For all the culinary riches Tel Aviv offers, one cuisine that is severely underrepresented is American barbecue. For the last couple of years, however, there’s been an Israeli outpost dedicated to the art of smoking meat U.S.-style — and it’s located in the shuk section of Old Jaffa.
Just walking into Pundak Deluxe is reminiscent of entering an unpretentious barbecue joint in Kansas City, Dallas or even Oakland. Patrons sit on metal folding chairs at wooden plank tables and the plates are small, square tin trays.
The menus — available in both Hebrew and English (although even the Hebrew ones are half English) — are mimeographed sheets attached to clipboards. Most of the tables are in an enclosed outdoor area, kept warm when necessary by heaters.
There’s a lot to study in the five basic categories of the menu: fowl, pork, beef, sausages and sides. To sip while doing so, there are four house cocktails; one is called a Frisco sour, a blend of Tennessee bourbon, sour mix and egg whites.
The blaringly nonkosher baby back ribs, accompanied by sweet cornbread cut into dainty slices, are fall-off-the-bone tender, and a pleasure to eat with your hands. Although they taste like they have been seasoned with a dry rub, the liquidy barbecue sauce adds smokiness as well as flavor to the pork ribs.
The restaurant’s signature gouda-and-thyme sausage features juicy meat and cheese that oozed out of the casing, making for an intensely rich experience. Other smoked meat options include beef short ribs, pork neck, melt-in-your-mouth goose breast and a beef dish described by staff as “rump steak.”
All of the condiments are homemade: mustard, beet ketchup, horseradish mayo and barbecue sauce.
Side dishes include barbecue restaurant standards such as baked beans, mac and cheese and coleslaw, but there’s also a house specialty: torn fried potatoes. These are small potatoes that are baked and then flash-fried in their skins. Served piping hot, they have a crunchy, salty exterior and a fluffy white interior.
The beans are different from the usual variety, as the dish is actually half beans and half shredded brisket. It tastes very much like cholent.
Pundak Deluxe is located at 7 Olei Zion in Jaffa. — ynetnews.com