Restaurant recommendation from Israel!!

I took this picture on March 3, 2020 at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. We had toured the “Shrine of the Book,” the Dead Sea scrolls exhibit, and toured the museum. We found ourselves found our selves in the museum gift shop looking at several books (pictured below).

We had just purchased a book in the gift shop and the man behind the counter had asked where we were from. We told him we were Minnesota - the upper midwest of the USA. And he said where? So we got more specific and said Forest Lake, MN (really Wyoming MN but so many people, even Minnesota people can’’t grasp that). He said he knew of it! He had lived for a time in Egan Minnesota helping at a relatives restaurant - Ansari’s Mediterranean Grill. He googled it and I took a picture of his phone. His name was Samer.

Last night we finally made it down to Eagan to eat at Ansari’s. We took with us the Marker family and Beni (a friend visiting from Jerusalem). It was amazing! It’s a long drive from Forest Lake for dinner....

The restaurant was super busy. But as soon as the hummus came, Beni leaned over and said this is “authentic.” We ordered many things, way too much food. “The Jerusalem Plate” and “The Greek Plate.” Wow. Yum. We got hummus with steak and Baba ganoush. Amazing.

Everything was excellent. We will definitely go back!

Thank you for the recommendation Samer!!
(It took us almost three years to get there).