Eldad behind Reunion

Welcome back to Savour—we’re here to share unique restaurateur stories and show what they’ve created. Today we’re in Williamsburg, where Eldad and Inna have been serving a taste of Tel Aviv since 2014.

After the founders of Margot put us on the food scene in Brooklyn, we started to cross the bridge more often. We found Reunion pretty quickly since we’ve been on the hunt for the best shakshuka in the city. We were not paid to say this, but it might just be our favorite so far!

We walked into Reunion not knowing who had been on the receiving end of our texts, but as soon as we saw Eldad, we knew. He just has founder energy—if the picture above didn’t already convince you so—and we absolutely love it.

Eldad and Inna, born and raised in Israel, moved to New York City 12 years ago. Lucky for us, they brought a piece of home to the middle of Brooklyn with their restaurant Reunion: A Love Letter to Tel Aviv. The couple, now parents to four kids in New Jersey, are balancing family life and their passion for sharing good food.

Reunion is Eldad’s first gig in the restaurant space. Inna had gone to school for culinary, hotel management, and restaurant management. “She worked in restaurants since she was 16. I ate in restaurants since I was 16, so we thought it was a good combo to do it together,” Eldad added. We hope you’re starting to catch on to the fact that he’s really funny.

The inspiration behind Reunion comes not only from their shared love for cooking and eating, but also their desire to create a piece of home here. “When we feel a longing [for home], we just come to work.” What a dream. There are many dishes Eldad and Inna miss from back home, some of them they’re trying to create here for themselves and their guests. When asked if there’s one dish in particular, he answered immediately: ”Pita with shawarma. It’s something I'm addicted to and I can find a really, really good one here.” We will probably eat anything he recommends, so that’s going on our shortlist.

Eldad’s first memory of dining out is from his childhood back home where his family only ate out on special occasions like birthdays. He went on to share that his mother used to cook at home almost every day, “part of her legacy and the recipes that we're serving in Reunion are from her.”

When asked the most basic question about what he’s learned from running his own restaurant, he emphasized that “it's hard. It's an everyday job. You need to love it. You need to care about every person who comes into the restaurant. And you also need luck. But it's very hard. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.” His love is obvious in the way we saw him greet his regulars, dab up his staff, and welcome us in.

At the beginning of his career, he would lose sleep over every little mistake he made or every bad review he got. If he received a new review on Yelp in the middle of the night, he’d wake up to his angel battling with the devil on the other side: open it in the morning, or open it now but then not be able to go back to sleep?

What’s helped him grow is time and the “understanding that you need to wake up every morning, do your best, and not every time you're going to make everybody happy, but you need to try every day.” A basic question but it never fails to reveal the passion.

Bites to Savour

Do you have any hot takes on the NYC food scene?

“Find a really good pizza place and stick to it. There's a lot of pizza places around the city. A lot are good, but you always feel like you need to look for the best one and you always try new things and new places and you get disappointed. So stick to one that you like.”

What is your go-to meal after a long day of work?

“Pizza!!!!”

If you were to make a dish with only 3 ingredients, what would you make

“Eggplants, tahini, which is a sesame-based paste, and amba, which is pickled mango sauce. There’s a lot of variation in the Israeli cuisine for those three ingredients, but I would just put all of those in pita and eat it just like that.”

If you could only have one item on your menu, what would it be?

“Our incredible shawarma.”

Lastly, are there any restaurants you recommend?

“There is a place here in Williamsburg. It’s called The Lighthouse. It’s owned by a brother and sister, Assaf and Naama. Incredible people and they built a restaurant with their own hands. They’re an inspiration. They work hard. They’re doing a really good job and they have a really cool and interesting story.”

See Eldad & Reunion come to life on this video we made

Eldad and Inna also own Moabet, just a 4-minute walk away and perfect for intimate gatherings. Book a reservation to dine at Reunion here and make sure to get the shawarma & shakshuka.

With compliments to the chef,

Jenn and Josh

Co-founders, Shortlist New York