Pinati, a traditional Israeli diner, unites Jews and hipsters around falafel bolovo

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After 11 years as a tenant of a corner townhouse in Higienópolis, the Pinati snack bar moved to a new address: another corner townhouse, also in Higienópolis. It couldn’t be otherwise — Pinati means “my corner” in Hebrew.

Close to Vilaboim square, in the central region of São Paulo, the new townhouse officially opens its doors this Thursday, the 10th, after a week in soft opening. Now the space is bigger and more modern, quite different from the old store, on Alameda Barros, whose simple salon and family service attracted the Jewish community, who find 100% kosher cuisine there, and hipsters in search of good food and vegetarian recipes.

The change was not in the plans of the Berlovich family, which created the business, but the rooms used in the former property were put up for sale. With that, Pinati won not only another house, but also a new store. Now it has walls decorated with lambe-lambes with Hebrew slang and drawings of its mascot, Mutzi, a friendly pickle cucumber wearing a cap, which has also been retreaded. With a more relaxed atmosphere, they say they expect the mix of audiences to be maintained.

Alon Berlovich founded the house in 2011 with his parents, Ben and Berta, at a time when the family business in Bom Retiro was not doing well. Years earlier, Alon had returned from Israel excited, with the idea of ​​opening a house specializing in falafel, a Middle Eastern fried chickpea dumpling. “My father didn’t buy it at first,” recalls Alon. But after a while, Ben gave in and went to talk to his rabbi about the deal.

It was the rabbi who gave the restaurant the kosher certificate in the beginning. This means that the place follows a series of rules of the Jewish religion. To maintain the seal, a rabbinical supervisor is there daily to check the food, the recipes do not contain any dairy products and only a Jew can light the fire on the griddle, for example. In addition, the venue interrupts service after lunch on Fridays and remains closed on Saturdays.

During the pandemic, Berta and Ben started working from home. Ben died in 2021. Today, Alon relies on his brother, Lior, in the day-to-day business.

In addition to falafel, the family invested in an extensive menu based on Israeli street food, with varied sandwiches and portions of pasta, with an emphasis on hummus. The old menu was taken to Vilaboim, where it was joined by new dishes.

“Now that we have a bigger space, we can combine our current Israeli street food, which is more Sephardic Jewish, with Yiddish, Ashkenazi dishes from Eastern Europe. We want to play a little with these two aspects”, explains Alon. An example of this is the shakshuka, with tomato sauce, red peppers, eggs and ground beef (R$55). “It’s a dish that Tunisian Jews brought to Israel, where it’s very popular.”

From the list of traditional sandwiches, which can also be served on the plate, there are shawarmas (with thin slices of meat roasted on a skewer), schnitzels (breaded and fried meat; at Pinati, it is made with chicken) and sabichs (with grilled eggplant and egg cooked), for example. Prices range from R$42 to R$68.

There is also a section called “sandwiches from our corner”, with snacks such as Yiddishe Schnitzel, with sesame-breaded chicken fillet, egg pate with onions and cucumber pickles, on challah bread (R$58), Vursht, a Traditional Jewish beef salami, served with mustard sauce, pickled cucumber, potato sticks, chimichurri and caramelized onions, on pita bread (R$55).

Even with so much space for the sandwiches, it was a cupcake that changed the trajectory of the house. Named Falovo, the recipe is a version of the classic bolovo, but made with falafel. Launched by Alon in 2015, it is served with tahini (a sesame paste) and costs R$18. “After Falovo, a new phase for Pinati begins,” he says. That’s when the non-Jewish public discovered the cafeteria.

Alon says that the creation came at a time when the snack was on the rise in bars in the capital. It was a way to create a vegetarian and kosher version. “As I’m kosher, I’ve never eaten bolovo elsewhere.”

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