Hummus Bar is now Hummus Bar AND Grill-new menu, new owners! review

[Diana]

We jsut got back. Hummus bar has sort of changed a bit, but it is for the better.

We went tonight, and brought a bottle of good wine. There never has been corkage at Hummus Bar. The new owner added more meat to the menu. now one can get kebabs, shawerma , grilled fish and more The huge plates of hummus have been downszed, but so much goodness has been added!

We waked in before sundown on a Saturday, so it wasn;t too full. 15 minutes later, the sun was down and Hummus Bar and Grill was packed.

As we walked in, we saw the guy whose sole job is to shape and cook and put out huge flatbread after flatbread. Now, bread is free and all you can eat as he puts it out. He was making bread under a chalkboard of daily specials. This time they had lentil soup, griled tilapia, grilled whole sea bream, Sweet Breads, goose pate, and other yummy special. This is in addition to the regular menu.

As soon as we sat, three little bowls hit the table-pickles and olives, a sort of sweet tomato salsa thing and the most amazin warm garbanzo beans in oil with fresh tahini. We ordered an Isreali Salad, two pates of hummus-one with tahini and oil ad one with pine nuts (smaller, now, remember). then we went with the waitress' auggestion of the mixed salads for two. Five bucks a person, a selection of the fresh salads with free refills on whatever you want.

Hot flatbread arrived-bubbly, soft on the egdes and crisp in the thin bits. we used it to scoop up the garbonzos and salsa stuf. Not five inutes after ordering, out came our isreali salad the hummus and the assorted salads. I couldn't believe my eyes! The isreali salad is a largish bowl of chopped onions, cucumbers, cilantro, tomatoes and other goodness. the hummus may not be the huge platters of the past, but it is so rich and creamy, with tahini pooled with oil in the center....but the assorted salads! My god, it was like an ethiopian combo platter or your wildest dream of panchan. I remember:
eggplant sauteed with oil-creamy and delicious one of my favorites
a subtly smoky beet salad
super minty tabouli
a corn succotash of some sort
chopped liver (chicken)
baba ganooj
egg salad
a roasted cauliflower salad
tomatoes and basil in oil
roasted red pepper
something similar to guacamole

Little bowls, but every time we emptied one, they brought us a fresh bowl. It seemed to e one guys job behind the bar to just full bowls of salad. he and the bread man were moving all night!

The isreali salad was clean tasting, fresh and refreshing all at once, topped but not overpowered by its dressing, easy to split between two-with other food, four.

The assorted salad thing is just $5 a person! $5! I think the whole table has to have it, I'm not sure. but, my God $5!!!! With free refills.

With all that, the isreali salad ,our two hummuses, endless flatbread (we had to cry uncle, or they would have kept bringing us huge flatbread the size or a serving platter) bowls that magically kept refilling and wine with no corkage.

Lovely huge platters of fish and meat kept gliding by, with sides of fries or steamed veggies or more. A few delectable looking desserts also kept catching my eye-but we were both stuffed!

All this, Isreali salad, 2 hummuses and the assorted salads ended up costing us, after tax before tip $30. Had we just gotten the assorted salads, around $12-$14, I imagine.

I have to go back soon to try the fish!

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Hummus Bar and Grill
18743 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, CA 91356

[Diana]

Ooh, forgot to say, service was EXCELLENT! One of the things I always look for, be it fine dining or hole in the wall.

[a_and_w]

That does it -- I've got to check this place out! BTW, would you describe the hummus as more sweet or tart/lemony?

PS: Do they have falafel?

[Diana]

They have lovely falafel-greeny delicious! An order comes with a little boat of tahini.

The hummus is not sweet, I've never had sweet hummus. It is rich, a little lemony, not too tart..lots of, well, umami, I guess, I don't know. You can tell they don't use cheap stuff. I believe they cook the beans rather than use canned. Some of the better hummus I've had, really. And I am a hummus maniac. They can top[ it with tahini and oil, cooked mushrooms (yum!) pine nuts a few other things. It isn't on the menu, but they'll top it with shawerma, too, if you ask.

[kevin]

aw, its pretty mild, not lemony or garlicky.

more of the pure flavor of the hummus, and yes it did change over to a grill so lots of grilled dishes from foie gras skewers (heard it 's bing in israel) to chicken heart and liver skewers to grilled ribe eyes to sweetbreas and whole fish.

they do have falafel but only as a side. i'd suggest ordered some of the falafel and a plate of hummus and tried out some of the grilled dishes with a group.

[a_and_w]

kevin and Diana -- thanks for the info! I'm particularly excited about the wide variety of salads, which is something I haven't found elsewhere.

[AquaW]

Oh... if it only is a bit closer to LA, especially since I've been going hummus crazy lately.

But I'll be in that area at end of the month, hopefully I haven't spoiled my appetite by then.

~H.C.
http://la-oc-foodie.blogspot.com

[jencounter]

A friend and I went for lunch yesterday and WOW, amazing. We had the shawarma with rice and salad (the salad was chopped cuke and tomato) and a hummus plate and an order of falafal. Service was phenominal as was the food. The best hummus I have EVER had.

Thanks for the tip, Diana.

[bulavinaka]

If you've been unfortunate not to have great hummus - I mean really great hummus - then if I were to tell you that Hummus Bar and Grill has this great hummus, macerated cardboard doused in olive oil is what you might be expecting. Wipe clean your previously banal expectations for the seemingly humble chic pea as Hummus Bar and Grill has the real deal. In fact, anything that stars chic peas, like their simmered chic peas with tahini, their five different hummus selections, or their falafal, are all worthy of serious praise.

We happened to be in the west end of the SFV today, and remembering this post by Diana, I tossed the suggestion to my wife who was more than happy to give this place a go. Located in a strip mall on Ventura Blvd between Tampa and Reseda, it's actually a nice space that has long narrow strip of outdoor seating adjacent to the parking lot, or deceptively spacious indoor seating across from their bar and grill.

Upon walking in with two bubulas in tow, the place was full of staff members finishing off their lunches and shooting the breeze in Hebrew while some Hebrew-pop music was playing in the background. They panned over toward us, things got silent for a couple of seconds like in the archetype saloon scene in Cowboy & Western movies, then they all returned to their conversations. This was GREAT SIGN number one. My guess is this place's clientele is heavily weighted toward the Israeli expat crowd - we just didn't click with the help - cool...

After grabbing a table we sat there for about a long two minutes, with the various staff gliding by our table numerous times without any acknowledgment. Finally, our presumed waitress just nonchalantly placed a basket on our table that was draping over with this enormous freshly baked flatbread and just kept going without missing a step. 30 seconds later, she slinks back with three small bowls of salads and pickles - again, like some le femme nikita , she's here for a moment, dishes out the destruction, glides off without missing a beat. This was GREAT SIGN number two. This casual slightly dismissive attitude is classic Israeli in my mind. She returns with laminated menu cards, briefly greets us, and is off again...

This time our waitress returns to take our order and now she's finally warming up a bit to us. For some reason, the game plan that my wife and I settled on is out the window. I'm ordering this, she's ordering that, and we end up with enough food to feed six to eight starving adults. Instead of ordering one plate of hummus, my wife orders two. While I order my daughter the child's plate of schnitzel, my wife orders the shawarma. I love falafel so I order a plate. We also ordered the assorted salad option for two adults to try their various salads - I think a dozen or so different kinds - and the waitress also recommends their grilled portabello mushrooms. I turn to her like an idiot and ask, "did we order too much?" This half-smile appears on her youthful face, and she says, "I think you ordered enough...", and she vanishes again.

The onslaught begins. First, she replenishes our flatbread with another 16-inch disc and places two plates of hummus down. Now the dozen or so bowls of their assorted salads magically appear on our table. At this point, we're all staring at each other with silly looks on our faces - how the heck are we going to eat all of this? And like a Ronco commercial, "Wait - there's more!" No really, there really is more. A huge shawarma platter shows up with a generous portion of fries and something akin to pilaf. The falafel plate with a generous portion of tahini pushes its way onto the last available inches on our table... but wait - yes - there's more... remember the kid's plate of schnitzel? Like an albatross looking to land on a crowded beach during mating season, the schnitzel arrives with absolutely no space to set down on our table. The waitress holds the plate while we cut the schnitzel in half and divvy it up between the kids. As diners start to arrive in earnest, comments like, "Wow!", "That's a lot of food!" or just huge silent stares coupled with jaws dropped as they walk by...

We ordered the hummus with pine nuts and the hummus with mushrooms. Anywhere else and I would have thought, "BOH-RING..." The amount of pine nuts was extremely generous, the olive oil was fresh, clean and not overpowering, and the slowly braised mushrooms were tossed with fresh herbs and tasted sweet and savory. But the hummus - wow - it was so smooth, creamy, and was seasoned just enough to bring out a nice umami flavor that was so rich and satisfying. In fact, to overload this hummus with seasonings would have been guilding the proverbial lily. I am guessing the kitchen makes this from scratch. The flavor is so deep yet mild, and the texture is like silk on your tongue. This was GREAT SIGN number three that sealed the deal here.

The various small bowls of assorted salads were too many to accurately recall but I'll give it a shot:

An outstanding chopped liver (and I normally won't touch the stuff).

A mildly flavored egg salad that is a nice contrast to some of the more gregarious salads.

A nice herby minty tabuli salad - just enough acid to set it off.

A cabbage salad - this was probably the only thing I thought wasn't worth ordering again as it was relatively flavorless.

A nicely seasoned and sauteed eggplant. Rich with just enough flavor accents to complement the creamy eggplant.

A spiced cruciferous salad with cauliflower - not outstanding but more like confetti at a parade - it just seemed to fit here.

A minty herbed cherry tomato salad - very nice contrast of flavors and went well with the hummus.

A rich creamy baba ganoush touched with garlic - I can take or leave this one, not because it wasn't good - it was - but it seems to have a similar play and place as the excellent hummus. By far the most fresh and fluffy take on baba ganoush I've had.

Herbed beets - wow - I enjoy a good beet dish now and then, but this was a different take on it for me. Like many of the other dishes, it was seasoned with fresh herbs but cumin played into this dish and it was very good.

Warmed/braised chic peas with a dollop of tahini. By far one of the most simple yet effective dishes. I'm not sure which I prefer - the hummus or this simpler play on chic peas. It was so homey and inviting.

Freshly cured olives, pickles and peppers. Another essential Mediterranean dish that played well in complimenting other dishes.

Salsa? Much more garlicky, less acid, and minty with some olive oil. Perfect play with the hummus and fresh flat bread, much like a Mexican salsa with guacamole for chips.

A nice earthy red pepper spread. If you're familiar with the Serbian pepper spread, ajvar, this is a similar take on it. By itself with the flatbread, I would have been happy. But it was competing for our attention with so many other delicious concoctions.

I sampled schnitzel and it was not great, but still a good take on this dish. Thin yet still moist, and lightly seasoned.

The falafel arrived slightly overfried, but the inside was still moist and full of textures and flavors of mashed chic peas and herbs. The gravy boat of tahini was flavorful and more than generous, and went well with the shawarma too.

The shawarma was a tad underwhelming. I was expecting some lamb/beef combination but it was chicken. Still, it was seasoned perfectly and the chef did a great job in searing the meat without drying it out too much. Topped with the tahini, it definitely was improved on.

A dish that I truly enjoyed was the grilled portabello mushrooms which the waitress recommended. Very nicely seasoned and perfectly grilled, and served with a lightly dressed green salad. The only complaint I might make on this dish is that mushrooms really pick up and hold on to certain smells. In this case, I could still pick up on the smell of the natural gas burning off as it hit the mushrooms. Still, a very worthy dish to order, and for any vegetarians or vegans, this one is a slam dunk. In fact, so many items on their menu would be deeply satisfying to carniphobes.

Throw in two sodas and two fresh-squeezed grapefruit juices (in the bigger glasses - not the pepsqueek two-sip juice glasses) and the bill came out to $77 pretip, but I need to qualify this by reiterating that we ordered way beyond reason - enough to feed at least six adults, not two adults and two munchkins. And when considering the variety and quality of food here, one would need to take great pains in duplicating this experience for any where near this price.

Hey Diana, thanks a ton for getting the word out about this place. It's just as you described. The food keeps coming - the freshly baked bread is amazing and the assorted salads are more than enough to keep most satisfied, and for $5-$6 per? I felt like I was ripping the place off and we didn't even eat enough assorted salads to get refills. The portions on these items are bottomless the kitchen's skills are to be commended. Order a hummus plate, some protein, and the I'm only left wanting a bottle of shiraz... Thanks again!

[exilekiss]

Excellent review bulavinaka! :) It's too bad this place is a bit far away from me, but the next time I'm in the area I'll definitely try it out. Wonderfully humorous description in your review about the onlookers. (^_^)

[bulavinaka]

Thank you , exile... Like most folks, I enjoy Mediterranean cuisine and this place's food was a hit for us. I will have to explore the skewers from the grill next time (and of course order half as much food) as we could see and smell the various skewers being served to others.

It's a bit far for us as well, but definitely worth putting on your SFV list. I think up until we were a few minutes from leaving, we were the only table that didn't speak Hebrew. It's similar to being in SGV's restaurants where everyone is speaking some form of Chinese but unlike the SGV wherethe majority of folks are from Asia, Hummus seems to be a magnet for Israeli expats from across the multicultural SFV.

If this place ever starts serving beer and wine, then I can easily see more frequent visits in the future.

[a_and_w]

[sounds of a_and_w drooling...and laughing...and drooling some more]

[bulavinaka]

I think this place gets quite crowded. About half-way through our mega-gorge-fest at 6PM, we saw a shift change where quite a few more folks came on board to what I thought was already a full staff for Friday night. Like Diana says, at least one guy constantly mans the bread-baking station off to the side of the grill. It's a similar idea to the ladies who make fresh tortillas at some of the Mexican restaurants, but the product is delicious flatbread that is about 16 inches in diameter with nice charring. Replenishing the assorted salads alone will keep at least one person busy full-time as well. This assorted salad-per-person offering is a must-try. I think it was six bones per person - they only charged us for two since it was my wife, me, and our two kids - and I was dumbfounded at the amount and quality of salads they laid out - it's like banchan gone wild Israeli-style. But I know you're after the hummus. You can get it in a pretty basic form garnished with some tahini (excellent) and olive oil, or any one of the following: garbanzo beans, pine nuts, mushrooms (I think they might have braised these - yum-drool-wiping it off with my forearm and licking it off) or beef. Diana mentioned that you can request it with shawarma as well, but the shawarma is chicken. Save room for the grilled meat skewers as well - this was the one area of the menu that we really wanted to try but frankly ran out of room for.

[JEN10]

Do you know of any places like this in the South bay area?

[bulavinaka]

I wish I did - I usually focus on other ethnic cuisines (Japanese, Hawaiian Grindz, Peruvian, La Espanola, some Chinese) when I'm down that way. I love the South Bay for all it has to offer, but I don't know if there is a representative ethnic population from the Middle East in the area to drive and sustain something of this level. I know Mediterranean places exist in the South Bay on Artesia and PCH but I don't know if any are in this style or tradition that seems specifically Israeli. There's a fairly large cross-section of expats from the Middle East living in the SFV and it is very evident at this place. If you're looking for something like this at this time, I guess I can only toss two words your way at this time: ROAD TRIP:)

[jotfoodie]

Awesome review to both you and Diana. I first noticed this place because it is in the same strip mall with Kushiyu. I have only ordered to go, and I agree with both of you on the quality and tastiness of what they offer. I was hoping to try their bread, but unfortunately it was Passover when I was there, and they only serve matzo crackers. The people behind the counter are decent and good people. I will definitely go back. Thanks.

[lil mikey]

Thanks for the tip, Diana. A friend and I went today, and it was awesome.

The huge, freshly baked, piping hot flatbread was perfect for our meal. And as you mentioned, they automatically bring a new one when you finish the last one.

The free appetizer of garbanzo beans and tahini was so rich, it tasted like there was melted cheese in there (there was not). And the fresh, minty tomato salsa was a perfect offset to it.

The hummus and schwarma (chicken) was delightful. The hummus was smooth and extremely fresh tasting.

The salad combo is also a treat, although I suggest it for a group of 4 or more. It overwhelmed the two of us. There were 12 bowls of various salads, most of them the same as described by Diana and bulavinaka. The baba ghanoush was my favorite of the salad sampler.

We left over half the food; they gave us so much. And we didn't even get any refills on the salad sampler plates.

And I agree with Diana. Service was nothing short of outstanding.

This is a great find.

[kevin]

Damn, if the service was swell then how can it be authentic?

Anyhow, interestingly, they have skewers of grilled foie gras on the menu. That should be interesting, and also tasty.

[bulavinaka]

I can't speak for lil mikey, but I would term the service there as efficient - very efficient. We didn't sense any wanting by the waitstaff to make a lot of small talk but our waitress was always on top of things - bringing more bread before the one we were enjoying was gone, clearing plates, checking on us, etc. I just wished she would have governed our order a little more. As this was our first visit, I had no idea of how large each dish was that we were ordering, and it would have helped if she would have said, "uncle" for us at some point! Just the same, we came home with a fair amount of leftovers as well and it made a great lunch the next day...

[lil mikey]

I agree. They are very efficient. Our server, though, went into considerable detail about what was in the dishes, and helped up pick what we wanted. She built good rapport and joked around with us about stuff.

And she was always right there if/when we needed anything.

The other servers didn't seem to show their personality as much to us or the other tables.