After sparking a friendship in the kitchen at Tel Aviv’s HaSalon, Daniel Soskolne and Loren Abramovitch branched out on their own to launch the private chef company LEV, named after the Hebrew word for “heart.” Pairing the culinary traditions of the global Jewish diaspora with Palestinian influences, the duo’s melting-pot cuisine has earned them a devoted following.
Whether cooking for an event in a Brooklyn warehouse or a private residence, LEV’s site-specific approach means the recipes are perpetually changing, though the philosophy remains the same: their food is imbued with simplicity, heritage, and emotion. “The food is going to be vibrating, we’re not coming with recipes,” Daniel Soskolne says. “Whatever you’re gonna taste and see today, it’s first-time made. Yes, we have the bread, but it’s never gonna be served like it was the time before. This is maybe our signature thing—we never do the same thing twice. And when we do, we get depressed and we change.”
As LEV prepares to kick off a two-month residency (March 2–May 2) at Bistrot Leo, the French brasserie on the ground floor of New York’s Sixty Soho hotel, Dorsia went behind the scenes for an exclusive preview with Soskolne, Abramovitch, and sous chef Alix Ferguson in the latest installment of Designing Delicious.
