The perfect lunch spot just opened at Turnstyle Underground Market, the subway station market filled with food and shopping vendors right below Columbus Circle.
Falafel Plant, a vegetarian and kosher spot serving authentic Middle Eastern street food, is the brainchild of owner Karen Mashiach.
“I felt there was a demand for tasty, kosher, vegan and vegetarian food out there,” Mashiach tells Pretty Kosher. “I have been cooking Middle Eastern food since I was 16. I grew up eating and preparing these foods.”
The shop debuted last week and is already slinging out an impressively long list of menu items. Traditional options include a falafel pita sandwich, the sabich (eggplant, hardboiled eggs, potato, pickles and salad in a pita), the fattoush salad, Middle Eastern cigars and a number of different hummus bowls.
There are also za’atar fries, chickpea sambusaks and a shakshuka platter.
Dessert-wise, both the dairy-free malabi (a rose water sweet milk pudding) and the baklava (layered filo pastry filled with nuts and honey) offer authentic flavors that will appeal to anyone’s sweet tooth.
Although perfectly prepared classic Israeli food would suffice, the owner has also included a few vegan-friendly menu items that fall within the Israeli culinary landscape but are certainly more creative takes on the genre.
Take the cauliflower shawarma, for example, which is cooked in a variety of authentic spices but skews away from the carnivore. According to Karen, the vegan dish is actually one of the most popular items at the shop alongside the falafel hummus bowl.
The falafel, though, reigns supreme—and for good reason.
“Our falafel is made from scratch,” reveals Mashiach. “We soak the chickpeas overnight, boil them in the morning and grind them with the freshest locally sourced herbs with a little bit of baking powder—our secret!”
Speaking of culinary treats, Mashiach also shares the cooking process behind the spot’s exceptional hummus.
“It’s made from fresh chickpeas that are soaked overnight and boiled for a long time in the morning,” she says. “The secret to the creaminess is an ice cube, which we put in the food processor along with all the other ingredients when blending. We also use a jagged blade, and not a smooth one.”
Although focusing on the mixed clientele currently discovering her brand-new location, Mashiach is also looking to the future, hoping to expand Falafel Plant further.
“We want to establish our brand and hopefully open many more locations throughout the U.S.,” says Mashiach. We’ll be paying attention.
