usually great. This wasn’t. But I loved the chocolate mousse, and the tahini was not a strong enough flavor statement to mess it up. This was good.
About a week later we returned to Tavi for dinner, this time with our daughter. Mary Leigh has always been a fan of Shaya, and even more unbelievable, of the lamb hummus. It is not hard to believe that someone would love the lamb hummus. (It is superb.) What is surprising is that Mary Leigh would try it at all. She’s not exactly an adventurous eater.
But the hummus comes with a proper amount of ground lamb, sitting in a puddle of meat grease, which sounds unappealing but is actually quite tasty, and not at all unwelcome. Fried chickpeas round out the dish, which is easily scooped up by the legendary puffed pillows of housemade pita.
Mary Leigh is also smitten by the Israeli salad, which at Shaya comes in a little dish filled with chopped vegetables like cucumbers and tomatoes, red onion, and feta in an herbal vinaigrette. Refreshing and delicious. At Tavi, the same salad comes full-sized, with crunchy pieces of cucumber, plump cherry tomatoes, shaved onion, and generous blobs of Bulgarian feta. The lemony vinaigrette was exactly like at Shaya, just as refreshing and delicious.
I asked about something in the Shareables section that intrigued me. I was unfamiliar with a Turkish Pide, which meant we had to try it. On the menu, it seemed like a cheese pizza. It arrived at the table in a most interesting presentation on a special sculpted board. The dough itself was sculpted as well, reminding me of a magic carpet, or those distinctive Arabian shoes. Inside the dough was a cheesy blanket speckled with herbs and tomato, and its appearance couldn’t possibly live up to the divine taste inside. This was the single most delicious thing I have had in a long time. We wanted to order another one or maybe two of these. At $14 each we decided we could live without it.
When it was time to order entrees we noticed the absence of the Tavi Sofra, the $120 entree sampler of kebabs, dips, and sides that we saw the week before. It has since been removed for some tweaking. We got the Ribeye which came fanned out in neat slices, a blush of pink in the middle. It was served with roasted fingerling potatoes and the most divine toum and coriander chili butter. The condiments were the most interesting things on the plate, which is definitely wrong for a $28 entree. The fingerling potatoes were fine and nothing more, and the ribeye as dense as all the others. The toum was spiced with za’atar, as are most things here.
For dessert, they sent us a slice of the Shaya King Cake, which is for sale at Tavi. Lining the front counter by the hostess, these are uncharacteristically brown, or more accurately, the color of cardamom. Boring. But when sliced, the layers are revealed, making it a lovely sort of striped thing. Inside, the predominant flavor was caramel. This was served with vanilla ice cream. Tom loved it, and we thought it was pretty.
Last week we went again. Mary Leigh arrived first and ordered the lamb ragu hummus and our new favorite, the Turkish Pide. When the hummus arrived, it looked odd. Much oilier and darker red. It was considerably spicier than we remembered. And the requisite fried chickpeas were missing.
The waiter explained the mystery, telling us it was the tahini hummus. The dark red color and intense spiciness meant harissa.
When the hummus we ordered arrived we realized this was too much. Along with the Turkish Pide, we would not be hungry for days. Tom was crazy about the Pide and ate nearly all of it himself.
We still ordered the Kafta Kebab for him. This was a lovely presentation, served over a schmear of muhammara and tahini, with carrots and parsley in there as garnish. There were two of these, each on their own silver skewer.
Trying these kebabs settled the question of lamb for me. I can eat it as lamb ragu, not as chops, not as a shank, and definitely not as kebabs. These had a slightly rare center, and the texture was really offputting. Tom was absolutely giddy about these. He ate every morsel.
Our server was hopping, as were all the others. We know them from the many other places we have run into them. Alums of our beloved Oxlot, Pardo’s, and Boulevard, to name a few. It is good to see them all.
We have long awaited the opening of Tavi. It’s always good to have a new eatery for us to frequent in our now small orbit. I have always said I love this kind of food when I am in the mood for it, but I am not in the mood for it as much as I am for American food. Tavi, like Shaya, is an excellent representation of this cuisine with its very different and assertive flavors. And the space transports you to a small cafe in Israel.
Tavi is alive with the buzz of glamorous people having a great time over adventurous food. And who doesn’t want to be part of that scene?
