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Best Ziva (dish) in Chicago
“Crisp puff pastry studded with sesame, stuffed with cheese and olives—where malawach technique meets börek spirit.”
What the real thing tastes like
Ziva (Hebrew: זיוה) is an Israeli dish made of puff pastry topped with sesame seeds, and stuffed with cheese and olives. Ziva is served at home and in restaurants. Ziva is cooked in a style similar to the Yemenite Malawach but its ingredients more closely resemble börek, both of which are also common in Israel. Ziva is usually served alongside a hot sauce (skhug), eggs and Israeli salad. Ziva is thought to have been invented by chef Neri Avneri's wife at the Nargilla restaurant in 1989. TasteAtlas listed it as the third lowest-rated Israeli snack.
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Ziva arrives as a crisp-topped triangle of puff pastry studded with sesame seeds, its hollow interior packed with cheese and olives—a dish that straddles culinary traditions without fully belonging to any. Born in 1989 at a Tel Aviv nargilla restaurant, it borrows the laminated technique of Yemenite malawach but cooks more like a börek, landing somewhere between both. Served hot with skhug's sharp bite, runny eggs, and the cool crunch of Israeli salad, it's breakfast or lunch that demands contrast.
Order it here when it has
- served with complementary sides
- appears in home and restaurant settings
- established origin story
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