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I was at Eyal Shani’s Manhattan restaurant Shmoné when it won a Michelin star
(New York Jewish Week) — Following a long period of back-and-forth, my friends and I had finally agreed on a date for a group dinner: Tuesday, Nov. 7. With the date scheduled two months in advance, babysitters were booked, spouses were alerted, no work conferences were scheduled — a true miracle for busy New Yorkers.
The next hurdle was securing a reservation. Thankfully, we all agreed that, following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, dining at an Israeli restaurant was a top priority — not only did we want to support an Israeli business, we wanted to enjoy some Israeli comfort food during this fraught time.
That is how the five of us ended on Tuesday night at Shmoné, a Greenwich Village restaurant from Israeli celebrity chef Eyal Shani that opened in May 2022. Truth be told, none of us knew much about this particular establishment, but what could be bad? Shani is a well-known TV personality in Israel and the chef behind the popular fast-casual chain Miznon, which boasts three outposts in New York City. He operates more than 40 restaurants worldwide, including New York City’s well-regarded HaSalon and Port Sa’id.
Shmoné landed Shani in the Michelin guide for the first time ever this spring — meaning it was in the running for a coveted star status. According to the Michelin Guide, the restaurant, whose menu changes daily, “punches way above its weight with dazzling Neo-Levantine cuisine.”
Little did we know, however, that our long-anticipated group dinner was set to coincide with the Michelin awards ceremony, held Tuesday at Spring Studios in Tribeca. There, 13 New York City restaurants received one or more Michelin stars — including, yes, one star for Shmoné, Shani’s first.
This news had yet to break as we kicked off our meal with appetizers: a Jerusalem bagel that came to the table piping hot and accompanied by za’atar to dip in, carefully cut cylinders of cucumber and tiny green olives — as well as figs with stracciatella, a creamy, stretchy cheese that tastes similar to burrata.
For our mains, we enjoyed a creamy lasagna also made with stracciatella; a deconstructed version of sabich, with half a roasted eggplant sitting atop a golden yogurt sauce; vegan mashed potatoes; spinach rigatoni and, finally, lamb kebab with roasted tomato and rice that, as the menu says, “reminds me of Jerusalem.”
Sated and happy, we finished our meal with the burnt Basque cheesecake, and shots of arak.
Employees at Shmone celebrated when they learned the restaurant won a Michelin star on Nov. 7, 2023. (Shannon Sarna)
As dinner was winding down and our group was figuring out our best routes home and how to split the bill, we heard a bell ring out from the open kitchen and a loud commotion. We all looked around, confused. One of my friends suggested, “I think it’s a sports thing?”
But then, the news was shouted to the restaurant from within the kitchen: “We got a Michelin star!” Absolute joy burst forth from the staff: Chefs hugged each other, waiters and managers stopped in their tracks to take in the moment. About 10 minutes later, Executive Chef Nadav Greenberg returned from the ceremony, and more celebratory clapping, singing and shouts ensued.
A bottle of champagne was opened for the restaurant’s employees and customers cheered as they took selfies. It was quite a thing to witness, with everyone taking videos, shouting “mazal tov” and clapping.
Back in May, Shani had told the New York Jewish Week he was honored to be included in the Michelin guide, but that he was “not focusing on getting Michelin stars.” Whether or not that’s true, it’s clear that his staff and his customers were overjoyed by the outcome: Shmoné, along with seven other establishments, joined the list of only 55 out of New York’s 24,000 restaurants with a single Michelin star.
In a moment in which the news out of Israel is so abysmal, the experience of being in a packed Israeli restaurant amidst a night of accolades and celebration was a much-needed balm for the soul. And belly.
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The post I was at Eyal Shani’s Manhattan restaurant Shmoné when it won a Michelin star appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel Agrees to Talks on Lebanon Border, to Free Five Lebanese, PM Office Says
An Israeli flag flies in Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, following the ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, as seen from Metula, northern Israel, Dec. 3, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov
Israel said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold talks to demarcate its border with Lebanon, adding it would release five Lebanese detainees held by the Israeli military in what it called a “gesture to the Lebanese president.”
A statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel had agreed with Lebanon, the US, and France to establish working groups to discuss the demarcation line between the two countries.
Though Israel has largely withdrawn from southern Lebanon under a ceasefire deal agreed in November, its troops continue to hold five hilltop positions in the area with airstrikes in southern Lebanon citing what it described as Hezbollah activity.
The ceasefire deal ended more than a year of conflict between Israel‘s military and the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah that was playing out in parallel with the Gaza war.
The fighting peaked in a major Israeli air and ground campaign in southern Lebanon that left Hezbollah badly weakened, with most of its military command killed in Israeli strikes.
The post Israel Agrees to Talks on Lebanon Border, to Free Five Lebanese, PM Office Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Security Council to Meet Over Iran’s Growing Stockpile of Near-Bomb-Grade Uranium
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The United Nations Security Council will meet behind closed doors on Wednesday over Iran’s expansion of its stock of uranium close to weapons grade, diplomats said on Monday.
The meeting was requested by six of the council’s 15 members – France, Greece, Panama, South Korea, Britain, and the US.
They also want the council to discuss Iran’s obligation to provide the UN nuclear watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency – with “the information necessary to clarify outstanding issues related to undeclared nuclear material detected at multiple locations in Iran,” diplomats said.
Iran’s mission to the UN in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the planned meeting.
Iran has denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, it is “dramatically” accelerating enrichment of uranium to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level, the IAEA has warned.
Western states say there is no need to enrich uranium to such a high level under any civilian program and that no other country has done so without producing nuclear bombs. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.
Iran reached a deal in 2015 with Britain, Germany, France, the US, Russia, and China – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – that lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for restrictions on its nuclear program.
Washington quit the agreement in 2018 during Donald Trump’s first term as US president, and Iran began moving away from its nuclear-related commitments.
Britain, France, and Germany have told the UN Security Council that they are ready – if needed – to trigger a so-called snap back of all international sanctions on Iran to prevent the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
They will lose the ability to take such action on Oct. 18 this year when the 2015 UN resolution on the deal expires. US President Donald Trump has directed his UN envoy to work with allies to snap back international sanctions and restrictions on Iran.
The post UN Security Council to Meet Over Iran’s Growing Stockpile of Near-Bomb-Grade Uranium first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Entire Families Killed in Syria’s Military Crackdown, UN Says
A man inspects a damaged car in Latakia, after hundreds were reportedly killed in some of the deadliest violence in 13 years of civil war, pitting loyalists of deposed President Bashar al-Assad against the country’s new Islamist rulers, Syria, March 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Haidar Mustafa
Entire families including women and children were killed in Syria’s coastal region as part of a series of sectarian killings by the army against an insurgency by Bashar al-Assad loyalists, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.
Pressure has been growing on Syria’s Islamist-led government to investigate after reports by a war monitor of the killing of hundreds of civilians in villages where the majority of the population were members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.
“In a number of extremely disturbing instances, entire families – including women, children, and individuals hors de combat – were killed, with predominantly Alawite cities and villages targeted in particular,” UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said, using a French term for those incapable of fighting.
So far, the UN human rights office has documented the killing of 111 civilians and expects the real toll to be significantly higher, Al-Kheetan told a Geneva press briefing. Of those, 90 were men; 18 were women; and three were children, he added.
“Many of the cases documented were of summary executions. They appear to have been carried out on a sectarian basis,” Al-Kheetan told reporters. In some cases, men were shot dead in front of their families, he said, citing testimonies from survivors.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk welcomed an announcement by Syria’s Islamist-led government to create an accountability committee and called for those investigations to be prompt, thorough, independent, and impartial, the spokesperson added.
The post Entire Families Killed in Syria’s Military Crackdown, UN Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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