The Bay Area is getting a Jewish-inspired restaurant from the Che Fico team
A specialty market run by Bay Area Italian favorite Che Fico has closed, but a new restaurant from the same owners will take its place.
Il Mercato di Che Fico in Menlo Park shuttered on April 19, a year after opening at the buzzy Springline development at 1300 El Camino Real. (The owners didn't provide a reason for the closure; their second outpost of Che Fico there remains open.) Back Home Hospitality owners David Nayfeld and Matt Brewer are replacing the market with a fast-casual restaurant inspired by the Jewish diaspora, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East. Called Bubbelah, it will open in May with house-made breads, dips, sandwiches and soups.
Che Fico's menu has long featured dishes influenced by Jewish cuisine from Rome, honoring Nayfeld's heritage. At Bubbelah (named for the Yiddish term of endearment), expect a range of mezze, from baba ghanoush and chopped chicken liver to hummus with merguez and pickled peppers, or ful (a Middle Eastern fava bean dip) with pecorino cheese. More substantial dishes include arayes on house-made pita, veal pelmeni (dumplings), potato spring onion latkes and matzo ball soup. A range of proteins, like lamb shoulder shawarma, poppy seed chicken schnitzel and harissa rotisserie chicken, will be available a la carte or wrapped in house-made pita for sandwiches. The kitchen will also bake fresh challah, rye and lavash breads.
For dessert, there will be artikim, or Israeli popsicles, in flavors like banana-date, halva and mango-labneh, as well as ice cream. (Il Mercato di Che Fico was known for its gelato window, which will return this summer.)
Bubbelah will be a counter-service restaurant open daily but will have seating for up to 50 people.
Back Home Hospitality, best known for the original Che Fico on Divisadero Street in San Francisco, now operates three restaurants in San Francisco and Menlo Park, and is opening a splashy new Tuscan restaurant in San Francisco. The owners closed their more casual Che Fico Alimentari in San Francisco last year.
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