There is another site on the web making the world a better place with shwarma! Shwarma will bring us together.
In other news, Obama is in Israel right now – the true test of his worth as a candidate will be whether or not he gets a shwarma. My guess is he won’t. Friends of Israel should note this lapse and vote accordingly.
3 comments July 22nd, 2008
Yes, this is radical. On my recent trip to Israel I made a number of obligatory stops at Maoz for shwarma. As usual, Maoz was in top form and the shwarmas were tasty and transcendent.
But I noticed something unusual in the tray of shwarma add-ons. Next to the hummus, pickles, and Israeli salad was shredded cabbage. I don’t recall ever seeing this as an option before. I admit that maybe cabbage is available with shwarma in America – but Americans are known to put lettuce in their shwarma as well (and that is weird) so I never really took it seriously – but cabbage at Maoz?
I tried it and wow – it was pickled and added just enough zest and tang to be noticed, but it was not gross or overpowering – the awesomeness of the magic shwarma was enhanced.
Innovative – you better believe it.
1 comment June 6th, 2008
I have never been particularly environmentally aware (pro or con) – I just like that global warming could turn Boston into San Diego. But according to this, it seems that the global warming activists are really just at war with “manliness,” and possibly meat eating, which could mean ultimately an outright attack on shwarma. If this is true then I may take up arms and join the polluting, SUV driving, Right Guard spraying masses. There is only so far you can push someone before he snaps.
1 comment March 18th, 2007
Sorry for the delay, I have been on the move these last few weeks.
I went to Maoz shwarma for the final leg of my great shwarma challenge and I ordered the standard lafa (is there really anything else?). I had it prepared the way I like it, with hummus, fries, pickles, tichina and a touch of charif. The meat is flavored in a special way – not spicy, but in no way bland – and it is cooked to perfection (and as all good shwarma lovers know, it is best to get at the end of the day, when the meat is blackened from cooking for hours). The chips (fries) are not greasy at all. I ate the shwarma slow and did my best to savor every bite, it was delicious.
I have tried them all and Maoz is king. While in Israel I asked around – cabbies, bus drivers, locals (only native Hebrew speakers obviously) and I was surprised to find that they all know about Maoz and they all love it. There are no gimmicks at Maoz (and also very few Americans). Maoz is a serious place for people who love shwarma and expect the best – no games, no fried onions, no ketchup, no napkins – just real shwarma (a little slice of heaven if you ask me).
Maoz is on King George Street in Jerusalem, easy to find and you can talk most bus drivers into dropping you off right in front. If you want my expert opinion, Moaz is the perfect shwarma – I have not found better.
Unfortunately, I overdid it and OSed (over shwarma-ed). All good shwarmas stay with you for a day or too (no, there is no such thing as a “health” shwarma – the concept is oxymoronic) and after one shwarma too many I nearly did myself in. Friday night, the day after my Maoz shwarma, I found myself in incredible pain and running franticly through the streets of the Old City. I spent most of the night with chills and a fever and my eyes watered, but I survived.
I would have taken a break from shwarma, but I have a big mouth and there too many people who want to eat shwarma with me. Two nights after my OS near death experience I was talked into going back for another shwarma. Two of my students actually fought for the right to pay for me (Julia asked first, so I gave her the honors). I went with a group of about 15 to Maoz and we all ordered shwarmas (one person ordered a falafel – I was embarrassed for her and told her so). I was afraid to order a full shwarma (because of the Friday night OS fiasco) so I did the unthinkable and got a half lafa. I was pleasantly surprised – it was all the joys of a full shwarma without the pain.
I am back in Boston and now that I have silenced the beginner-shwarma-upstarts, I can finally take a much needed break and let my body recover.
Special thanks goes again to Julia for paying for my second Maoz shwarma. Also thanks to Julie – although she didn’t get to buy my shwarma, her heart was in the right place.
5 comments June 26th, 2006
I went to Massov Burger, the much venerated and oft hyped shwarma joint near Jerusalem’s central bus station (and spelled Massov and not Maasov like I misspelled it in my previous post).
I ordered the standard laffa (the basic shwarma) and I had it prepared the way I like it, with humus, pickles, “chips”, tichina, and a little bit of charif.
The Massov shwarma is good – the meat is high quality, but not flavored or spiced, and the chips are very oily (not a bad thing, just an observation). It is a fine shwarma, but not the “world’s only shwarma” like certain upstart shwarma-wannabes say it is.
Massov also has a lot of gimmicks. They have a super size shwarma, an option to have onions fried on the grill and added to your shwarma, a fifty-fifty shwarma/schnitzel sandwich, ketchup, and even napkins. Many American’s go to Massov and I think these gimmicks are a major part of their draw.
My conclusion: Massov makes a decent shwarma and the dining experience is pleasurable (they will even take your picture and post it on the wall). It is a good place to send a beginner. The beginner will be impressed with the gimmicks (as I think my over-confident, over-zealous young friends were) and can brag about the huge shwarma they ate.
On Thursday I am going back to Maoz and will hopefully post my report soon after that.
A special thanks goes out to Mickey, a great Tzaddik and lover of truth, for sponsoring my Massov Burger shwarma.
1 comment June 13th, 2006
As you may be aware, I am acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost shwarma authorities. (Search for “shwarma” on Google, my name almost always comes up on the first page, many times at the top). I have sampled many shwarmas from all over the world and I have been doing this for many years. My expert opinion is that Maoz, on King George Street in Jerusalem, makes the best shwarma.
Recently, a number of young upstarts (yes Joel, you in particular) have had the audacity to challenge my wisdom and experience and claim that Maasov Burger, near Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station, is the best. I am well aware of Maasov. I ate my first shwarma there and I have eaten there many times. It is indeed a delicious, albeit very greasy, shwarma (though I admit, a lot of grease is aesthetically very pleasing). But once I experienced Maoz there was no turning back. Maoz is not only a cleaner, less greasy shwarma, but the meat is spiced in a special way that I have never experienced anywhere else.
I am going back to Israel tomorrow. In the interest of ending this debate and for the betterment of shwarma eating people everywhere, I am going to go to both Maasov and Maoz. I will decide once and for all what the best shwarma is. If I can figure out how to blog from Israel I will post my findings as they unfold.
Be a part of this big Mitzvah – let me know if you are interested in sponsoring a shwarma.
3 comments June 4th, 2006