The Times Loves Zizi Limona’s Desserts
Zizi Limona (c/o NY Times)
Mr. Mesika doubles as pastry chef. (His grandfather was a baker for the king of Morocco.) A cardamom-laced semolina cake anointed with rosewater syrup arrives in rubble around a mound of vanilla ice cream, with shavings of sesame halvah twisted up into a peak and drizzles of tahini and silan down the slopes ($7). It is an astonishingly calming dessert, the polar opposite of a sundae: there are so many flavors that you want to take your time eating it. Baklava ($6) is almost as light, with spice outflanking sugar, the pistachio-walnut paste seeded with coriander, fennel and ginger, then finished with a syrup of anise, cardamom and cinnamon.
The restaurant, which opened in Williamsburg in September, cultivates an air of unhurry. Enter and the pulse slows. Tables are set a respectful distance from one another. Empty picture frames hang on exposed brick walls, blank as the mind. The only distraction is the soundtrack, which makes jarring shifts: you might start the meal with “Stairway to Heaven” and end it with Jack Johnson. It is a long way to fall.
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this place is gross – if you have any idea of what israeli food is supposed to taste like, zizi is FAR from it. the pita is storebought junk and the falafel is nearly inedible. nice try but if i want real israeli im hitting tanoreen, balaboosta, mimi’s or even hummus place. at least they get it right.
stick to sienfeld reruns, elaine. zizi limona is delicious and their food doesn’t have to be perfectly authentic to be great!