Noam
Hey everyone, welcome to Wondering Jews with Mijal and Noam. I’m Noam and this podcast is our way of trying to unpack those really big questions being asked in the world today about Israel, about Judaism, and about the Jewish experience. We are about halfway through our series on Jewish American Heritage Month. We’re asking, what does it mean to be a Jewish American? What’s unique about this identity? And what has this group of people contributed to the Jewish community and to the U.S.?
Noam
Mike Solomonov is the co-owner of Cook and Solo Restaurants with his 20-year business partner, Steve Cook, chef of the seminal restaurant, Zahav, and co-author of four cookbooks. He is one of the country’s foremost restaurant minds.
He garnered great recognition with Zahav named a 25 best restaurants in Philadelphia 2025 by the New York times and to the all time eater 38 list of best restaurants of the past 20 years by Eater National. Michael, welcome to Wondering Jews.
Mike
Thank you, thanks for having me on, Noam. How are you?
Noam
I’m doing great. I’m doing great. At the time of this recording, we have the holiday of Shavuot tonight. So I’m particularly excited about this conversation because I like food. And no, I’m not a big cheesecake guy. Is that wrong of me?
Mike
And you’re excited for cheesecake? that? I’m not a big cheesecake person ever, but I do feel like around Shavu and I’m like, okay, I can do this, you know?
Noam
you’ll consider it just so cheesy. It’s like a little much.
Mike
I just am like, if I want to eat that much cheese, I want like a hunk of feta or a pizza, you know? But I feel like, I think eating pizza on Shavuot should be a thing too, you know? Yeah.
Noam
I am my god, yes.
Noam
It is a thing. It’s absolutely a thing. So I’ll tell you what I do. Tonight I’m doing grilled cheese and tomato soup. That’s my move. Grilled cheese. It’s like, it’s so good.
Mike
That’s great. That’s great. Tomatoes are not totally in season. I mean, they’re putting it out there, you know? That’s right. Right, right. It’s my thing.
Noam
All right. Okay. All right. The food snob comes out right away. So which is fair. It’s kind of your thing. It’s kind of your thing. Let me ask you a question. Mike, I want to go get to food. We’ll get into your story. We’ll get into culture. There’s so much to talk about with Zahav with what you’re doing over Shabbat. You’re doing this exciting thing over Shabbat. I think the summer, but we’ll get to that. But I want to understand your story a little bit. So I want you to I want to
Mike
Yeah.
Noam
you to do something that I did not ask you to prep beforehand. When I ask the question, who are you? If you were to say I am,
Mike
Hmm
I mean, I’m a father.
Noam
Yep.
Mike
You know, I’m a good friend, I think. A good friend. To many.
Noam
and what makes you a good friend.
Mike
I tell people a lot that I love them. I think dudes especially, don’t, every time I get off the phone, I want people to know where we stand, right? In the event that one of us dies prematurely. I don’t know, but like, it’s important to me.
Noam
I like that. think there’s a lot of conversation in the male world right now about this toxic masculinity and there’s the reaction from people like Scott Galloway and who has been on our podcast in the past. And for guys to say, I love you. Like to say, I love you. I love you. And it’s okay. I love you. I love Mike.
Mike
Yeah.
Mike
Yeah, yeah, sit. I love you. Know him. I don’t know you that well, but I think I’m gonna love you, you know? I feel we’re on our way, yeah.
Noam
We’re not there yet, but there’s something brewing. See, that’s the vulnerability. We could do that. And we’re tough guys, right? We’re both tough, right? I’m kidding.
Mike
mean, you’re probably a lot tougher than I am, but I just think that, like, this is really morbid and we’ll probably get into this a little bit with my story. Like, this is a reaction to, you know, my brother dying at an early age and…
You know, I got the chance to tell him I loved him and he was embarrassed, you know, because it was like his older brother hugging him and I think I kissed him on the cheek and he was like, okay, okay. And that was the last time that I’d seen him. And I just think it’s important for people to know. I don’t want people to know, I don’t want to know about how people feel about me at my fucking funeral, right? I want it, like, it’s important for me to know. And it’s important for people to know how I feel about them and to be expressive.
Noam
I want to talk about food. I want to go into your story. Let’s start with your story. So you were born in Israel, but you moved to Pittsburgh when you were two. And I know your mom was a teacher. Your dad owned a few subway locations. How were you?
Mike
Yeah.
Mike
Yes.
Yes.
Mike
Yeah.
Noam
How aware were you of your Israeli roots?
Mike
I grew up in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, which is like a shtetl, you know? And so it was very unique in the sense that I grew up thinking that every American city had people that still spoke like Yiddish in the streets. it was really, it was the last sort of, you know, there were like a ton of only, I mean.
kind of believe in the United States as well, like Russians. And so there was like a huge Jewish community, mostly Ashkenazi. And what was different was that my dad was Israeli and Sephardic Bulgarian. So it wasn’t like…
I guess we were like less fancy than a lot of the community. And there were things that were like different about us. Like we had instead of like butter on the table or whatever, we like a jar of tehina on the table. Like raw tehina, is, especially at that time, it wasn’t like a great quality or anything like that. Oftentimes it was separated and there was just like a butter knife like kind of sticking in it. And so that was the thing that was kind of on
on the kitchen table and you know like my dad had a funny accent and we There would be like, you know sort of like pissed off outbursts in Hebrew, even though we were an English speaking household. Culturally, it was like a little bit different? Interestingly, I think about this now because we ended up going to a conservative shul there was Tree of Life and there was Beth Shalom, we went to Beth Shalom and
You know, my dad was like super secular.
Mike
Sephardic Bulgarian Israeli, like pork eating, know atheist or whatever and my mom I guess was more observant, but only sort of culturally and so I asked my I was like mom Why do we even go to concerv- why not like reform and she was like there just wasn’t enough Hebrew For her and my mom’s Hebrew kind of sucked. So even in it she passed away, but she lived in Israel the last 20 years of her life so It was just I don’t know. It was like a little bit different than
maybe everybody else, but I kind of knew things were that we weren’t like everybody else. And, you know, my grandmother who lived in Lod would come every other year and spend, you know, a couple of weeks with us or a month and make borekas and pastel and pastelicos and all the stuff that would like live in our freezer, you know, for like another six months. And our food is like a little bit different. You know, my dad would make like cold schnitzel sandwiches for lunch.
Noam
Yeah.
Mike
And I was like, I want peanut butter and jelly. Meanwhile, cold schnitzel sandwiches are the best, right?
Mike
just the way that sort of like the bread compresses and if you do like a little bit of tehina or like a little tomato, Za’atar or whatever, it is like so good. And this is like, of course, not kosher, but my dad would take, he would butter like Wonder Bread and like, like, and the cold schnitzel the next day. And it was like, my God, it was like the best, the best.
Noam
wow.
Noam
wow. I started salivating just now thinking about that. There’s a Talmudic principle that when you see something that’s not kosher, this is probably what I feel like whenever I see your stuff online, like the food that I wish I could eat. I look at it, the Talmud says that you’re supposed to say efshi. Like, my gosh, I wish I could, I’m like, I wish, ugh. So. Yes.
Mike
Yeah. Yeah. Right. Well, isn’t that like bacon and shrimp for every Jew? But also, you know, you can eat like all of our restaurants except for one are basically kosher style. So we don’t do milk and meat together. We don’t do pork or treyf. Right. Exactly. All but all but one. Yeah. And then, yeah, we don’t do pork or shellfish anywhere except for except for the one. And then
Noam
by design you don’t do milk and meat together? wow. I think I knew that.
Mike
Goldie, which is our falafel shop, is vegan. And we have like a hechsher there. And in Miami, at Aviv, we actually have, again, same principle, no milk and meat together, no pork or shellfish. And we actually have the glatt kosher meat that’s like on the menu. So you’re good.
Noam
cool.
Noam
Well, this is where I live. I live in South Florida. That’s… That’s awesome.
Mike
So you don’t even have to say afshi, you can just fucking come in and have dinner. And we’ll put like the saluf on like a paper plate for you or whatever you need, you know? Yeah, we got it, okay. Yeah.
Noam
We’ll work it out. We’ll work it out. That’s awesome. Okay, but you’re in the middle of your story then. One of the reasons I wanted to do this pod with you is I love food. Like I love food. And so I will keep on getting distracted by anything that we talk about with regard to food. So my apologies in advance, but you’re about your Israeli roots. So you’re a little bit different in Squirrel Hill. You weren’t speaking Yiddish. You had this Israeli thing going on. that…
Mike
Yeah.
Mike
Perfect, perfect. No, no, I love it.
Mike
We weren’t total Ashkenazi and we were like pretty modest sort of upbringing and I felt like it didn’t totally belong in Shul or like Summer Camp which I went to. So then we moved back to Israel. My little brother David was born in Pittsburgh. We moved back to Israel when I was like 15 to Kforsava. My mom was a teacher at a public school there.
and I went to a boarding school in Partizana that had an American program that was like unbelievable and that was in 1990.
Noam
You were 15 when he moved. Yeah.
Mike
was 15 years old, yep. And David was 12. He went to a, just like a public high school and learned, he assimilated like kind of immediately. And so I did one year there and then, you I was really pissed off that we were moving.
And I was like kind of a terror to my parents and they were like, you can try for a year and if you don’t like it you can move back. You’ll stay with friends, finish high school, whatever. So that was like sort of my thing. I was gonna go back, right? And I ended up going back to Pittsburgh after this incredible year and something like wasn’t right. Like I landed in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh and I was like something wasn’t right.
Noam
Yeah, yeah.
Mike
And it, I don’t know, I mean this sounds hokey, but like I felt like part of me was in Israel and you know, I didn’t feel like it was totally at home.
Mike
so I moved back to the States after a year, went to college for a year, dropped out of college, moved back to Israel, and started cooking. I spent one more year in Israel working at a bakery and then a coffee shop.
moved back to the States, went to culinary school and things were seemingly going great. My little brother David stayed in Israel obviously and assimilated so went to middle school, high school and then joined the military and was a sniper in one of the Golani units which is an infantry unit and
He, right before his release, you get like a little break or a little vacation and it coincided with a break that the restaurant I was working at also took. So I flew back to Israel in August. My mom was like, I’ll buy you a plane ticket. You just have to cook dinner for my friends, which I thought was going to be like five people or whatever, but it was like, she invited like 30 people over the course of two nights. And so I had to really like prepare these meals and David and I just got like three weeks together traveling up and down the country.
preparing these meals but like hanging out on the beach going to the clubs and just being brothers we hadn’t lived on the same continent really in a couple years and you know he was 21 years old and finishing the army and then figuring out to come to school in Philly and all that stuff and it was like this moment where it didn’t feel like older brother younger brother it felt like we were just extremely close and like you know
I had mentioned this to some friends after I had gotten back from that trip. David, I found out, had said it to another one of his friends. It was like he rediscovered his best friend, you know? And it was like really meaningful. then, so I told him I said goodbye to him. I gave him hug and a kiss, told him I loved him. He was like, you know, this is embarrassing, and turned red. And I moved back to the States, and then a month later…
Mike
I was actually driving my dad’s old car that was in Pittsburgh back to Philly that was going to be for David to use when he went to school. And I get a call from my aunt, and it was on Yom Kippur, and I get a call from my aunt and she…
It was like, when you get home, you have to call me immediately. And I was like, all right, there’s something wrong. And so I pulled the car over. I was outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. So I was in an hour and a half away, basically in farmland. And I was like, what’s going on? And she was like, David was killed. Which we, like his release was three days later. And it was like, Anya Omkipo. And I was like, this isn’t really happening.
He was patrolling in Metula, which is all the way in the north, on the border with Lebanon by the Goodfends, in an apple orchard, and was killed by three Hezbollah snipers that were in Lebanon that fired into Israel, and died. And for us, the whole family was like, well, he was done. What do you mean? He wasn’t even supposed to be there. He had actually switched.
there’s another soldier in his unit that was supposed to be on that mission or on that patrol that was religious and my brother had switched with him so that kid could go to shul.
Noam
wow.
Mike
so we buried David and then I…
was there for the Shiva, obviously, and that the farmer who owned the land of the apple orchard that David died in brought this bushel of apples to the Shiva, you know.
so sweet, like they were, you know, so delicious and I can still taste them. And so I went back to, I was working at this amazing Italian restaurant called Vetri in Philly. And I told my boss, who was a good friend, that I was going to actually go back to Israel and cook for my brother’s army unit. They were finishing their rotation up in the north. And he said, I’m going to come with you. And I’m going to cook with you. And so we went and cooked for my brother’s unit.
at the end of the night, you know, it was like cold. It’s like cold up north and when you’re not prepared, it’s like when you’re like…
Noam
Yeah.
Mike
know, in Israel and you’re like, wow, I’m freezing cold because like I wasn’t expecting this and the country wasn’t like built for this cold really. It was like one of those experiences and my, the chef that I brought who was like one of my closest friends and mentors, like he, at the end of the night we cook for these soldiers and somebody’s playing guitar and Mark looked like really sad, he looked pale. I was like, dude, are you okay? And he,
Noam
Okay.
Mike
He was just like, you know, I got no sleep last night on the flight and I don’t feel great and I’m like incredibly sad. And I was like, what do you mean? And he was like, well, I was on one of those like birthright planes, you know, where it was like a thousand kids like drinking vodka tonics and like listening to music and I got no sleep. And you picked me up this morning and we drove all the way up to Matula and then we cooked for these kids, same age.
is the Americans that were coming over for this free vacation and now those kids, the same age of those kids, are covered in mud, in uniform, like your brother, that have like 15 minutes to eat this meal we prepared before they have to go out there and like defend this country and like maybe die the way that David did. You know, and I was like.
Yeah, dude, this is, yeah. And also you’re in like the most beautiful place in the world, right? All these things are kind of true and this is like the reality. And I think to me at that moment, it was this light bulb. So I came back from that trip, I think.
I’m less interested in cooking Italian food or French food or whatever it is that I was gonna do. Go to Europe and then go work in New York. I don’t know. And I was like, think I need to cook Israeli food. And that was kind of the vibe. It was the sort of catalyst for I guess what my life’s work would be.
Noam
Okay, I want to talk to you about my friend, Jonah Platt. You were on his podcast and you something.
Mike
Yeah, yeah, love Jonah. Love Jonah’s entire family is wonderful. Yeah.
Noam
They’re wonderful, wonderful people, great people. And I sound like Donald Trump. They’re wonderful people, great people, the best people. Okay, so one of the things that you said on his part.
Mike
But yeah, that was a really uncanny imitation, bro, that you just, that was good. You did. You just did. Yeah.
Noam
I’m not I don’t do I don’t do impersonations No, no, I don’t know how to do things like that Anyway, you said you said I have a foot in the door in both places meaning America and Israel I’m not really comfortable in either I want to I want you to say a little bit more about this. Is that tension part of what powers? Zahav is that like is that like is that tension key to the whole story?
Should American Jews be leaning into this tension of like feeling this foot in both worlds for many people? I’m just wondering about this. Yeah.
Mike
Those are a lot of really pertinent questions. I think that it’s hard, I don’t know how Americans, they do I think have their foot in both doors and I think it sometimes is problematic for the way that they make decisions or the way that we’re viewed, right? Totally, totally. mean.
Noam
What was an example of both?
Mike
I think that American Jews feel like they have to answer for the actions of a foreign government, which is unfair. On the other hand, most American Jews feel like Israel is part of who they are and that they are part of Israel.
And we could do an entire 10 hours of another podcast about this. So I do think that there is tension and I do think they have foot in the door of both. And that, for better or for worse, is just the reality of Jews everywhere in the world. The diasporic community is related to the…
Noam
Yeah.
Mike
Israeli community, just is what it is. Whether you try to fight it or not, it’s just kind of what it is. So I think that there is tension. think that…
Noam
Does that tension power Zahav?
Mike
That tension definitely does not power Zahav. The tension that we have, is maybe the… I want to be a conduit between Israeli culture and the values and the country that my brother died defending to the rest of the world. Because the country has been and continues to be very misunderstood. I didn’t think 18 years ago…
that it would be more misunderstood now, or more confused. But here we are. So I think that the discomfort or the sort of…
imposter syndrome that I have kind of everywhere has allowed us to zoom out and this started really 18 years ago and look at all the different cultures and cuisines that make up Israeli cuisine and say you know what we’re living in North America the climate here is very different we also have the luxury of like breaking down each cuisine and actually mission mixing and mashing instead of just a tapestry really getting to like put it together meaning we’re not totally
really bound by tradition here. And maybe it’s okay to serve schug, which is Yemeni, with matbucha, which is North African, with schnitzel, which is like Eastern European, Austrian originally, but really Eastern European, and really chicken schnitzel became popular because chicken was cheap and Israelis had no food or money, like the first 20 years of the country being around. So schnitzel and pithy team are like Israeli couscous.
Noam
It’s Austrian, right? Yeah.
Noam
Right. Right. That to me is
Noam
Ha
Mike
like Israeli. That’s what Israeli food is and in a way it was easier for us to be like offshore to be to be able to zoom out and say all these wonderful things.
Noam
that boom
Mike
make up Israeli cuisine and by the way we don’t have access to like cucumbers and tomatoes most of the year. It’s cold, February’s freezing. We can’t just like ape it, we can’t just fake it here. So we have to use all those things, we the ingredients that we get here. We have to use spices and spice blends to imply what it is that we love so much about this cuisine and that’s how we steer people. And for me, that’s the biggest compliment. It’s, you know, people that are Israeli that are like, I’ve never had these combinations I’ve like never had, but this makes me feel like I’m eating back at home with like my Safda or whatever.
Noam
That’s special. mean, that’s the power of food. Like what you just described, I love the description of all the different places that Jews come from, which is the whole world, and then melding that together into this new identity, which is the ancient identity of the Jewish people. But it’s this renewed identity. It’s a really, really special way of thinking about it. want to go.
Mike
Well, listen, it tells the story of migration, of transmission of culture, of diasporic tradition. I mean, it’s really so fascinating, and that the idea that this tiny little country…
Noam
All right. All right.
Mike
That is also the convergence of the spice and the silk road. It’s got the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the snow and the desert and all this stuff, all the Nabataean, the people that protected the spice route, the Nabataeans that used collection of…
flooding in the desert to grow to make the desert bloom. Like it’s all in one really tiny place that has all this amazing history and that is really the repository for all of the diasporic Jewish cuisines at least is like it’s fascinating. There’s nothing, there’s no place like it.
Noam
I want to talk a bit about the way food brings people to the table, literally and figuratively. You have this Shabbat event that you’re doing over the summer.
Mike
I believe very much in this country.
Noam
And I want to hear a little bit about why Zahav is celebrating its birthday in this fashion. Why did Zahav say, this is what we should do? Like I pictured Jews and non-Jews alike around the table doing some sort of maybe Israeli version of Shabbat with no devices or something like that, right?
Mike
That’s it. So that’s basically it. We had been saying this. What do we do that’s unique to us? What do we do that’s special? We have this outdoor thing. Do we just do like regular seating? I was like, you know, let’s just do one day a month, one Friday a month. We’re gonna bring in our friends and we’re gonna do a collaborative dinner, family style.
everybody’s going to drop their phone on a basket, and we’re just going to have dinner together. And yeah, I mean, my really good friend and sister at this point, Adina Sussman, is coming tomorrow. And it’s shavuot as well, so we’re going to go all fish and dairy. Interestingly,
Noam
Nice.
Mike
Before that, like in the afternoon, we made a bunch of cheesecake and just a bunch of Jewish and Israeli chefs and food people in Philly are coming to have cheesecake. So everybody tomorrow that’s attending, I think, is going to wear white because we wear white for Shavuot. Hopefully everybody, unless there’s a need or emergency, is going to drop their phone in the basket. And we’re just going to have an amazing meal that is inspired by all the dishes out of Adina’s new
New York Times bestselling cookbook. It’s a riz, so yeah. Yeah, mean, it’s us just making Adina’s food in our way is what we’re doing. Yeah. Yeah.
Noam
Nice, so you’re doing a collab. You’re doing a whole collab.
Noam
I like it, I like it. So that sounds awesome. That sounds really, really cool. And so how long has Zahav been around for? What year is it? 18 years, hi, this is it. Wow. That’s a huge deal, that is a huge deal and it’s such a famous place that’s become iconic in many ways. I mean, I just always wonder, what would it take for Mike?
Mike
May 5th was 18 years, bro. Hi. Yeah. Which might as in restaurants is like 118 years, man. 18 years is a long time.
Noam
I wonder: what would it take for Mike to create a fully kosher version of that. I’m at, I’m like, like what would it do? Which funders do I need to speak to? You know, a group of funders, like people created this place in Palm Beach. You know, you know about it.
Mike
I’m shocked that we made it 49 minutes and 54 seconds. Yeah.
Mike
I know, I know. People created. All the people came together and created. Yeah, I know, I know, I know. There’s a great, there’s an excellent, listen, kosher food can be amazing, it’s great. Yeah, yeah, Molokko, which is amazing, Eyal Shani is unbelievable. The people that put this restaurant together are unbelievable. I don’t know if I’ve ever had the schnitzel. It’s probably very good.
Noam
Some people some people look here. I did I’m like Maka, I’m talking about mock-up by the way for anyone wondering
Noam
Are you able to make that schnitzel? You can make that schnitzel, right?
The schnitzel has what they do is they put mashed potato in the schnitzel.
Mike
So I don’t do that. What I like to do is use kataif, you know? Kataifi, it’s like what you find in kanafe. You know, there’s like the philo and then there’s the shredded philo. I chop that up and I use that to bread the schnitzel. I like to do that. So it’s like, you know, yeah.
Noam
that not
Yeah.
Noam
Even that sound. I like that.
Mike
That’s the sound it makes. Yeah, but Malka is amazing and what a great initiative and it’s super, super cool. yeah, don’t mean kosher restaurants are a total pain in the ass. I don’t know. Margins are really, margins are really, really hard anyways.
Noam
Listen, you’re in Philly, and I won’t get into local politics, but I know too much, but I will say this. South Florida is a totally different experience. It’s like Israel, but not. It’s an Israeli culture here.
Mike
I know. I know. I know. We have a restaurant at the One Hotel. We’re partners with the One Hotel in South Beach. And we have a restaurant there named Aviv. And as I said, we have Glatt, we have Glatt Kosher meat on the menu. And we can make the salad for you and put it on tin foil, okay?
Noam
I know, I know, I know, I know, I I know. Okay.
Noam
Well, Mike, when you’re down here in South Florida, we’ll do something, that’s for sure. By the way, do pop-up, there’s a, Moocher, Moocher, yes, I went there, yeah. So cool. It’s so cool, it’s different. Do a pop-up, I did my anniversary dinner there, by the way. Very, very, very good. 17. Yes, almost 18. Yeah.
Mike
We’ll do it. Yeah. Maybe we’ll do a pop-up somewhere. There’s amazing kosher food. They said, nutra. What’s the, mutra. I want to meet that guy. So his food looks so good. I want to do a pop-up there too. Yeah.
How many years? 17! Dude, that’s a big deal bro Mazal Tov. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Noam
Yeah, thank you. So we did our dinner there, but like there are a lot of great spots here, like really, really great spots. It’s not Israel, but it’s great. Wait, I want to ask you two more questions about food, if I may. Number one is, is again, my mother, sorry, one from my sister-in-law and her mother. here’s what I got. Here’s the question that they asked me to ask you. They’re in Philly and they asked this, to rank your favorite salad team top five.
Mike
Go.
Mike
Okay.
Noam
Your favorite salads, top five.
Mike
Like the ones that we serve? Or no?
Noam
Whatever you want, however you want to answer that.
one of your favorite salads that you would like if you were putting it together and like we go to your house.
Mike
I mean, do, okay, so like our, I love eggplant and like we do this twice cooked version of eggplant that is sort of inspired by this amazing restaurant in Korsava. And so it’s like.
seared really hard and then sort of pickled and it’s like so good. So that, our beets with tehina, again amazing, just roasted beets with tehina sauce, very very good. Matbucha is a really hard salad to beat, I think, because it’s also like a dip, it’s a condiment, it’s a spread, it’s whatever. It’s like a cooked salsa, it’s delicious, like kind of sweet and sour. Tabbouleh, I love good tabbouleh, god.
Noam
Excellent. It’s everything. It’s like a salsa, but not.
Noam
You have great food vocabulary, by the way.
Mike
Oh, thanks, man. I try. I appreciate that. So that is. I. Yeah.
Noam
You have the right adjectives. I just say like awesome, amazing, delicious. No, you have the right words. Like I’m like, don’t have that.
Mike
Well, I mean, I don’t know. I spend a lot of time talking about food, too much time maybe. With all these adjectives comes a dissociation of reality and too much work. Okay, so we did eggplant, beets, matbucha, tabbouleh, and…
Noam
No, no, no, never, never, no, you’re good.
Mike
What other? god okra, like Bamiya? I love that baby okra. Bamiya, it’s baby okra.
Noam
What is that? is… I don’t know the words are saying at this point. What is that? Yeah.
Mike
stewed with tomatoes. Like half my family eats it cold, half eats it warm. Everybody kind of cooks it a little bit different, but God, I love baby okra with the tomato. That’s the best. It’s the best. So good. Yeah. Wait, wait. Did you have another? Was that the only question asked by your mother and sister in Yeah, mother and sister. OK, your sister in law.
Noam
Got it.
Noam
That’s awesome. Okay, last question I have for you. is, you have got more?
Noam
No, she’s not my mother-in-law. My sister-in-law’s mother. They’re Philly people, they’ve been saying, Noam, you and Mike is this unbelievable collab. We gotta get, because I told you, my mother, my sister-in-law’s mother was the head of the Philly Fed, her name is Gail Norrie, and Jordie Norrie. Anyway, so they’re like, just the collab of Mike and you, Noam, is awesome.
Mike
Yeah.
Mike
Yeah. Yeah.
Mike
man, that makes me happy.
Noam
So, but here’s my last question that is about Jewish American Heritage Month because that’s what this is. I want your hot take on some American foods. And I’ll tell it like, very quick, ready? You could use your fancy, like, your fancy adjectives. A little dance, okay. Okay, like, whatever. Okay, American cheese reaction.
Mike
I’ll use my fancy. I’ll go fancy. That’s what I do. When I use my hand, I do a little dance. Hey! Okay, yeah, yeah.
Mike
don’t like. There’s a time and a place for it. Okay, actually listen, listen, there is a brand called New School American, all right, that my buddy Eric Greenspan, who’s opening a deli, think, or he might have already opened in LA, it’s his recipe of American cheese and it’s got cheddar cheese curd and it is sick. So New School American, delicious.
Noam
What is that time and place? Describe that time and place, because there is a time and place.
Noam
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Noam
Okay, but so, but see what you just did is I thought you were gonna go a different route. So my wife was from the Upper East Side, and she’s like, she doesn’t like fancy cheeses. She’s like, loves salted, like there’s something about the American cheese that is so to me, and I grew up in Baltimore by the way, is so low brow, but she’s like, no, no, no, you don’t understand. American cheese has a place. It has a place.
Mike
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay, so it does have a place and this place unfortunately you cannot visit because it is on cheeseburgers, okay? But also the way that it melts, I know, know, know. Yeah, I get it. But if you… I’m saying that there’s a melting aspect of American cheese.
Noam
Okay, okay, no, no, okay, okay, okay. But that’s where it belongs is what you’re saying. the.
So you could imitate the fake burger, whatever that’s called. That sounds great.
Mike
I don’t get it. No, no, forget about the burger and forget about milk and meat. Okay. But there is a meltiness to American cheese because it’s not actual cheese. It’s cheese food that, that, works. But I don’t love like, I like cheddar. I like actual cheese, but new school American, new school American is has changed the game for American cheese. so my,
Noam
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Noam
Okay, quickly. Cool whip.
Mike
So I didn’t grow up with Cool whip, but my partner Steve has, know, cause they, I guess we’re like kosher in the house. Cool whip was like part of his childhood. And so he loves it. I’m a little bit freaked out about it, but I mean, if I had a buck, if I had the tub of Cool Whip here, I’d be like eating it the whole time.
Noam
Yeah.
Noam
ranch dressing.
Mike
So ranch dressing because I grew up in Pittsburgh and because like you heard of a Pittsburgh salad It’s like a salad with like ranch dressing cheddar cheese and french fries on top of it. I think ranch Ranch is like a lesser Caesar, but still good
Noam
That’s very…
Noam
That’s a great article. I love, I’ll you what I love, pizza in ranch. How do I feel about that? Okay. Just dip it, I want a tub. I want to dip pizza in a tub of ranch. Candy corn.
Mike
Yeah, Baltimore, baby. Yeah, that’s some, you’re like a little extra for Shavuot, my friend. Not only will I wear white, but I’m gonna have a product on top of cheese. Yeah. Yeah. I love candy corn. Yeah, love. Coca cola is the number one soda. Yeah.
Noam
Coca-Cola.
Noam
It’s just amazing. It’s incredible. Mike, you’re the man. You’re a cool dude. You’re cool guy. Your story’s fascinating. And I think it’s really, really cool everything that you’ve accomplished. And you’re going to do a lot more. And it’s awesome to have you on Wondering Jews. So thank you so much.
Mike
No, think I love you, I think at this point I can say I love you. Thank you. And I’ll tell you what, even more importantly, I really love what you all are doing and I am absolutely honored. And you know, you’re doing God’s work right now. So I really love what you’re doing. All right, best to you all. Thank you. Yes.
Noam
Mike, Mike, I love you too. I love you too. Yeah. Thank you.
Noam
Thank you.
Thanks, Mike.