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Home » Diets that Work » Zhug bursts with Mediterranean flavors in Cleveland Heights: Q&A with Douglas Katz and Todd Thompson – cleveland.com

Nov 29

Zhug bursts with Mediterranean flavors in Cleveland Heights: Q&A with Douglas Katz and Todd Thompson – cleveland.com

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Curried lamb and apricot hummus and a side of zhug to spice things up. David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Zhug has found steady business in Cleveland Heights' Cedar-Fairmount neighborhood on every night of its first week of business.

The new restaurant and bar, run by chef and restaurateur Doug Katz and director of operations Todd Thompson, doesnt take reservations, instead depending on the busy Cedar-Fairmount neighborhood to provide its customers. And so far, they said, new spot has been received well.

Zhug takes over the space formerly occupied by Liquid Planet, at 12413 Cedar Road, replacing it with a unique Mediterranean and Middle Eastern eatery. A full bar offers inventive cocktails, along with a complete wine and beer list.

The menus food options are all inspired by the name of the place: zhug, or a spicy Middle Eastern chutney made of serrano peppers and spices. Dishes are served family-style, and many of the individual plates -- which include hummus, kafta, squash donuts and more -- were inspired from a recent trip that Katz, Thompson and chef Andrew Mansour took to Tel Aviv, Israel.

It's the latest restaurant opening for Katz. Earlier this year, he opened a new concept called Chutney B. in Shaker Heights' bustling Van Aken District. He continues to run his longtime staple Fire Food & Drink, and Fire Spice Company. He's also the chef partner at Cleveland Museum of Art's Provenance Cafe.

We chatted with Katz and Thompson about the new restaurant, inspirations behind the menu, and their other business ventures.

Specialty drinks: The Gazoz #1, a non-alcoholic drink with Rooibos and hibiscus tea, lemon juice and honey syrup, and the Zhug #3, dry gin with fennel roots and fronds, Falernum, lime juice. David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com

Zhug is inspired by a trip to Israel. I was wondering how that travel has been used to influence the menu here, and at all your other restaurants as well?

Katz: "Before that -- at Fire [Food and Drink] -- we have an Indian clay oven, a tandoori oven, and so we've learned a lot about using spices in cooking. After opening Fire, I created a company called Fire Spice Company, where we toast and ground spices and put them in boxes with recipes. From that, we opened a new business this year called Chutney B. The focus in that is Thai, Indian and Morroccan rice bowls, using great curries and spice. We also top those bowls with chutney. The traditional Indian chutney would be hari chutney, but at that restaurant, we use zhug. It's a green chile chutney, with serrano chiles, green cardamom, lemon, parsely, all different spices.

"We decided that, here, we wanted to open a really fun bar room, a high-energy bar feel, and to focus on Middle Eastern and Mediterranean, because those were two areas where we hadnt really focused as much. Thats really what Zhug is about. We took a trip to Tel Aviv to really do some research and development on the idea, and every night we were saying to ourselves, when can we come back here and do it again? We did that, and I also went to Morocco last year, and we went to New Orleans, and I went to Denver, and we really explored Israeli restaurants. Were calling this Middle Eastern mezze, which is really just shareable food that you enjoy with your friends or other people."

A side of zhug to spice things up. David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com

Could you talk more about the menu -- highlights from it, things you want to mention?

Katz: "Noah Biddle is our bar manager, and he has created an amazing cocktail list. We have non-alcoholic and alcoholic cocktails. Todd [Thompson] has curated the wine and beer lists. Andrew Mansour is our chef. Both of us, for a year, have sat down and gone through so many iterations and so many ideas. Weve had so many tastings on the actual menu. I think whats important is having a mixture of meat items and vegetarian items and vegan and gluten-free. We tried to create a menu of about 30 items where people could mix and match things that go together. We have a lot of different vegetables. Well change the seasonal items, seasonally. We use a lot of local.

"We use local Miller Farm grass-fed beef for our kafta, which are little beef grilled patties served with feta and fennel and radishes. We have a braised lamb dish, local carrots from Rainbow Farm right now with hazelnuts and a coconut lime sauce. We have great octopus that we smoke in-house, and serve with potatoes and saffron aioli and olive tapenade. We have great bread to eat with all of it. We have a curried lamb hummus, with apricots. We have nigella seed and burnt onion hummus, all of course with a lot of different-flavored oils. We have desserts -- a mango sorbet with a chili syrup, and we have truffles. A tahini ice cream sundae with a ganache hot fudge and salted pistachios."

Thompson: "The reaction has been great. We were, of course, nervous about introducing this dining style, mixing it all together. Obviously there are places that already do that -- but, doing it the way we wanted to do it -- we werent sure coming from a background like Fire, which has a traditional way of dining, that our guests would be agreeable to it. But its been great, no problem at all. They really enjoy the idea of sharing food."

Local cracked wheat salad with shaved apples and carrots. David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com

It seems like at all your restaurants, there are all kinds of dishes to compliment dietary restrictions. Why is that aspect important to you?

Katz: "Its super important, and where were located, were right next to the hospital. People come to Cleveland to have their health checked. The amount of restricted diets, and the amount of care that people have for their diets is so important to our customers. Also, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes tend to match well with these kinds of special diets that are current today."

Thompson: "Theres meat on the menu, but its not the focus of the menu. Even the meat dishes are not like a traditional 12-ounce pork chop with some potatoes and carrots. The meat is mixed in, but its not the focus. I really think thats where dining is heading, and I also think its environmentally conscious. That was not the main motivating factor, but it sure doesnt hurt. We feel good about that, and its also healthy. I think all but three things on this menu are gluten-free."