New Israeli Restaurant Opening In Sharon

SHARON, MA — Yemenite fried chicken, shakshuka, and Turkish eggplant salad — a new Israeli restaurant hopes these become popular dishes when it opens its doors on Tuesday.

After almost a decade working in the food truck industry, Avi Shemtov is opening his first restaurant, Simcha, which aims to be bring, "globally inspired Israeli soul food with a New England accent." Much of the food's global inspiration comes from Shemtov's father, who grew up in Israel and learned a lot about middle eastern style cooking from his mother.

"My father has spent his life cooking," Shemtov said on the restaurant's website. "He started teaching me to cook from a very early age. Long before I understood technique or science, I understood that my dad’s Americanized dishes had my grandmother’s Turkish soul. The way toasted paprika melts into olive oil when eggplant salad is folded together is no different than the way chorizo sweats and coats farfalle. That is what I learned to love about food, making it feel like something."

Shemtov hopes to re-invent his father's creative spirit, by mixing in local ingredients and taking influence from other cultures.

"I want to take the flavors and the fearlessness of Israeli food and bring them somewhere new, Shemtov said. "I want to reimagine, I want to cross boundaries. Now is the time to move Israeli cuisine passed the modern and into the future."

Simcha, located at 370 South Main Street, officially opens its doors at 5 p.m., Tuesday.