Muma - Melrose Hummus

Melrose used to be a trendy place in Los Angeles until several years ago when the Grove shopping mall opened nearbye and sucked out the life out of this hipster's paradise.
Many of the hip and fun stores closed and the street started looking more like a ghost street.
Even the Hummus restaurant there like Wholesome Pita closed.

Now a new attempt is being made to open a new Hummus place with a twist and being a huge fan of Melrose I went to this place hoping that indeed they'll nail it.

The place is called Muma and the interior design and the way they serve shouts FRANCHISE. They are trying to do to Hummus what Pinkberry did to frozen yogurt.

Unlike many of the other Hummus restaurants which look like a cheap low class rundown diner- Muma has a cool and hip look which makes the tiny place feel much more spacious and fun.

They have fresh vegetables and salads that are made on premise and have interesting options for the Hummus.

The Hummus itself is good and interesting.

Their Falafel is fresh and made to order and their Pitas are also fresh.

The place is still brand new and caters to 3 different crowds:
Orthodox Jews living nearbye in La Brea/Melrose area
Israeli's working on Melrose
Vegeterians looking for a fun and tasty place in the Fairfax district.
Hipsters wanting a fast and clean meal on Melrose after shopping there.

One of the things that always dissapoints me with new places is how fast they surrender to mediocrity after the first few month's of existence.
This place is new and the two charming and charismatic owners are working there hard to make sure the food is fresh and tasty and hot for every customer.
The fans have noticed their hard work and the place is full most of the day.
I do hope they will stay this way and not give up their desire to make the best Hummus on Melrose.

Muma's is aiming directly for the Chipotle crowd. Those wanting a fast meal in a clean place that's both tasty, fast and hip but also will give them a full meal for under $10. Chipotle seem to have a lot of repeat customers that come there almost daily to eat cheaply.
Time will tell if the same concept will work for Mumma.

As they are located so close to the ultra Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of La Brea and Melrose they will hopefully attract some of the same crowd that used to go to Wholesome Pita. But in order to survive in the competitive Melrose Avenue they'll hopefully manage to get the hipsters to adopt this place to.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this place.
It's inspiring to see young people try to bring new life into a traditional meal in such an exciting way and especially in LA which is such a hard town to bring anything new to.

I also hope they don't fall into the trap of a lot of middle eastern places that eventually try to hike up prices believing Israeli's, Jews and Arabs are suckers. They might be for awhile but eventually all places that had crazy prices for Hummus went under. Hummus and Falafel are the Pizza of the middle east and as such should be priced accordingly.
As their new competitor on Fairfax, Pita bar and Grill turned from a sweet darling to a disgusting, stale Pita serving, lousy Hummus making place in less than 6 month since they opened and also hiked up the price and so lost quite a few clients in the process - I truly hope this sweet new place doesn't look at the conduct of the current crop of middle eastern restaurants but rather at what it could become- the middle eastern Chipotle chain.

Good luck guys and may the force of chickpeas be with you.


Their info:
http://mumarestaurant.com/
7275 Melrose Ave
LA CA 90046
323-936-7697

Hummus on Google

One of the interesting things is to see the popularity of different Hummus combinations on Google.
Well, based on a quick research as of September 2009 here are the numbers: ( Thanks to Google Keyword search)


hummus recipe 90,500

hummus recipes 33,100

hummus dip 4,400

hummus 368,000

It's a pretty impressive number until you check on words like Pizza and Hamburger and are humbled.

Seems like Hummus still has a long way to go before it becomes a little more popular in the ultimate virtual world of Google.

The world never sleeps.

Two more restaurants to avoid in Los Angeles

In the last few month's I've eaten in mostly horrible LA restaurants and so preferred not to write any new review cause it annoyed me.


PITA BAR AND GRILL
Fairfax Avenue. Fairfax district. Los Angeles. California


A new restaurant that opened strong and got a half decent review in this blog. They had a special deal where one could get a pita with Falafel and a soft drink for $5.
The first 3 month were a dream. Fresh Falafel, Fresh pita and pretty good hummus.
But all that changed.
No more special deal.
Now for $5 one gets onlythe Pita without the soft drink.
The Pita's are no longer fresh - but a day old.
The amount of Falafel's has been reduced by about 30% in each Pita.
I gave them a second chance before writing this review and the same thing happened so I guess it's no longer just a one time thing.

Sadly PITA BAR and Grill have joined my AVOID LIST


HABAYIT RESTAURANT
Phone 310-479-5444
11921 West Pico Blvd
LA CA 90064

Another new place I tasted was HABAYIT RESTAURANT.
They're pretty good.
The Hummus isn't Lebanese but rather a Polish Israeli take on the classic dish - but for an Israeli Glatt Kosher restaurant it's pretty good.
But the prices of everything else is so ridiculous that I can only give it an AVOID rating.
I hate it when restaurants that have a GLATT KOSHER rating believe they can overprice cause they think that religous Jews are dumb.
But the place was full for lunch so I don't know what to say.
Here's the lunch menu they gave me:
Entrees:
Meetballs $15.95
Kebab $15.95
Schnitzel $15.95

Falafel Plate (with 2 pitas) $10.95
Shakshuka $9.95

Falafel Sandwhich $7.95
Hummus Sandwich $6.45

Hummus plate $6.45

Salads to go (Per Lb) $9.95

The place looks like a super cheap diner. It's not located in the easiest to find place. It's mainly looks like a place to grab a quick and fast lunch.
but these prices puts a meal with a Hummus opener plate and a soft drink and a coffee at $25-$30 per person. FOR LUNCH.
So I don't know who's their clientele.
It's neither for those wanting a fast and cheap lunch - cause it's too expensive.
The place looks too cheap for a business lunch - so it's not a place to invite a person to discuss business.

I guess it's a place for Israeli's wanting a Glatt Kosher place and a little bit of Hummus but nothing else.

Their minimum delivery policy is $40 so they're not fit for a single person craving a fast one either.

A pity- the place could have been so much more successful if they would lower prices and have a real lunch menu with decent pricing.

Anyways, for now it's an avoid.
Big time!

BEST SUPERMARKET HUMMUS

Even thought originally we intended to review only restaurants, diners and fast food stands- due to requests we've decided to also include reviews of Supermarket Hummus for those interested in getting your daily dose of Hummus when there is no time or no decent Hummus place in your area.

Supermarket Hummus is never as fresh or tasty as the ones made fresh daily- but there are a few companies out there that make Hummus that's pretty good and can be an almost decent substitute for the real thing.

SABRA HUMMUS

I personally like Sabra the most. Their Hummus is good, consistent and is readily available in many supermarkets around the US.
You can check their website:
www.sabra.com
They also have a store locater to find them in your area:
http://www.sabra.com/store-locator/store-locator.aspx

TRADER JOES - AVOID
Many like their Hummus- but I'm not a big fan- even thought I love Trader Joes as a brand. The Hummus tastes like a vegiterian dip and a lot of their hummus options- don't even have garbanzo beans in them and they don't even have the hummus color or taste. So I suggest to avoid for now- until they decide to make a real Hummus that tastes like Hummus.

Los Angeles Hummus: UPDATE: TOP TEN PLACES TO AVOID IN LA,

THE AWFUL LIST:

Seems like there's a new trend in LA. Middle eastern joints have hiked their prices to filthy greedy territory. Who would have thought that going to a run down, noisy, dirty and mediocre tasting middle eastern diner could cost as much as going out to an expensive high class steak house in Beverly Hills.
I made the decision to avoid going to these places. I believe that only if people avoid them will they either have to lower their prices or eventually close- making the point that Hummus joints cannot treat their clients like total suckers!

AWFUL Aroma: THE WINNER OF THE DISGUSTING LIST

Aroma cafe,the awful Israeli diner was one of the first to realize they could over charge for Israeli food. They realized some Israeli's are suckers and they'll pay extra to be able to sit among other Israeli's in an Israeli hangout in the Valley.

But now there are a lot of additional places that have replicated this model.

AWFUL NANA: RUNNER UP TO MOST DISGUSTING LIST TOPPER

NANA in the PICO ROBERTSON area, is another one of the places I strongly recommend to avoid. It's simply awful.
I hated the food.
I hated the service.
I hated everything about this place.
and the price ... OUCH.
It's for suckers.
Or as Israeli's call them: FRYARS.
But for some reason, it seems that there are a lot in the Pico Robertson area and it's a shame!

AWFUL ITZIK HAGADOL: ANOTHER WINNER IN THE TOP FIVE DISGUSTING LIST

Then there's Itzik Hagadol.
Gadol means large in Hebrew.
The only thing that's large in this restaurant is the bill you'll get for extremely mediocre food and Hummus that's just as bland.

CAYENNE AND ZAHLE: ET TU BRUTUS?

The sad thing is that our Lebanese friends have learned from Israeli restaurants and immitating them. Take two restaurants I used to love : CAYENNE on Beverly Blvd and Zahle in North Hollywood. Their pricing is disgusting. For now, my recommendation is AVOID!
Perhaps the hardest for me is to write a negative review about Zahle. Even thought they've hiked their prices- their Hummus is still superb.
That said: sadly, I am joining those who won't return there in the near future.

Yesterday I went to Zahle craving a Falafel plate, a small Hummus and a salad.
Very basic plate? Right?
Wrong.
They stopped having these plates and each one must be ordered separately.
They have a new super expensive menu.
A plate with 4 Falafel balls now cost $7.00

I paid for my very basic Falafel meal $25 (Without drinking anything, without desert, cofee, sides, etc...)

For a basic falafel meal with only 4 Falafels.
I left feeling angry, cheated and ripped of.(Not to mention hungry)

So for now my recommendation is avoid even this worthy place. Hopefully their prices will come down .

I looked at the menu and realized that a meat dish and some sides would bring the price of a meal easily to $50 per person.
Why would anyone waste 30 minutes driving to this place that's not in most people's way - just to sit in a cheap restaurant and eat super expensive basic food and pay so much is beyond me.

Sad that the recession has caused both Israeli's and Arabs in Los Angeles to become super greedy.

But as so many restaurants are closing all over the city- I'm sure new ones will soon open and hopefully some of them will be middle eastern with normal pricing.