Tomato-crazed Israeli celebrity chef Eyal Shani recently prepared a special birthday dinner for lifestyle guru Martha Stewart, impressing some of the world's top culinary figures.
The intimate celebration, held last week in New York, was attended by 20 guests, including acclaimed chef Daniel Boulud, who took to Instagram to praise Shani's cooking.
"Thank you [Eyal Shani] for the most delicious dinner in early celebration of [Martha Stewart's] birthday," wrote Boulud, 69, who owns six restaurants worldwide, including a three-Michelin-starred establishment in New York. "My wife and I loved your soulful and tasty cuisine."
Boulud, whose restaurant Daniel has topped the list of the world's 50 best restaurants, recalled a meal he had at Shani's Ocean restaurant in Jerusalem 30 years ago, where he dined with renowned chefs Nobu Matsuhisa and Thomas Keller, both of whom also hold three Michelin stars.
Ocean, Shani's first restaurant, opened in the late 1980s and was one of Israel's premier dining spots before closing after a decade due to the intifada and attacks in Jerusalem.
"You were amazing then, and now, with more than 40 restaurants, you cook with the same passion. Bravo," Boulud added in his post.
Reflecting on the recent dinner, Shani told Ynet that Boulud had recognized him from their earlier encounter. "At that meal, I invented tomato sashimi, the first sashimi in the world without fish. They didn't believe it; they went crazy," Shani said.
"Then we met again at Martha's dinner and he said to me: 'I know you from somewhere and I'm going crazy and can't remember where.' I asked him if he remembered the Ocean restaurant in Jerusalem, and he immediately remembered and screamed: 'You're the crazy fat chef from Jerusalem,' it turns out that's what they called me back then and that's how he remembered me."
What did you make for them?
"It was a great meal for 20 guests, which we cooked in two kitchens. I found someone who grows huge tomatoes, each of his tomatoes weighs an average of 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs), they are full of liquids and have an unbelievable taste. I peeled this tomato and everyone got one slice of tomato. I put salt, olive oil and basil, and it was a bite that tasted like something between a steak and carpaccio. None of them have ever stared at a single slice of tomato that opens a meal for them. I think this is the first time in history that something like this has happened. I managed to get to the point where I don't do anything to the tomato and they stand in front of this wonder in awe."
Was there anything else besides tomato?
"They also ate groat, in Tuscany they use it to make a salad and I make risotto out of it. There was also grouper fish. Americans like everything big so I made them two-foot-long kebab skewers on a two-foot focaccia, and they went wild. There was also a huge octopus that weighed nine kilograms (20 lbs) and I cooked it confit (slow cooking in olive oil on a low flame) and it turned it into a toffee candy after it was covered with caramel."
What did Martha say about all this?
"I didn't let Martha sit for a single moment. I felt she had had too many meals in her life and I pulled her from the table and she didn't move from me, she was my sous-chef for three whole hours."