Philadelphia's Zahav restaurant of Israeli chef Michael Solomonov has won the Outstanding Restaurant award of the James Beard Foundation, the most important culinary organization in the United States in a Monday night awards ceremony in Chicago.
In a conversation with Channel 13 News after the win, Solomonov said, "This is a great victory for Israel." The Los Angeles Israeli restaurant Babel was nominated for the Best New Restaurant award, but lost to French restaurant Frenchette in New York, two weeks after it was chosen by the Los Angeles Times magazine's restaurant of the year.