Home

Hummus Grill, a new kosher restaurant to offer Mediterranean fare, will open at the beginning of next month in Matawan.

The Monmouth County restaurant will feature Israeli and Middle Eastern dishes including schwarma, falafel, bourekas, and homemade soups. The menu will also include cold cut sandwiches and other deli dishes.

The restaurant's owner Oded Mizrachi is hardly new to the restaurant business, having owned and operated restaurants in Staten Island and Florida over the past two decades.

"I love this business," Mizrachi said. "I started in this business in the Israeli army. I used to cook there. And when I come over here, I opened a place in Staten Island in 1987."

Mizrachi, a Jerusalem native and a Staten Island resident, decided to open his new restaurant in central New Jersey because he saw a market in the community here.

When he owned the Staten Island restaurant, which he has since sold, residents from Marlboro would often venture up to New York for lunch or dinner, according to Mizrachi.

"We have a lot of people here, Israeli people that are looking for some place to eat kosher," he said.

For Mizrachi, his goal is to provide quality food at affordable prices. The prices for most items on the menu are $8. The restaurant is sit-down or take-out, and also offers catering services.

"I want to make my customers happy because they can't wait for me to open," he said, noting that the restaurant's opening is slated for June 1, though it might open a week later.

The restaurant's kosher supervision is under Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky of the Chabad Jewish Center of Monroe.

Hummus Grill is located at 343 Route 34 in Matawan.