Zahav
Michael Solomonov's James Beard Award-winning room on Society Hill remains the standard by which Philadelphia special-occasion dining is measured. The hummus alone justifies the reservation, the salatim arrive in waves, and the slow-roasted lamb shoulder is the kind of dish that defines a kitchen's reputation. Portions are genuinely generous for a tasting-format room. Books out; plan ahead.
What to orderHummusLamb shoulderSalatim Book a table Call DirectionsFull review & visiting detailsRead the full review & visiting details
Michael Solomonov's Modern Israeli Landmark Earns Its Place
The long-cooked, tahini-forward hummus is the kitchen's calling card at this James Beard Award, winning BYOB, ordered by nearly every table.
The wood-roasted lamb shoulder anchors the tasting menu and draws the most consistent praise from the dining room.
The rotating salatim spreads open the meal, signaling the depth of the modern Israeli kitchen before the main courses arrive.
Zahav is the room that put modern Israeli cooking on the national map, and after more than a decade the kitchen under Michael Solomonov still operates at a level that justifies the reservation difficulty. The prix-fixe structure anchors everything: the meal opens with salatim, a spread of small vegetable preparations that set the register for what follows, then proceeds through mezze before arriving at the large-format proteins. The hummus here is the standard against which most of the city's other versions get measured, smooth and warm, served with fresh laffa, and genuinely hard to stop eating. It earns that reputation through technique, not through portion size alone, though the portions throughout are notably generous for a tasting-format room at this price tier.
The lamb shoulder, slow-roasted and served whole for the table, is the anchor dish: it has the kind of fall-apart texture and depth of flavor that makes the high-end price feel like a transaction fairly struck. The salatim course, easily overlooked on paper, is where the kitchen demonstrates its range, rotating preparations that reflect both Israeli culinary tradition and seasonal sourcing. The room itself is small and fills quickly; this is a books-out restaurant, and the reservations reflect it. Service operates with the efficiency a full-turn high-covers room requires, though accounts suggest it reads as attentive rather than mechanical.
For Philadelphia dining occasions, Zahav sits in the special-occasion tier alongside a handful of other nationally recognized rooms, but unlike some expense-account destinations it draws a crowd that runs young and genuinely enthusiastic alongside the celebration-dinner regulars. The price is high-end by any measure; the cooking, on the evidence of the record, holds up its end.
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Philadelphia, PA, 19106
The lamb shoulder is the signature large-format dish and the reason to book a full table rather than two; the hummus course arrives early and is worth restraint, because the meal builds considerably from there.
