The broader menu extends into Schmaltz-Crisped Kreplach, Lem on Blintzes with blueberry jam and pistachio, Babka Fre

There is a word Eyal Shani returns to again and again when he talks about Malka: happiness. Not excellence, not innovation, not disruption. Happiness. “There is a world of kosher food that is carrying so much happiness, preciseness and elegance that many people cannot yet imagine,” he says. For a chef of his global stature, with more than 50 Miznon locations stretching from Tel Aviv to Paris to Melbourne, to stake his Los Angeles full-service debut on something as quiet and deliberate as joy is itself a statement about what kind of restaurant Malka intends to be. 

Malka, Shani’s celebrated Glatt kosher restaurant opening late this summer at SIXTY Hotel Beverly Hills, marks the most significant moment in Los Angeles kosher dining in recent memory. The chef’s reputation precedes him: ingredient-first cooking executed at the highest level, dishes that treat familiar flavors as starting points rather than destinations, a philosophy that regards restraint and precision as forms of expression rather than limitation. “For me, working within these boundaries has never felt like a restriction but an opportunity,” Shani says. “When you approach cooking with imagination and respect, it becomes very emotional, very expressive. It’s not just about rules. It’s about tradition, discipline, and something much deeper that you can feel in the food.” 

His Los Angeles partner, operator Giancarlo Pagani, sees the opening as both timely and necessary. “While there are excellent kosher restaurants, there haven’t been many chef-driven concepts executed at this level, where the culinary vision leads the conversation and kosher is part of the foundation rather than the headline,” he says. “Malka is being built to fill that space: a restaurant that’s exceptional on its own merits, and happens to be kosher.” Pagani adds, “There’s a specific kind of diner in Los Angeles who has been waiting for a restaurant like this, a place they can choose not because it’s kosher, but because it’s exceptional. A restaurant without an asterisk, where there’s no sense of compromise or settling, just great food, great hospitality, and complete trust in the experience.” 

The menu reflects Shani’s lifelong conviction that the finest cooking begins with what is in season and what feels alive in the moment. Sig nature dishes include his chicken schnitzel stuffed with mashed pota toes, deeply comforting and precisely executed; a hummus and challah pairing that speaks to the oldest and most generous instincts of the table; and a slow-cooked beef and roots stew that asks nothing of the diner except attention. “Each dish at Malka has its own story,” Shani says. “But for me, it’s not only about specific dishes. It’s about what’s in season, what feels right in the moment, what speaks to me. The menu is always alive in that way.” 

That aliveness extends to the room and the experience itself. Shani’s vision for Malka is expansive and deeply personal. “Malka is more than a restaurant,” he says. “It’s really an expression of food in its purest form. It’s about creating something that allows people from all walks of life, both kosher and non-kosher, to come together and experience something beautiful through the food, the space, and through each other. I want people to walk in and feel like they’ve stepped into something alive, something already happening, and that they’re part of it. It’s about food, community, and tradition coming together as one. And in Los Angeles, I hope it becomes just that: a place where people connect, enjoy delicious food, and have an experience that stays with them after they leave.” 

Pagani is equally clear about the nightly ambition. “The goal is to create a restaurant that feels celebratory every night: generous food, a vibrant room, and a strong sense of community. At its core, it’s about proving that keeping kosher doesn’t require giving anything up. It can be every bit as dynamic, joyful, and destination-worthy as any great restaurant in the city.” He is sanguine about the challenge of opening in a complicated moment. “Opening a restaurant takes optimism, and we lead with that. A great table is one of the oldest ways people come together and remember what’s good. We think LA is ready for exactly that kind of warmth and hospitality in a kosher restaurant, and that’s the spirit we’re bringing to Malka.” 

Shani sees Los Angeles as uniquely suited to receive it. “Los Angeles is one of the most exciting food cities because it doesn’t try to be one thing,” he says. “It’s made of many cultures, many voices, all living together. There’s freedom here. People are open, they experiment, they follow instinct. But at the same time, there’s a real respect for ingredients, for the land, for how people want to eat and live. For me, it’s a place where food becomes very personal. It reflects who you are, where you come from, and how things are always changing.” 

In a city where the conversation around Israeli and Jewish food has never been louder or more complicated, Malka arrives not as a provocation but as an invitation. “To cook from identity is always a kind of vulnerability,” Shani acknowledges. “There is a lot happening in the world, but for me, we speak through food. The challenge is not the noise around us; it’s staying true to that feeling, to the instinct, to the honesty of the food. Food doesn’t argue. It goes straight to the heart, to memory, to something very quiet inside us. And in that place, people can meet. Malka doesn’t try to speak loudly. It just invites connection.” For the Los Angeles Jewish community, and for every diner willing to pull up a chair, that invitation is long overdue. 

The Bigger Picture 

Ask Eric Greenspan whether Mish and Malka are part of the same conversation, and his answer is generous and expansive. “The rising tide lifts all ships,” he says. “Any restaurant that brings a unique perspective to cuisine only strengthens the city and its culinary offerings.” He sees Mish in conversation not just with Malka but with every restaurant doing something genuine and specific across the whole improbable, in exhaustible Los Angeles table. 

That generosity of spirit is what these two restaurants share most deeply. Eyal Shani brings his most personal restaurant to a city he believes is searching for exactly what Malka offers: meaning, connection, and food that goes straight to the heart. Eric Greenspan returns to La Brea with the conviction that the deli was never just about food; it was about what happens when a community claims a room and refuses to leave. Both are making the same argument: that Jewish food, expressed fully and without apology, is not a niche offering for a specific audience. It is a gift to the city. It is, as it has always been, an invitation to sit down. 

For more information about Mish visit: mishdeli.com 

For more information about Malka visit: malka-usa.com/los-angeles

nch Toast, and a Potato & Leek Kugel. The pastry program is led by Dara Yu, the youngest winner in Master Chef history. Beverages are overseen by Julian Cox, a four-time James Beard nominee, whose program spans coffee, cocktails, and the New York Chocolate Egg Cream, that is a proper act of restoration. 

Greenspan did not build Mish alone, and he is candid about why. “A restaurant is only as good as the team,” he says, “and I’m comfortable enough with my understanding of the vision to not have the hubris of doing it all myself.” That humility extends to how he thinks about the deli as a form. The genre has been declared dead many times, and yet here he is, betting his next chapter on it. “I believe that Mish stands on the shoulders of giants, but we are certainly trying to advance a genre that hasn’t seen much change in 100 years of tradition. We want to return to the roots by embracing the communal feel of delis and rally against the diner-fication of delis — no pancakes here.” He continues: “This project is born out of passion rather than necessity, and we strive to unburden ourselves from tradition in some ways to meet the modern diner where they want to be, in terms of lighter fare, quality sourcing, and creativity.” 

Opening Mish at this particular moment in Jewish communal life is something Greenspan has thought carefully about. “It doesn’t change what we need to be,” he says, “but it of course inspires us.” He sees the restaurant operating on two tracks simultaneously: a gathering place for the Jewish community, and a bridge outward. “Nothing brings people together like food, so if Mish can be both a rallying point for the Jewish community in the midst of a rise in antisemitism, as well as a bridge to share our culture with others to bridge differences, then this is the perfect time for this place to exist.” Not a deli as nostalgia. A deli as argument, for Jewish visibility, Jewish joy, and Jewish permanence in the life of this city.