Rafael Hasid, Israeli chef and restaurateur of the Miriam Restaurant brand, is bringing an elevated version of Miriam to Tribeca in late fall. It will be called Rafael.
The new concept will be housed in the space formerly occupied by Marathi Greek Bistro. Hasid says he is not planning to do any major construction but will be changing its decor. He is focused on putting more effort into his food presentation and also plans to offer raw fish. He opened his first concept, Hill Diner, in Cobble Hill in 2002, which later became Miriam. The casual Israeli brunch and dinner spot debuted in Park Slope in 2005, serving an array of Israeli staples from hummus platters to schnitzel to shakshuka.
“What I like more than cooking is making people happy, and I think food always makes people happy,” he tells What Now New York. “It makes me happy. It’s selfish in a way.”
A second outpost of Miriam just debuted in the Upper West Side last year. The brand has a handful of other concepts including Park Slope’s Miriam Street Food and Tribeca’s 1803 NYC, which serves New Orleans-style Cajun-Creole cuisine. He also just debuted a spinoff of 1803 in Warren, New Jersey, called Tap & Bitters.
Considered by many to be a controversial place with a difficult-to-define cultural cuisine, the sabra chef embraces the elusiveness of his home country. In his own words, he says Israeli cuisine is “a by-product of cross pollination” where “a lack of identity is its identity.”
“Though it’s small, it’s very diverse,” he says about Israel. “People came from [many different countries] and created something new.”
Hasid was born and raised in Petach Tikvah, a popular suburb just east of Tel Aviv. His family came to the country by way of Eastern Europe, frequently eating schnitzel with Israeli couscous at home. His mother Miriam is a children’s music teacher who he says informed his hospitable nature, which is why he named his brand after her.
After finishing his mandatory military service, he worked at restaurants in Tel Aviv before coming to the United States at 24-years-old to study at New York’s French Culinary Institute. His brand is nearly 20-years-old now, and is only continuing to grow.
