Recommended: Gazala Place in Hell's Kitchen

A new Mediterranean place just opened at 709 9th Avenue called Gazala Place. The small space has been nicely decorated, and the owner, a charming woman from Israel, was busy cooking home-made pita on a hot stone in the front. She said everything in the restaurant is homemade, and urged me to try a special pudding - "no one else in New York makes it" - of vanilla cream and cake pieces. This I enjoyed after my felafel, which consisted of 3 small patties, fresh lettuce and tomato, and tahini, wrapped in pita fresh off the stone. It was flavorful and kind of light, but any remaining hunger was sated by the pudding, which blew my mind it was so good.

Gazala Place has been open only a few days, and was almost empty when I arrived a little after 3 pm today. I expect it will have long lines once word gets out how good it is. Normally I'd keep something like this to myself, but I want to make sure it gets enough patronage to make it through few the first few months.

P.S. - it's also cheap! My bill came to about $7.50.

Nina_P Oct 02, 2007 02:45PM

Oct 7 2007, 10:25 PM

I really enjoyed this new Syrian place. Their pita bread is more like a chapati. Everything is made there by the owner, who comes from a small village in Syria. She said that where she's from, women don't work but only cook, and she wants to spread the word about how good the food is! She gave me a bunch of dessert for free... sugar-dusted, dense little semolina cakes stuffed with dates. I can't stop eating them. Gazala's is at 709 9th Avenue and opened last Saturday.

new and good!
posted by lovestoeat - on Oct. 15, 2007 at 9:06 PM

We love to stroll down Ninth Ave. in the fifties/forties and try the little sstorefront ethnic places. Recently tried a new place, "Gazala" in the mid-forties. Bills itself as Mediterranean, but is actually more Middle Eastern. Excellent falafel; really good kabobs - my husband had chicken, I had lamb, really tender & cooked as requested. Quite inexpensive, tho' the menu says "grand opening menu" so prices may inch upward one of these days. Tiny place, like most of those, and service needs a little ironing out, but the food is terrific; salad came with the kabobs & there was plenty of it, not just a tiny pile on the side.
Enjoy!