Laser Wolf and K’Far owner Michael Solomonov has opened another Philadelphia restaurant in New York City. The catch: To eat at Google’s new $2.1 billion campus, he has to work there.
On Monday, Mr. Solomonov opened the first New York location of the popular Philadelphia falafel chain Goldie. The restaurant will be located in Google’s new Hudson Square offices, which opened earlier this month, and will be open only to Google employees, a spokesperson said. That’s small consolation after the company laid off hundreds of employees earlier this year.
Goldie, which has five locations in Philadelphia, is known for its tahini shakes and fried falafel. In October, Solomonov made headlines for raising more than $100,000 for Friends of United Hatzalah, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Israel Defense Forces. Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside Goldie as part of a citywide protest calling for an end to American military aid to Israel.
Several Goldie employees viewed the fundraiser as a political statement, while others said they were fired for wearing a Palestinian flag pin on their uniforms. In a letter to staff, Solomonov and his partner Steve Cook apologized and said they had never fired anyone for supporting Palestine.
Solomonov was born in Israel but grew up in Pittsburgh. “It’s like celebrating the fusion of almost 2,000 years of diaspora history and indigenous Palestinian cuisine, shaking it up and spitting it out. That’s what Israeli food is to me,” Solomonov said in an interview last year. “It’s definitely wrong to say it’s only Jewish food or kosher food.”
He opened his first restaurant, Zahav, in 2008. In 2019, we became the first Philadelphia restaurant to win a James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant. In addition to Zahaf, he runs the cafe “K’Far”. Restaurant “Laser Wolf”. Dizengoff, known for its hummus, and Federal Donuts, a fast food chain.
Goldie is the third Philadelphia restaurant that Solomonov has brought to New York. He opened his Laser Wolf and K’Far store in Williamsburg’s Hoxton Hotel in 2022.
