Flame Mediterranean: Laffa, Charcoal and Pistachio Shawarma on NE 29th Avenue

The laffa comes off the heat blistered and soft, big enough to fold around a fistful of shawarma with room to spare, and the counter asks the only question that matters at Flame Mediterranean: pita or laffa. It is a Thursday lunch on NE 29th Avenue in Aventura, a short run of storefronts a few blocks south of Aventura Mall, and the smell of charcoal reaches the parking lot before the door opens. Flame took over this address from Soho Kosher Deli around the turn of 2025, and the change was more than a new sign. The pastrami is gone. In its place is an Israeli grill room built around skewers, shawarma and a long line of salads, run by the same group that operates Soho Asian Bar and Grill next door. The kitchen works for three audiences at once, the lunch crowd, the family dinner and the Shabbat pickup, and the grill stays lit for all of them.

The menu reads like a street grill in Tel Aviv that has been handed a steak budget. Everything starts with the same choice: a sandwich in pita, laffa or baguette, or a plate served with salads. The plates are the better order, because the salatim platter is the part of the meal that says the most about the kitchen. Ten small salads arrive together: matbucha cooked down until it is sweet and smoky, babaganoush with the char still in it, beet salad, tabbouleh heavy on parsley, spicy carrots, pickled vegetables, egg salad, red and white cabbage, and tahini. The platter refills, which turns a plate of skewers into a long lunch.