thank you to Jonathan Caras for the wonderful blog post and the great pictures, and thank you to Sarah for being so pretty.
Anna Ticho House
by Jonathan Caras
Since the birth of our daughter 10 months ago, my wife and I have made the extra effort to find time to spend a night out on the town whenever possible. The partially lit corner of a cute restaurant is about the best choice to get away from the heck-tick run around of our day to day lives.
My wife and I have always been fans of the Ticho House. We have recommended this restaurant to friends on a number of occasions, frequenting the restaurant with our friends and relatives for lunch or dinner. Since the last time we visited this restaurant, the Ticho House upped it Kosher status from Rabbinute (regular) to Mehadrin (vente). This was very exciting for us because we as a family also started eating only at Mehadrin Restaurants.
When we arrived at the restaurant, with no reservation, we were surprised how packed the place was for a Monday night. A waiter promptly sat us at a table for two and left us to rummage through the menu.
I am a sucker for fettuccine Alfredo, it gets me every time. I cant remember the last time I went to an Italian restaurant and didn’t order the dish. Sure enough after looking the menu up and down we decided to order two appetizers and a plate of Fettuccine Alfredo.
The appetizers came lightning fast, the first being a dish of wild mushrooms. If you are a mushroom fan this dish alone is worth visiting the Ticho house. Lightly sautéed wild mushrooms come seated on a giant crunchy fried dome shaped object, not unlike the potato chip “Munchos.” The mushrooms amazingly all had their own unique flavor while at the same time blending excellently in with the sauce. The dome shaped object was fun to break apart and use to scoop up the last remaining mushrooms on the dish.
The second appetizer did not measure up as well against the amazing quality of the mushroom dish. We ordered a plate of stuffed artichokes, a dish I can remember my mother making in my home growing up. It may have been a case of unrealistic expectations but the hearts tasted dry and the stuffing lacked any kick that would make me say “wow, you have to try this!” We both agreed the dish needed some kind of sauce and a little pick me up in the presentation department. I cant say I didn’t enjoy the dish, but by the time I had salted it enough to taste some real flavor, I was in fact simply tasting salt.
The service at this point continued to surprise us. Despite how crowded the restaurant was, our waitress (can we still call them that, or is there some new PC term I don’t know about?) stopped by our table to check in on us just about every time she passed by the table.
At this point my heart broke. The pasta was brought out and a simple glance told us they had skimped out on the cheese. The noodles were cooked to perfection, but that was about all there was in the bowl. I felt like I had been served fettuccine noodles in warm milk. The most disappointing part of the story is that i am no stranger to the Ticho house’s Alfredo dishes. In the past it had always been creamy with that extra sauce left over for the much enjoyed bread dipping. We finished our meal talking nostalgically about how this pasta dish used to be served at this respectable establishment.
We still had some room left to fill after the disappointing pasta, so we asked for the desert menu. Glancing around the restaurant we spotted a few cakes and other deserts that looked to die for. My wife was in the mood for chocolate on chocolate so we ordered a volcano, and a decaf mocha-chino. This is a dish just about every restaurant has on its menu, and rightly so. Its hard to mess up chocolate cake with a hot chocolate sauce within, and the Ticho house did an excellent job. Desert was served quickly and hot, and there was no shortage of whipped cream on the coffee.
All in all it was a mixed experience at the Ticho House. We are defiantly looking forward to visiting again but next time we may end up sticking with the fish dish.
the Anna Ticho house is a museum located in one of the first houses in Jerusalem built outside the old city at the end of the nineteenth century. The museum portrays life in Jerusalem in the beginning of the 20th Century. The Ticho house is located in the center of town where the famous artist living and worked. To learn more about this beautiful and charming restaurant / museum visit
http://www.english.imjnet.org.il/htmls/Ticho_House3.aspx?c0=13392&bsp=12940
Israel Restaurant Review 