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Taim's falafal platter. (Photo: Carina Salvi)
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Because man—and by man we mean penny-pinching NYU students of either gender—cannot live by falafel alone, God created alternatives. For carnivores, there is shawarma. For the ambivalent, there is shawafel, the love child of shawarma and falafel. And for trendsetting individualists, there is sabich—an upstart sandwich that’s become a hit among Tel Aviv’s finest falafel shacks and has now surfaced at Taïm, a cheerful new takeout shop located on a tree-lined West Village block. Taïm’s sabich follows tradition, up to a point: A puffy pita is stuffed with thin layers of fried eggplant, hard-cooked egg, hummus, Israeli salad, and tahini, and even though the sandwich isn’t dressed with amba, the traditional Iraqi-Jewish mango sauce, you can get it on the side. Taïm means “tasty” in Hebrew, and the shop’s all-vegetarian output—courtesy of Israeli chef Einat Admony and her French husband (and Bouley veteran), Stefan Nafziger—lives up to its billing: unusual bite-size falafel in three flavors (cilantro-parsley-mint, roasted red pepper, and harissa; mushroom is in the works); fries served with saffron aïoli; deftly spiced salads of carrots, beets, and cabbage; and a date-lime-banana smoothie equally suitable for the Arabian desert or New York in August.
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