NYC’s “Queen of Falafel” Just Opened Her First Bay Area Location

Chef Einat Admony, known as “the Queen of Falafel” in New York City, is famous for her crispy fried Middle Eastern treats. We love falafel, so when we heard that she was bringing her culinary magic to the Bay Area, we were thrilled.

We were even happier to know that she’ll be debuting her food exclusively at Local Kitchens, including at the Lafayette, California location right around the corner from our HQ.

Local Kitchens helps all kinds of restaurants offer food outside their main locations. They consolidate tons of different tasty restaurants all under one roof.

Now, Admony’s falafel (known as Yalla Falafel) is officially on the menu! We stopped by the Lafayette location of Local Kitchens to try it out.

Local Kitchens offers a pared-down menu for Yalla falafel that includes just the greatest hits. We got a hummus and falafel plate.

The falafels were delicious. They were crispy and perfectly cooked, with Yalla’s signature green color.

Falafel can easily get dried out or just be bland, but these were neither.

The falafel was served over a bed of Admony’s famous hummus.

This is different from what you find in the supermarket; parts are creamy and thick, but there are also cooked chickpeas mixed into it.

That gives it a different texture than you might be used to, with delicious little creamy bites of chickpeas throughout.

The falafel and hummus were loaded up on a plate with Moroccan carrots, pickled cabbage, sumac red onions, arugula, green s’chug (super spicy!), shipka pepper, lemon tahini and pita bread.

At Local Kitchens, you can purchase a variety of other dipping sauces for the falafel. It’s common in Middle Eastern cuisine to offer tons of little dips, so it’s nice to see at least a few of these making their way into the cuisine here.

Overall, Yalla falafels were delicious. By the time you finish this massive plate of food, you have no idea you’ve just eaten a vegan meal—even if you’re a sworn meat eater like the author!

An employee at Local Kitchens told us that Admony is testing her food in the Bay Area market with an eye toward potentially opening a brick-and-mortar location down the line. The employee also told us that Admony was insistent her items be made from scratch at Local Kitchens, which is probably why they taste so good!

Overall, we’re thrilled to have a great falafel option here in Lamorinda, and we look forward to visiting many more times.

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