Meorav Yerushalmi

[acd123]

This may be one of the more obscure items that have been written about lately. It is a specialty in Jerusalem. It is literally translated as "mixed Jerusalem", but is usually called "Jerusalem mixed grill". It is chicken meat, liver, kidney, heart, of other edible bits, fried in oil on a huge cook top with onions and various secret spices. It is usually stuffed into a pita, doused with tehina and/or amba and devoured carefully because it's so juicy and has a tenancy do drip everywhere.

My favourite place is Chatzot near Jersulem's main market. It is beyond delicious.

I'm having a huge craving. Maybe I should just wait until I'm there because anything in TO would probably not even compare.

But who know? Anyone know of an Israeli or arab place that makes it?

I would not be surprised if the number of responses I get to this post = 0.

[magic]

Yeah the smaller takeout style location of Me Va Me on Steeles (btwn. Yonge+Bathurst) has them in pita. At least they did when I was last there 2 years ago. Never tried it.

[toveggiegirl]

There is a new kosher restaurant at Bathurst & Steeles called Hamizrach that has it on the menu. I haven't tried it but I thought of this thread when I saw it.
http://www.torontokosherrestaurants.c...

[embee]

Try calling Sababa and the MeVaMe branch at Dufferin, both on Steeles. I don't know whether either place has it, but it fits their style.

[itzi]

The best Jerusalem mix i ever had was at a place called SIMA in Jerusalem , Have you ever been there ?

MiVami in Thornhill serves the dish , but the taste and flavor does not even resemble the original thing

[acd123]

Yes, I've been to Sima too, which is very good, but Chatzot is better

(http://www.jerusalem.com/discover/item_623/Chatzot).

It is supposed to be the original. I love going to the window counter, place my order, kibbutz with the cook and sit at the plastic table outside. Pretty much the most atmospheric and tasty eating experience ever.

The only one that's more atmospheric is a (quick) meal at Pinati

(http://www.jerusalem.com/discover/ite...).

Best hummus with meat and fiery, green yemeni hot sauce (zhug). And I love the schtick there. They push you in, you eat your meal at a communal table and they push you out. Great, loud conversations with neighbours as the staff joke and shout at each other. The place is tiny and really fun. Just don't EVER start arguing with an Israeli about which place has the best hummus. It can get very heated :-

)

Sami's in the market is also good for Meorav, but mostly tourists and I think now it's just a name.

You've confirmed my fear that any Meorav in TO will not even compare to the places in Machane Yehuda.

If anyone can confirm that's not the case, please let me know.

[EB_TO]

For one thing, any Meorav Yerushalmi I've ever seen here in TO only consists of chicken hearts, liver and breast - no other edible parts as is the case in Israel. So yeah, I doubt that any TO version would compare to any Israeli version.

[Chester Eleganté]

Best Grill Restaurant (yet another place around Thornhill) makes it with dark meat, hearts, liver, and plenty of gizzards. The onions are cooked down pretty well, and it all blends in nicely with the oils and hummus in the pita. Better than Me Va Me's, although I guess that's not saying much. It's located at the far end of that long plaza on the SW corner of Dufferin and Steeles, next to the (crappy) South St. Burgers.

-----
Best Grill
2215 Steeles Ave W, Toronto, ON M3J3N2, CA

[acd123]

Thanks. I'm gonna try that. I had several meorav sandwiches at Chatzot in Jerusalem this summer and they were just as amazing as they ever were. But now I need some more. Also, I tried to make something similar at home using a now secret spice blend :-) and it turned out pretty well.

[Chester Eleganté]

Ya, I haven't had the "real thing" but I did enjoy this one. Let's see, what other random things I can recall...well, the pocket pita and hummus are both good, they cook the meorav on a pan instead of a griddle, the tahini is kind of weird, some sort of a mix and has herbs in it (i think she gave me a tzatziki), their selection of salads is more limited (and looks to be more Russian-influenced) but I didn't mind since I wanted to go really simple so as to properly taste the meorav; the sheer abundance of gizzards got to be too much after awhile - you really have to be into that snappy texture; the lady at the cash is really nice and enjoys talking about her menu and food in general; she really seemed to muse about her time in Jerusalem, so I guess they have a fair idea about this dish.

[acd123]

Sounds interesting. I don't love that snappy texture so extra gizzards don't sound all that appealing. I think I prefer for livers, hearts and thigh meat, which aren't snappy at all.

At Chatzot in Jerusalem, I get the snadwich with hummus, charif (hot sauce), and amba. I guess you could get tahina if you want, but the above combo seems to be the standard.

[DDD]

I liked Sima better...

[EB_TO]

Sofra Grill in Thornhill, on Dufferin north of Hwy. 407 serves this as well.

[Tatai]

Curiosity got the better of me and I started Googling. Yummy Grill in Thornhill has a Jerusalem mix (minus the kidney, mind you) on its menu. (Yummy's sister restaurant is Halleluiah on Eglinton, but it's no longer on Yummy's website.) Let us know if you try it.

[atomeyes]

Halleluia closed down.

[chloe103]

I've never found it here, but if you manage to and it is good, please please please post back and tell us!

[Tatai]

I'm wondering whether Meron Brothers on Bathurst north of Steeles might serve this. There's also a fairly new kosher grillhouse on Bathurst south of Lawrence, across from [the as yet unreopened] Perl's.

[toveggiegirl]

I think that kosher grillhouse on Bathurst has closed.

[racheljenna]

Indeed. It has closed and moved to Disera Drive, in the plaza strips just west of Bathurst and Centre (little bit north of Steeles).

I am not sure if the place offers the dish the OP is looking for, though.

[rivelli]

Meron is closed. Besides, it wasn't Kosher.