When Nadav Weiss arrived in Alaska on a world tour after his Israeli army service, he fell in love. Twice. First with Fairbanks, then with Terry — his Alaskan soon-to-be wife. When they made the city their home, they looked for a fulfilling job and a challenge. They decided on falafel.
There was only one problem with their plan: The couple couldn’t cook falafel, nor could they find a pita in the entire state; so they opted for learning to make both. After four months of trial-and-error, they stumbled upon the winning recipe and opened Falafel Place.
“At first, our stand was located in the middle of the farmers market in town. As the lines grew longer and longer, we were moved to a corner where our customers wouldn’t be in the way of shoppers,” said the 30-year-old Weiss.
The $7 pita is stuffed with falafel, tehina, parsley and lettuce. Weiss said he and his wife sell about 200 falafel sandwiches per day.
“Although I tell my customers that in Israel we prefer our falafel spicy and with pickles, the Alaskans’ craving for lettuce couldn’t be squashed. So I agreed,” he explained. — ynetnews.com
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California