The restaurant is the 8th restaurant of James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Solomonov and its partner Steve Cook. The pair are well-know for their iconic restaurant, Zahav, whose chef, Andrew Henshaw, is now executive chef at Laser Wolf.
“This concept actually preceded Zahav,” Cook told Forward.
“Back then, we couldn’t have pulled something like this off. I was actually struck the most when we were in Israel for our research trip for our most recent book, Israeli Soul. We ate at so many different shipudiyas. Each one was ultimately all about salads and charcoal, but all were unique with their execution. I remember Mike and I were both so struck by that. That moment was when we felt it was finally the right time to open our own shipudiya in Philly,” he added.
The shipudiya is named after Fiddler of the Roof's finest butcher, Lazar Wolf.
As such, it serves the best charcoal-grilled meats such as Romanian beef kebab, lamb merguez, lamb chops and chicken shilshlik.
Hummus, fresh pita and different typical Israeli and the Middle Eastern salads, are included. Sweet potato muhammara, eggplant and pepper relish, eggplant baba ghanoush, dill and lentil tabbouleh, and more are on the menu.
Lazar Wolf is well-known for his L'Chaim song, calling everyone "to drink, l'chaim, to life!" after initially getting engaged to the protagonist Tevye's daughter. "We'll raise a glass and sip a drop of schnapps, in honor of the great good luck that favored you," sings Wolf.
There is more than enough to drink in this new restaurant, from wine, to beers, to cocktails that focus on Israeli flavors.
The restaurant even offers a tequila-based cocktail named Sunrise-Sunset, after one of the musical's famous songs.