Green Falafel

Taim (222 Waverly Place) opened in 2006 serving falafel—a red, roasted pepper falafel; a yellow, hariisa-infused falafel; and a green falafel with parsley, cilantro and mint. In the April 30, 2008 dining section of the New York (NY) Times, “green falafel” was declared one of the seven best new sandwiches in New York.
 
Tel Aviv, Israel’s falafel places have long served “green falafel,” but it is not known when or where it originated.
 
   
Tel Aviv Insider   
The Story of the Falafel
By: Amir Yarkoni
(...)
South Tel Aviv Falafel places
Orna and Ella the Queens of falafel (Yehuda he Levi)
This is what you might call a 21st century Falafel…..Orna and Ella (2 Israeli female names, the names of the founders) are offering a truly progressive Falafel without losing the old taste and touch. They have in their menu 3 new flavors of Falafel, along with the traditional flavor. They offer “green” falafel, a blend with coriander, and other green herbs, “red” flavor, a blend with red hot peppers and “orange”, a blend with sweet potato. You can mix in your Pita all 3 flavors or any other combination you like. As far as price, they are at the absolute top end with 15NIS per dish, but it is certainly worth it. Unlike most Falafel spots, this place offers comfortable and relaxed seating and more of a café’ atmosphere….this is a falafel where you can quietly read your daily while enjoying the multitude fresh scents and tastes.
   
Tel Aviv Dining
Falafel Queens - (Casual / over NIS 400)
The Falafel Queens is what you get if your turn the time-honored falafel into a luxury product. Opened by local cafe culture legends Orna and Ella, the small, contemporary-design restaurant delivers a modern take on this culinary classic: green falafel with coriander, sweet potato-infused pink falafel and red falafel dotted with peppers.
     
Houston (TX) Press 
Give Pita a Chance
Falafel can be awful. But not at Mama’s Po-Boy.
By Margaret L. Briggs
Published: April 29, 1999
(...)
On first bite, I was in hot, salty, spicy heaven. The falafel patties were fried golden-brown and crunchy, then neatly tucked into the requisite halved and split pita bread still warm from the grill. Shreds of lettuce and sliced tomatoes slathered in satiny cream-colored tahini sauce filled the remainder of the pocket, festively sprinkled with reddish-brown sumac and a judicious shot or two of hot sauce. But my friend sat motionless, staring suspiciously into his sandwich basket.
 
“It’s green inside,” he growled ominously. I froze with my mouth full. Sure enough, the insides of Zabak’s falafel patties are as vividly green as Kermit the Frog.
 
“That’s right, they are green,” says Zabak with pride. “That’s my own special recipe that nobody else has. Of course I start with ground chickpeas, fresh onions and garlic, like everybody else. But then I add lots of fresh parsley and a little bit of green jalapeno pepper and some spices that I have to keep secret.”
 
Turns out that Zabak’s outstanding green falafel has fueled his business for 22 years, not only over the counter at his Hillcroft luncheonette, but also through local health food outlets such as Whole Foods and the Seekers stores on Bellaire and Blalock. “I make the sandwiches and deliver them fresh every day,” says Zabak. “They’ve been buying our sandwiches for years, and our tabbouleh salad, too.”
     
Brooklynian.com - Brooklyn Blog
daniel
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 05 1:22 pm
Hasn’t that palce been open for a while? I’ve been confused by their signage everytime I’ve passed by - the big awning above the store, “Sam’s BBQ & Vegetarian”, with the smaller yellow sign hanging below it: “Coming Soon: Sam’s BBQ & Vegetarian”.
 
I find the yellow falafel at most places to be bland and dry - it’s always a good sign to see the green falafel. Both places in Park Slope - Pita Pan and Mr. Falafel - have the yellow stuff, and they both suck. Green falafel always seems to be moister, tastier and sometimes a little bit spicy. I think I’ll Sam’s this weekend. 
 
The Girl Who Ate Everything
August 16, 2006
Amy Ruth’s, Cafe Mogador, Taim
(...)
From front to back is the roasted red pepper falafel, green falafel (“traditional, mixed with parsley, cilantro and mint”) and sabich (“slice of eggplant, fried, layered with a hard boiled egg”).
   
New York Magazine: Best of New York 2006
Best Falafel
Taïm
222 Waverly Pl.; 212-691-1287
What does one look for in a falafel? To be cheap and filling, obviously. To be fried-to-order, naturally, crisp and greaseless, nutty and earthy and nicely spiced. Taïm, a bright and cheerful West Village falafel shack, takes the chickpea-croquette conceit even further, purveying three different flavors, best sampled in a mixed platter with tahini-dappled hummus, tabbouleh, and Israeli salad. Taïm means tasty in Hebrew, and these specimens are—one streaked with roasted pepper; another infused with harissa; and the third (and best) tinged with cilantro, parsley, and mint. Savor them individually, or do what we do—stuff them into warm rounds of oil-and-herb-touched whole-wheat pita with some pickled baby eggplant and a healthy dose of the Yemeni hot sauce called srug.
 
Outer Boroughs - Chowhound
Hapisgah on Union Turnpike in Kew Garden Hills (Main street area), are Iraqi Israeli style kosher glatt steakhouse..with excellent GREEN falafel…and good fried eggplant salad..among other stuff..
janie May 23, 2007 03:11PM
 
Big Sweet Tooth
June 12, 2007
Big Buns and Pita on North Clark St. {From The Raving Dish}
(...)
The waitress told me the hummus was free since it was my first time, but every time I’ve been back, some little appetizer freebie like borek (the Middle Eastern version of an egg roll) or bright green falafel rolls out the kitchen.
   
Free Williamsburg (June 19, 2007)
Falafel Chula
CUISINE: Middle Eastern
ADDRESS: 436 Union Ave., Brooklyn, New York 11211
(Between Devoe Street and Metropolitan Ave.)
PHONE: 718.387.0303
HOURS: Mon-Sat 12pm-12am
(...)
CITY SEARCH SAYS: After their success with Mexican food, the owners of Taco Chulo took over Uncle Mina, a tiny Middle Eastern spot near the Lorimer subway stop. While the bare-bones decor hardly screams “hipster Epcot Center,” the asymmetric-haircut crowd lines up for sandwiches to go or shares a platter at one of the handful of tables, above which hang a few prints of Egyptian art. To the delight of Uncle Mina fans, the menu of basic Egyptian fare remains the same. Fava beans mashed up with a good dose of garlic, cilantro and chile make the fuul medammas a tasty highlight, but oiliness overwhelms the subtle charms of an eggplant salad. Though crunchy, deep-green falafel could use more spicing, and chicken souvlaki runs on the dry side, both improve stuffed in warm pita with silky hummus and tart pickles.
 
flickr
Uploaded on September 7, 2007
by roboppy
green falafel pita sammich
Taim
 
Cheap Ass Food
Perfect Falafel, TAIM!!!
posted by: Piggie
November 14, 2007
EATERY:
Taim Falafel & Smoothie Bar
LOCATION:
222 Waverly Pl between 11th St & Perry St, New York City, NY 10014
REVIEWS:
Taim means delicious in Hebrew, but by cheapass definition I was not sure if it would meet up to our standards. Over the past couple of months I have been reading many good things about this tiny little shop and so had to find out for myself if the rumors where true. I got the “Green” falafel, which is a traditional falafel with parsley, cilantro, mint and pickled cabbage - it was scrumptious. Each bite was perfect, a little bite of the fried falafel with tahini sauce, hummus accompanied by pickled cabbage nestled in homemade soft and fluffy pita bread was the most perfect falafel bite I’ve ever had. Well-worth the $5 price tag.
 
The Vegetarian New Yorker
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Taim Review
Taim is a small falafel-focused shop at the corner of Perry and Waverly in the West Village. The place is tiny, with a mere couple of counters and stools which serve as the seating area. In the kitchen, meanwhile, a busy crew runs around generating their specialty menu of falafel dishes, salads, and smoothies.
 
I ordered the standard green falafel on pita with everything, along with a strawberry raspberry smoothie with basil. The latter was refreshing but a bit on the bland side. The sandwich, though, was something else. Fresh, warm, toasty pita held together a generous, heavy, toss-together of small falafel balls, yogurt sauces, hummus, pickled vegetables, hot sauce, and probably some other ingredients I didn’t observe.
 
Austin (TX) American-Statesman
The scoop on falafel? It’s pretty easy to make
Spice the fried balls of chickpeas herbed, hot or even hotter.
By John Kessler
COX NEWS SERVICE
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
(...)
I haven’t had any that came close until a recent trip to New York. There, I made a visit to a miraculously tiny West Village falafelria called Tam (222 Waverly Place, New York, (212) 691-1287) that has been getting buzz.
 
Like the place in Israel, the falafel balls come in a variety of colors — green with herbs, red with roasted pepper and redder with spicy harissa. They were pretty terrific and gloriously drippy, stuffed into a puffy, crusty thick pita with tahini, hummus, tomato/cucumber salad and cabbage.
 
I have also since become motivated to make my own, which was far easier than I would have imagined. Set the chickpeas to soak overnight; then you merely have to blend the mixture in a food processor. Once it rests, it’s ready to go. Fry ‘em up, sauce ‘em up, and let them drop into your lap in the comfort of your own home. That’s good eating.
 
The recipe at right makes a traditional falafel bright green with herbs. If you leave out the herbs and add roasted pepper or prepared harissa, you get a gorgeous red version. I’ve even made it with smoked Spanish paprika for an unusual twist.
   
My Favorite Falafel
1 cup dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp. salt
1/2 to 1 tsp. dried hot red pepper
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. baking powder
4 to 6 Tbsp. flour
Soybean or vegetable oil for frying
Chopped tomato for garnish
Diced onion for garnish
Diced green bell pepper for garnish
Pita bread
Tahini sauce
 
Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight, then drain. Or use canned chickpeas, drained.
 
Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onion in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic and cumin. Process until blended but not puréed.
 
Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 Tbsp. of flour, and pulse. You want to add enough flour so that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered, for several hours.
 
Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts, or use a falafel scoop, available in Middle Eastern markets.
 
Heat 3 inches of oil to 375 degrees in a deep pot or wok and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Stuff half a pita with falafel balls, chopped tomatoes, onion and green pepper. Drizzle with tahini thinned with water. Makes 5 servings.
— ‘The Foods of Israel Today’ by Joan Nathan
 
New York (NY) Times
The Next Best Things in Sliced Bread
By JULIA MOSKIN
Published: April 30, 2008
(...)
GREEN FALAFEL
Working as a chef, Einat Admony sharpened her palate at Danube, Bolo and Tabla before turning her attention to her own “home food” in 2003. “There are a million falafels in New York, not to mention in Tel Aviv,” she said, referring to the Israeli city where she grew up. But, she said, to make a great falafel sandwich, with its many components — hot and cool, crunchy and soft, spicy and smooth — is exacting. “It’s all these small things that you taste and taste and taste every morning,” she said.

Taim’s version is transformed by the fresh herbs that go into the dough: typically a golden mass of chickpeas but bright green here from quantities of cilantro, parsley and mint. That breath of fresh herbs, along with the crunch of the hot crust and the earthy cream of the tahini, pulls the Taim falafel to the front of the pack.
 
“There is something about the taste here, like each thing has more flavor than it does anywhere else,” said Anna Stojanowska, who lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, but journeys to the West Village for lunch sometimes. “There’s actually a great falafel place at my subway stop in Brooklyn, but this one is just that little bit better, you know?”
Taim, 222 Waverly Place (Seventh Avenue South), (212) 691-1287.