Sabich, the ultimate Israeli street food, has made a
legend out of quirky store-owner Oved Daniel While hummus, falafel, and even shawarma are known around the globe, the ultimate Israeli street food—sabich—remains one of the country’s best-kept secrets.
Sabich is a pita stuffed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled eggs (traditionally haminados, which are the brown eggs from Sephardi-style cholent), hummus, tahini, and vegetable salad, while some versions contain boiled-potatoes as well. Pickled cucumbers, chopped parsley, and onions seasoned with purple sumac are usually added, as well as a Yemenite hot sauce called skhug, and amba—a thick yellow sauce containing pickled mangoes, fenugreek, and turmeric.
Making sabich sounds simple enough, but preparing it just right is an art form that few truly master. And the truest master of this culinary art is Oved Daniel, Israel’s most revered sabich-maker, who declares without false modesty that he is the Diego Armando Maradona of sabich. For 27 years, Oved—like Maradona, he’s generally referred to by one name—has been dominating Israel’s sabich scene from his little corner on Sirkin Street in Givatayim, a small city bordering Tel Aviv. During that time, his establishment has become an institution that customers flock to from all over the country. But now, the man who is as much a legend in the world of sabich as Maradona is on the soccer field has granted a highly coveted franchise to two young men, Maor Ben-Tov and Aviv Shary, who this month opened the very first branch of Oved’s Sabich in Tel Aviv proper.
Growing up in Givatayim and being weaned on Oved’s Sabich, Ben-Tov and Shary always wanted to open a branch of their favorite street-food stand. After studying at Tadmor School of Culinary Arts and Hotel Management in Herzliya, working at several restaurants, and pestering Oved about it for no less than three years, their dream fi
nally came true. On the first Friday of
November—following a grueling two-month apprenticeship at Oved’s original
stand—Ben-Tov and Shary opened their place on Karlebach Street. On the back of
their black employee uniforms they have printed Oved’s slogan that shamelessly
advertises “the best mana in the universe.” Mana in Hebrew means portion, dose,
or serving, and the word is used in reference to a pita-sandwich, as well as
when talking about heroin—which tells you how Israelis think about sabich.
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