DINING
HaSalon
A “ H E A R T- O P E N I N G ” A P P R OAC H T O F I N E D I N I N G
BY A L E X L E I PHOTOGRAPHED BY MELISSA HORN
A
ccording to HaSalon founder Chef Eyal Shani, he is in “the heart-opening business,” a Hebrew expression akin to trusting your intuition and building a system driven by purpose. Since its inception in 2008, the trending Middle Eastern-inspired hot spot featuring an innovative and varied menu has always tread an unconventional path when it comes to its business operation and growth. Shani and Shahar Segal, a noted film director and actor, had originally met on the set of a popular food show and decided to move the original HaSalon restaurant to a warehouse district in Tel Aviv where people could feast on the latest flavors of Shani’s latest culinary innovations while dancing to Segal’s DJ sets. What started as a fun, biweekly experiment,
began growing deliciously quickly. It’s not uncommon for mere mortals wanting to savor their mouth-watering plates to have to wait up to six months for a table. A Manhattan outpost of the avantgarde brainchild of two creative minds, the downtown HaSalon NYC location certainly lives up to its pedigree. With a dimly- lit space, intimately set tables, an open kitchen framed by a ten-meter-long counter space stacked with a medley of colorful produce and a tongue-in-cheek “DISPLAY ONLY” sign scribbled across the top in a sensual shade of wine red, the set up evokes Darren Bader’s installation “Fruits, Vegetables: Fruit and Vegetable Salad’’ instead of a restaurant. What the New York conceptualist and Shani do share is their philosophy when it comes to food; while the former produces sculptures exhibited on the 8th floor of the Whitney Museum by topping pedestals with carrots, pumpkins and kumquats, the latter takes tomatoes (the best of which should come “naked” according to the menu) and pairs them with tender rib chops as well as chewy octopus
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