RESTAURANT REVIEW : Golan’s Spicy Fare Has Taste of Morocco

It’s the children that make Golan an Israeli restaurant. As they bustle around waiting tables and working the steam table, the owners’ three children chat away in animated Hebrew and greet a ton of Israeli friends. Every time I’ve been to Golan it was full to the brim with young Israelis, most of whom appeared to be on familiar terms with the family.

I can understand that. Most of this food is so good that you’ll want to be their friend too.

However, when Golan bills itself as an Israeli snack shop and dinner house, I beg to differ. Felix and Jacqueline Wizgan may have lived in Israel for several years and even started a family there, but food-wise, Golan is better described as a Moroccan snack shop and dinner house, with overtones of Iraq and Egypt sneaking in for good measure.

It’s a simple, clean little place in Van Nuys, the sort that has a tiled floor and a strip mirror around the dining area. There’s essentially no decor except some posters of Jewish motifs. You enter through a long, narrow cooking area, passing a steam table and grill where about half the menu is already on display.

No matter what you order, you’ll be served a tiny dish of olives and pickles; some hot fluffy pita bread; “Turkish sauce,” a spicy paste of tomato, red pepper and cumin seed; and tahini, a sesame butter smoother than Skippy. These are all sensational, especially the tahini, which is the richest and creamiest I have ever tasted.

The first time I lunched there, an Israeli salad of shredded lettuce, cucumber and diced tomato in a zippy vinaigrette made a perfect complement to these condiments. I smeared the pita with tahini, salad and Turkish sauce, and presto, I had a wonderful al fresco lunch.

The bad news, however, is that this salad was merely a side dish. You’d better be a kibbutznik fresh from about eight hours of planting should you wish to finish everything on your plate here. The portions are huge.

Appetizers such as “Moroccan cigars” and kuba are about the lightest starters. The cigars look like little taquitos, rolled cylinders of filo filled with aromatically spiced meat. Instead of dipping them in guacamole you can use hummus, the obligatory garbanzo bean dip of the region. Kuba is an Iraqi dish better known by the Lebanese form of its name, kibbe. It’s meat and bulgur wheat pounded to a fine paste and, in this case, deep-fried into turnovers with a pine nut and minced meat filling.

By the way, ask that the kuba not be heated in the microwave. Mine was spiced just right, but microwave cooking made it seem almost soggy.

You’ll need a friend to share the combination salad plate, which features six items. Mine included a creamy potato salad, cole slaw, a vinegary beet salad, breaded cauliflower almost like an Indian pakora, a sesame-flavored eggplant dip much like a Lebanese baba ghannuj, and slices of grilled eggplant. Surrounding all this were eight deep-fried falafel balls, crispy brown and loaded with zest.

The imposing main-course dishes are in Moroccan Jewish style. Tuesdays the restaurant serves couscous (often on Wednesdays as well), the fragrant wheat pilaf topped with vegetable stew. Instead of lamb or sausage, Golan adds soft slices of beef brisket, practically melting in a thick tomato gravy. Meatballs (kofte) are served every day, exotically spiced with clove and allspice and smothered with simmered olives. And then there is spicy fish, giant hunks of Victoria perch baked with a thick coating made from ancho chile and other hot spices.

Should you come for breakfast, try shakshuka, a North African specialty consisting of eggs with spicy vegetables and tomato sauce, or fool, the mashed fava beans that millions of Egyptians start their day with. Count on muddy Turkish coffee, wonderful freshly squeezed juices (especially the pulpy grapefruit) and plenty of fresh pita bread.

I shouldn’t end without mentioning sweets. The restaurant makes three. The chocolate lemon cake is the best by far, a swirly sheet cake dominated by the taste of honey and eggs. (I ordered it twice, a reviewer’s highest compliment.) There is also an above-average baklava, and something rather frightening called noodle kugel. It’s like dry bread pudding, and it tastes as if a can of cinnamon has been emptied on it.

Golan recently expanded from a smaller storefront next door. With all these virtues, it may soon face another expansion. Maybe they’ll build a second story. They could call it Golan Heights!

Sorry about that. But you can have a high old time here.

Recommended dishes: Moroccan cigars, $4.95; white bean soup, $2.90; meat balls, $6.95; couscous, $8.95; chocolate lemon cake, $1.50.

Golan, 6361 Woodman Ave., Van Nuys; (818) 989-5423. Breakfast, lunch and dinner 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday; closed Saturday. No alcoholic beverages. Parking lot. Dinner for two, food only, $15 to $25.