Andalucia: Where Jerusalem Stone Pours a Spanish Cocktail

The first thing that hits you is sound. A trumpet, soft at first, drifts through the open windows from the plaza outside, weaving past the ivy wrapped chandelier in the atrium and settling somewhere between the marble bar and the deep red lacquer of the dining room. A waiter slides past with a wooden board of patatas bravas, the chipotle aioli still glossy, and somewhere above, glasses clink against the railing of the upper balcony. This is Andalucia on a Tuesday evening in Kikar HaMusica, and within thirty seconds of stepping through the door of the restored three story stone house at Ma'avar Beit HaKnesset 12, it is clear that the kitchen and the bar are not running parallel programs. They are running one show.

Chef Shlomi Aton built his career through the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem dining rooms, and that geography lives on every plate. The menu reads as Andalusian on the surface, ceviche and croquetas and patatas bravas and a deep bench of steak cuts, but the seasoning sits closer to home. Cumin and harissa shadow the assado taco. Preserved lemon brightens the chicken salad. The Lamb Shank Ossobuco arrives at 135 NIS, the meat collapsing under the side of a fork into a glossy braising liquid that pools across a potato truffle puree the color of pale butter. It is the dish that anchors the menu, the one that argues most clearly that this is a serious meat kitchen first and a tapas concept second.