New on ELuna, July 23, 2013

These new restaurants prove that you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a good restaurant go-out.

What do you want in a restaurant? Our needs are simple. All we want is good food in a pleasant environment at a reasonable price. I think that about sums it up.

Erev Shabbat my bubi z"l would bake challa. All the family members would come by to pick up bubi's challa for their Shabbat table. Sorrowfully, my grandmother is long gone and so are her recipes. Grandma Matilda's recipes live on in Ein Karem, at the restaurant bearing her name. MATILDA offers high end grilled meats, stews, and whatever goes with them. For each course on the menu there are up-to-date dishes plus something yummy from grandma Matilda's old country kitchen. Matilda's old country kitchen was somewhere in Morrocco (not the Bronx), but we won't quibble.

Click here for more about Matilda, Jerusalem.

More about Ein Karem neigborhood history at the website of Jerusalem Municipality.

SUSHI GARDEN Asian Kitchen. I love the name of this restaurant. I am thinking green leaves (wasabi), white light (rice), red (tuna) buds. Wake up and smell the flowers. Sushi Garden is a small corner shop in Romema. Not much garden there. But the menu? Wow. There is every kind of sushi that you can think of. They do take away and delivery. Or you can come on in and have a seat.

Click here for more on Sushi Garden, Jerusalem.

Every now and then we just want to get back to basics. GEHALIM is the final word in your basic Israeli grill restaurant. Gehalim (meaning "coals") is a chain of kosher classic Israeli grill restaurants. The Petach Tikva branch takes the space of the former Muldan restaurant. The decor at Gehalim restaurants is notched up a bit, but the prices remain reasonable. You know the drill. Start with salads that cover the table in a sea of little bowls. A basket of warm crispy pitot, fresh from the taboun. Then come the grilled meats, still sizzling from the fire. We'll take that with a bowl of chips and a tall glass of ice cold cola, please.

Click here for more on Gehalim, Petach Tikva.