Chef Michael Solomonov, who was born in Israel and grew up in Pittsburgh, was awarded the James Beard Foundation's most prestigious chef award on Monday night. Solomonov founded Philadelphia's Zahav restaurant, which focuses on Israeli and Jewish cuisine nine years ago. The Philadelphia Inquirer notes he shared the Beard’s book of the year and international cookbook last year for Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking. Solomonov also was the subject of a documentary, In Search of Israeli Cuisine.
Kol Yisrael government radio notes that Solomonov opened the restaurant following the fall of his brother, Golani fighter David Solomonov, on the northern border on Yom Kippur in 2003. The brother volunteered to replace a soldier who wanted to pray and was shot to death by a Hezbollah sniper. In recent years, chef Michael Solomonov has been praised by the American media for introducing Israeli cuisine to the American palate.