I recently ate a small family-owned and very special restaurant in the Baka area of Jerusalem. It stands out in its creativity and had the vibe both in the kinds of food one would think would be destination Michelin-style restaurants, while also imbuing a style that one could only be described as the local Jerusalemite flavor.

That is not to say that they do not have their standards. To order a table, one is told of the “dress code.” Please do not wear shorts or flip-flops. After that, it’s up to you. Even then, perhaps they will be lenient if you are from the “hood” or a repeat customer.

I was treated to this rare place as a small “date night” birthday celebration, and while I think I gave away my knowledge of the food world with my modest cocktail order, it was just a vorspeis (taste) of what was to come.

The restaurant is found in the same location as the source of the family legendary culinary memory and skill; that of the grandmother who ran a homey kitchen based on her own family’s Tunisian recipes, when it was called in Hebrew “Shel Rashel (From Rashel).” Those who remember it will find nothing that is remotely reminiscent of its current use as a fine chef’s restaurant.

The cozy and casual street-side drop-in place with its soup and sandwich offerings was gutted, refurbished, changed in its tone and certainly upgraded in its menu. Oshi (Oshrat) Hadad is a very gifted chef and highly experienced granddaughter of Rashel Hadad. Starting as a novice while in high school, she worked at an after-school job at a local fish eatery in the nearby Mamilla Mall, which only whetted her appetite to learn more. Chef Oshi prepares Amaia’s Beets Starter (Photo: Heddy Breuer Abramowitz)

She continued to work in a series of self-styled residencies, from Toscana, and other European and Israeli hotel kitchens, continuously adding to her skill set and broadening the range of tastes she brings to this local yet also international clientele. Reservations are not so easy to get. There are those international travelers who order ahead to snag a table a month in advance timed with attending high-level conferences, while locals are known to happen by and find available seating on the sidewalk in the balmy Jerusalem transitional weather period.

Rashel and her husband Ramond Hadad were Tunisian-born, and originated from La........

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