Daily Podcasts Video Research

From LA’s Bo.Re.Kas to NYC’s Buba, Israeli bourekas enter the American fast-food mainstream

JL;DR SUMMARY Israeli bourekas, the savory stuffed pastries reminiscent of empanadas, are making waves in the American fast-food scene. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

JL;DR members get full summaries of all articles in the archive, including this one. Donate & start reading »

Tags

Jewish FoodIsraeli CuisineCultural ExchangeBourekasSephardic CultureCulinary TrendsImmigrant EntrepreneurshipLiam ShemiGal And Uzi WaizmanBen Siman Tov

Places mentioned

Los Angeles, California, United States
"When Gal and Uzi Waizman opened a shop in their Los Angeles neighborhood that was solely devoted to bourekas, a stuffed pastry ubiquitous in their native Israel, they werent sure whether locals would go for them."
Sherman Oaks, California, United States
"Bo.Re.Kas Sephardic Pastries started in an unassuming storefront in Sherman Oaks, California, but is soon to open its third Los Angeles-area location."
Woodbridge, Connecticut, United States
"Another Israeli-Californian packed up his bourekas bags and moved across the country with his wife to open a bourekas shop in Woodbridge, Connecticut, not far from Yale University."
New York City, New York, United States
"Burekas are the slices of pizza of my childhood, said Ben Siman Tov, one of the chefs behind Buba, opening Thursday in Manhattans Greenwich Village."
New Haven, New York, United States
"Shemi, who has grown religiously observant in recent years (and last week was the victim of an alleged antisemitic attack in New Haven), has also added other Israeli-inspired menu items, such as the winter drink sahlep and the pudding dessert malabi."

Support this source

This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 47952
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2025-04-01 18:00:33 UTC
Curated 2025-04-01 19:00:53 UTC