Esh: This word means fire. It is used often to say that something is “perfect.” For example, if someone offers you a chance to check out a new restaurant and you want to go to it, you know it will be “esh.”
Featured Ambassadors
Lior Lev Sercarz
Lior Lev Sercarz is the chef, spice blender and owner of La Boîte, a biscuits and spice shop in New York City. Lior and La Boîte have been featured in publications including The New York Times, Vogue, In Style Magazine, Every Day with Rachel Ray, Food & Wine Magazine and the SAVEUR 100.
In 2002, Lior brought his newfound understanding of spice blending with him to New York, where he had the honor of working with chef Daniel Boulud as a sous chef and catering chef at his flagship restaurant, Daniel. He left Daniel in 2006 to start La Boîte, launching the company by making and selling a line of French biscuits as well as experimenting with the use of spices. In 2011, after working more with spices, he opened La Boîte Biscuits & Spices, an art gallery and spice shop in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. Each season, the artists whose work adorns his cookie tins also show their work in the gallery.
The GCI affords an incredible opportunity to learn with and from Lior who has a clear point of view in the culinary world and has mastered not just his craft, but the art of storytelling and personal brand-building.
Michael Solomonov
Chef Michael Solomonov was born in G'nei Yehuda, Israel and raised in Pittsburgh. At the age of 18, he returned to Israel with no Hebrew language skills, taking the only job he could get – working in a bakery – and his culinary career was born.
Solomonov is the 2011 James Beard Award winner for "Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic," a 2016 James Beard Award winner for "International Cooking" and "Book of the Year," along with business partner, Steve Cook for Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, 2017 James Beard Award winner for "Outstanding Chef", and 2019's James Beard Award winner, alongside Cook and the team at Zahav, for "Outstanding Restaurant".
Chef is a beloved champion of Israel's extraordinarily diverse and vibrant culinary landscape. Along with Zahav, Solomonov and Cook’s village of restaurants are Federal Donuts, Dizengoff, Abe Fisher, Goldie, K'Far, Merkaz and his most recent effort - Laser Wolf, an Israeli skewer house.
To the GCI, he brings a prolific catalog of restaurant concepts, but more importantly, the ideas and innovation of restaurants rooted in love and respect of region-specific ingredients.