Golan Heights Israeli Grill, the restaurant in Washington Heights serving shawarma, falafel, poppers and more, now has new owners.
Golan Heights is located on Amsterdam Avenue, right by Yeshiva University’s Wilf Campus and across the street from YU’s high school, MTA, making it a popular spot for students. It was bought in July by husband and wife Edgar Canales and Stephanie Schneider. “My husband and I have always loved Golan, and we always said that if there was an opportunity to buy it, we would absolutely do that, and we decided to put our money where our mouth is on that,” said Schneider, who hails from Washington Heights. “My husband and I have been in the food service industry—my husband has been a chef for 20-plus years— so we enjoy working with food and with people. It always was meant to be.”
What is changing about the restaurant? “At the core, Golan is still Golan,” she said. “It will always be Golan, so we’ll have the usual shawarmas, laffas, falafels, pitas, all that; we’re not changing any of that, because Golan has a following that everybody loves. The name is still going to be Golan; none of that’s changing; we’re just adding a few little extra things to the menu. For instance, a sandwich we’re calling the Spicy Golani, which is like a buffalo schnitzel sandwich, and some other good ideas that hopefully we’ll have ready for when the students come back to school.”
Check out their new barbecue brisket fries, tacos and sweet potato fries with maple mayonnaise.
Explaining what’s special about Golan Heights, Schneider touched on its inherent connection to Yeshiva University: “It is a community restaurant that anyone who’s been to YU has been to Golan; they go hand in hand with the college campus and the college students, and it’s somewhere where you can just get something quick, easy and always delicious to eat. We love being part of the YU family on the campus.”
For those looking for recommendations from the menu, Schneider said, “You cannot go wrong with Zaidy’s Poppers or a shawarma laffa, hakol (everything)—The ‘hakol’ means we add hummus and chips (fries) to it. Our catchphrase is that for every sandwich, we ask, ‘hummus, chips?’”
Visit Golan Heights at 2553 Amsterdam Ave, New York. Call 212-795-7842 to order.
Daniel Brauner was an intern at The Jewish Link this summer. He is an incoming student at Yeshiva University and lives in Teaneck. Contact him at [email protected].
