by Alex Gonzalez photos provided by Nosh
Over the course of the past 40 years, Chef Avner Samuel has been an active force in Dallas’ dining scene. Known for his restaurants like Aurora and earlier versions of Nosh Bistro, Samuel is a master of Mediterranean cuisine. His resume boasts incredible feats, including Executive Chef for The Crescent Court Hotel, The Mansion, The Fairmont Hotel, and The Churchill Hotel London. Following the closure of the original Nosh in 2010, Samuel spent two-and-a-half years in Israel getting in touch with new Middle Eastern dining trends.
Samuel was one of the original Gang of Five (as dubbed by then Dallas food writer Liz Logan) that enriched our lives with the game-changing Southwest food movement that included Robert Del Grande, Stephan Pyles, Dean Fearing and Anne Lindsey McCann.
This week, Samuel will re-open Nosh Bistro, serving up elevate cuisine with strong Mediterranean, American and Asian cultural influences.
“I wanted to create Texas’ best restaurant ever,” Samuel says. “I’ve been in Dallas for 40 years, and I felt that I just needed to do it for us. I wanted to get as close to the food from my childhood as possible. The food that I grew up with in Israel. The food in Israel has advanced in such a way, with the preparations and techniques. With this new Nosh, it will be a step up from the original Nosh.”
Upon re-opening Nosh, Samuel will bring back some crowd favorites of his, including the Mother’s Salad.
“It’s simply a salad I cannot open this restaurant without,” Samuel says. “I’ve had people tell me ‘if that Salad isn’t on the menu, I’m not coming.”
Samuel will also be introducing some new menu items, including the cured red beet pacific salmon on potato latkes, lebni and American caviar. Desserts include the sumac doughnut holes with candied seasonal cherries, honey and pop rocks.
Lori Finkleman will be serving as Nosh Bistro’s Chef de Cuisine. Finkleman says that Samuel pulled her out of retirement to work for him.
“It’s the most exciting thing in the city,” Finkleman says. “We’re doing Mediterranean cuisine with a heavy middle eastern influence. The food is not only unbelievably delicious, but also beautiful to look at.”
While Samuel is a legendary chef among older generations, he hopes that Nosh will help draw in a younger crowd. During the early stages of planning Nosh’s re-opening, Samuel worked as an Uber driver, with his passengers serving as impromptu consultants.
“That’s what got me close to the millennials,” Samuel says. “I talked to them about what they want in a restaurant, I promoted Nosh, and a few of the passengers even told me they felt inspired.”
Nosh Bistro offers incredible Mediterranean Cuisine in a soothing, upscale atmosphere. Guests will get a taste of various regions of the Middle East and Asia in an upscale, elevated environment.
Opening was delayed by a power outage in the neighborhood and Nosh will officially open later this week, and reservations can be made at noshbistrodallas.com
