Baladi Brings a True Taste of Israel to the Berkshires

By Albert Stern / BJV Editor

I was leaving Báladi, the weekend Israeli brunch spot at the Apple Tree Inn in Lenox, my belly full of just about the best sabich sandwich I’ve ever eaten, when I ran into a friend from the community in the parking lot. She told me she the first of the Berkshire Hills Hadassah members to arrive for the group's luncheon.

“So, I guess the word is out,” I said.

“Oh, yes,” she answered with a smile.

And a good thing that is. Báladi is not only serving the first really good and authentic Israeli breakfast in the Berkshires, but it affords diners the opportunity to enjoy breathtaking views from one of the iconic dining spaces in the region, the Apple Tree’s Round Room. Open since October, Báladi Handcrafted Mediterranean Specialties is the brainchild of married Israeli couple Hagai Avrahami, who helms the kitchen, and Adi Talby, hostess with the most-est.

“Báladi” is an Arabic work that translates, more or less, as “of my land.” Hagai explains that it captures his approach to ingredients – “sustainable, local, connected to the earth.” Everything on the brunch menu is homemade – including pickles, jams, and the delicious frena bread baked onsite. (Hagai also prepares a more conventional American menu for the Ostrich Room, the cozy lounge at the Apple Tree that has live music Wednesdays through Saturdays, onto which he has added Mediterranean touches like the Lebanese lamb-stuffed pita dish arayes.)

Fresh vegetables and herb are central to Israeli cuisine, and their preparation is what Hagai characterizes as his “comfort zone” – he grew up in a “religious vegetarian” settlement outside Jerusalem, where connection to nature and humane treatment of animals was part of the founders’ ethos. He studied first at the now shuttered cooking school of Hadassah College in Jerusalem and with chef Yossi Bendayan, whose approach was to teach students techniques and then provide them with ingredients to see what they might come up with. That, remembers Hagai, was a way “to grow chefs.”

As Hagai embarked on a culinary career, he was given the advice to “go first to a place you like least, otherwise you might get caught in a system and never leave.” His entry-level position was as a baker at a patisserie, which he hadn’t the patience for – “baking is chemistry, cooking is magic,” he says. Adds Adi: “Hagai is not a measurement guy.” But he absorbed the techniques and went on to cook at Rama’s Kitchen in Nataf (a scenic spot in the hills outside Jerusalem), as head chef for a mini-chain of high-volume breakfast restaurants, and as a vegetarian caterer for large events, as well operating his own cooking school for several years. As for the food scene in Israel, he calls it “a melting pot in a new country with old inspirations” that is still evolving. Israeli chefs, he says, are big on novelty and fusion that doesn’t follow the rules – think “sushi with falafel” – but are moving toward a cuisine that is more “mature, refined, and elegant.”

Adi was raised in Kfar Masaryk, a kibbutz located between Haifa and Acre. She describes a decade living what sounds like an adventurous bohemian life that led to stops in San Francisco and New York City. She and Hagai met when she returned to  Israel, and they lived together in the town of Abu Gosh, one of the oldest habited sites in Israel that has been one of the most successful municipalities inhabited by both Jews and Muslims. Adi and Hagai describe their life there as a happy one, but their desire to work together led them to explore opportunities outside of Israel. “Israel is a melting pot,” Hagai says, “but it can also be a pressure cooker.”

They first explored the idea of opening a restaurant in Greece, but were alerted to opportunities in the Berkshires by their friend Ronni Monsky of Hillsdale. Moving here in 2023, they connected with Rafi Bildner of Hilltown Hot Pies (which has operated as a pop-up in Egremont, with a brick and mortar site scheduled to open in summer 2025), son of Rob Bildner and Elisa Spungen-Bildner, co-authors of The Berkshire Farm Table Cookbook and stalwarts for this Federation. They took over the kitchen for the Apple Tree Inn, which was purchased by Claire Collery in the spring of 2024, and at Báladi introduced a brunch menu that includes Israeli favorites like shakshuka, burekas, sabich, and schnitzel, as well as an array of sides and salads.

Though Adi and Hagai have been in the Berkshires for less than a year, they have made good friends– and they are making more of them each weekend. Adi makes everyone feel welcome and attended to, and Hagai makes sure to step out into the dining room “to communicate with the people who are our guest, who may have taken three hours out of their day to get here and eat here.” Summer plans are still evolving, but the space should be glorious in the warmer weather when the patio opens – not to mention busier.

So, yes, the word is out, but now is still a time to enjoy Báladi while it is still primarily a destination for us local Chaim ben Yankels. Adi and Hagai are considering what they want to going forward – perhaps cooking classes and Jewish holiday meals (they have already made sufganiyot for Chanukah and have a cholent on the menu on Saturdays) – but for right now, says Adi, they are content “doing one thing at a time.”

Baladi Handcrafted Mediterranean Specialties operates on Saturdays and Sundays at the Apple Tree Inn (appletreeinnlenox.com), 10 Richmond Mountain Road in Lenox.