19 Cleveland Restaurant: Our Story
Our story at 19 Cleveland began in 2018, where Nolita meets SoHo – but the real story begins over thirty years ago in Israel. Owner Eyal Hen grew up in Nahariya, a small coastal city, where his family’s restaurant was his playground.
By ten, he was already part of the team – bussing tables, peeling potatoes, making coffee. Every job gave him a deeper love for the kitchen and the chaos of hospitality. Eventually, Hen landed in NYC, where he planted a small seed from his homeland that grew to be downtown’s beloved Nish Nush: a casual Mediterranean food restaurant with traditional fare.
At 19 Cleveland, our restaurant is an evolution of that vision – expanding the spirit of Eyal’s beloved NYC spot, Nish Nush, into a full-spectrum experience inspired by twenty-first-century Tel Aviv: bold, diverse, and buzzing with nightlife.
To bring the vision to fruition, Hen pooled his childhood friends, Eyal Asulin and Shai Sudai, along with NYC local, Kfir Cohen, and 19 Cleveland’s restaurant masterchef, Asaf Maoz. Maoz’s career spans some of Tel Aviv’s most innovative restaurants, a Michelin-starred eatery in Italy, and a stint in Panama, where he helped launch one of the few establishments for Israeli cuisine.
Modern-day Tel Aviv is a pioneering ground for the children of immigrants. Their parents brought traditions from all over the world, which they continue to honor, develop, and reciprocate. It’s why at 19 Cleveland, our restaurant menu comprises everything from Thai fish to Italian pastas to shakshuka.
Hen says, “There is no such thing as Tel Avivian cuisine” — it’s in the making. It reflects a young generation inspired by each other’s differences and totally unafraid to experiment.
“Tel Avivian cuisine” is perfectly at home in New York, then. An ethos evolved beyond food; it’s a celebration of international exchange.