This Eastern PA Restaurant Is Among Best In World, Magazine Says

PHILADELPHIA — Residents of the Philadelphia area: You live near one of the best restaurants in the world, according to one major publication.

Philadelphia eatery Laser Wolf this week was named among the world's best restaurants by Condé Nast Traveler. The publication recently released The Best New Restaurants in the World: 2021 Hot List.

"In spite of it all, these new restaurants are a success story all their own," Condé Nast Traveler editors wrote. "We think they’re a pretty great way to mark the 25th anniversary of this list."

The Philly spot, which serves up Israeli fare, is featured alongside restaurants in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Switzerland, and several of U.S. cities.

Laser Wolf is part of the CookNSolo Restaurants, which owns highly lauded establishments such as Zahav, Abe Fisher and Federal Donuts.

Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook, the owners of CookNSolo, have three James Beard Foundation Awards under their belt. Solomonov himself was awarded two additional Beard Awards for his work as Chef of Zahav.

Laser Wolf opened in early February 2020, but despite pending coronavirus shutdowns the Israeli grill kept offering its signature skewered, charcoal-grilled meats, salads, dips and pita breads.

See what Condé Nast Traveler writer Drew Lazor wrote about Laser Wolf:

In the classic musical Fiddler on the Roof, Lazar Wolf is the haughty village butcher with designs on marrying Tevye’s eldest daughter. Culinary impresarios Steven Cook and Michael Solomonov isolated the meaty part of the equation with Laser Wolf, their shipudiya, or skewer house, in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. The soaring interpretations of Israeli cuisine the duo introduced at their first restaurant, Zahav, have made it one of the most coveted reservations in Philly since it opened in 2008. Laser Wolf sees the restaurateurs offering a more stripped-down but similarly inspired rendition of their oeuvre, with the cooking happening over live coals. Executive chef Andrew Henshaw oversees a menu that takes the guesswork out of guests’ hands. For a flat per-diner price, his kitchen will inundate your table with creamy hummus, hot puffy pita, a vivid array of seasonal vegetarian salatim (salads), and family-style skewers like Romanian-style beef kebab, tamarind-slathered trout, and charred eggplant. It all goes down in a repurposed warehouse space evoking Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem’s famous open-air market, peppered with just the right amount of American kitsch.

You can see the full list from Condé Nast Traveler here.