We came to Beer Sheva to see the new play “A Big Idea” at the Beer Sheva Theater, and took the chance to check out the city’s new, talked-about kosher restaurant. It was seven in the evening and the place had only a handful of diners. A green, attractive space opened up in front of us, right inside Carasso Science Park, lined with wine-tasting spots and fitted with pleasant lighting. “It’s already nice to sit outside,” restaurant manager Itamar told us. “I take it you’re not from Beer Sheva,” he guessed right away. “In Beer Sheva, people go out after nine in the evening, once the temperature drops and the air cools down.”
The restaurant’s name, “Les: Wine, Food, Earth,” is a direct, genuine homage to the yellowish loess soil that characterizes the Negev. That link between southern locality and the plate isn’t a design gimmick, but the whole essence of the menu, as Itamar explained to us. Owner and chef Yakir Masrati chose to build his concept around Israeli ingredients only, especially ones sourced from the south.
The restaurant’s location forms a bridge between past and present. The older among us still remember the old compound as the legendary “Southern Command,” a closed, fortified military site. In time the compound changed purpose and became Carasso Science Park, a science and culture complex now home to the restaurant at its center.
One of the standout elements at Les is the bar and wine list. It’s a rich list built entirely on Israeli-made wine, drawing on wineries from across the country alongside the Negev’s growing winery scene. The atmosphere around the bar and the green courtyard gives an easy, precise feel: an updated wine bar without unnecessary fuss. Inside the restaurant’s indoor section, it’s worth looking up at the elaborate chandelier, built entirely from Beer Sheva desert plants, to get a sense of how special and different this place is.
We paired the meal with a locally made wine: “Leviathan Silver” (210 NIS a bottle) from Ish HaAnavim winery, headed by Haim Gan. It’s a red wine from a premium line aged in French oak barrels, made from Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot and Malbec grapes.
From the starters menu, we chose the taco made with olive tapenade dough, filled with beef tartare, fried capers and balsamic caviar (62 NIS): a very juicy dish, full of flavor and well seasoned. An excellent opening to the meal. We continued with sea bream ceviche alongside pineapple-coriander sorbet (72 NIS). Ceviche is usually made with amberjack rather than sea bream, but the special treatment here, including the interesting twist of serving it alongside a sweet-tart sorbet, created a distinctive combination of flavors and textures.
We moved on to a dish called Walk in the Forest: liver paté with grape jam, and a cocoa crumble made to look like clumps of earth (72 NIS). It isn’t easy to pull off a good liver paté at a kosher restaurant, especially when the chef avoids substitutes like margarine (heaven forbid). Using goose fat instead was a satisfying solution. The endive salad (72 NIS) was simply excellent: fresh endive served with a citrus vinaigrette, seared fruit and candied pecans. It might sound like a retro salad, but it really isn’t. We loved it.
The restaurant’s best-selling dish is goose lahoh (72 NIS): confit-cooked goose shawarma combined with tangy sumac onion, topped with a drizzle of tahini and amba that paired nicely with the goose meat (and I’m not a fan of amba). All of it is piled up like a small hill on juicy Yemenite lahoh. It’s easy to see why this is the restaurant’s most beloved dish: an elegant combination of excellent food with bold flavors. For a main course we chose the sirloin cut (179 NIS), served over Jerusalem artichoke cream with a whole confit-cooked Jerusalem artichoke. It’s completely clear the kitchen knows exactly what it’s doing: the sirloin came out medium, tender and juicy, exactly the way I like it, and the artichoke cream was tasty too.
The dessert that arrived at the table was chocolate mousse (57 NIS): whipped Belgian chocolate, nuts, and a drizzle of olive oil and sea salt. This dish won’t win any beauty contests, but its taste was satisfying, and in the end, that’s what matters.
Les joins a growing line of kosher chef restaurants in Israel that keep proving high-level food and strict kosher standards aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s a nice proof that the south’s culinary scene knows how to take historical landmarks and local land and translate them into a fresh, contemporary night out.
Les Restaurant: Wine, Food, Earth. Reserve a table. Negev Brigade, Beer Sheva. 077-3034104. Sunday through Thursday, 6:00 PM to 11:30 PM. Saturday, from Shabbat’s end to 11:30 PM.
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