"If you love something and work hard at it, you will always be successful and always believe that good things can happen.”
Those are the philosopies of the Georgian born Chef Eli Buliskeria , who moved to Holon , Israel, at the age of three years old. From a young age, Eli learned the value of hard work as he often worked at the market with his parents.
Eli went off to serve in the Israeli Army at the age of 18 as a Cook in the Combat Elite Unit. He served Kosher meals for the Army for over 3 years and when he saw the faces of his fellow officers and that they liked this when he realized “this is what I want to do.”
One year after leaving the Army, he found work at Choelys, one of the most highly regarded restaurants in Israel. During his time there as a Prep and Line Cook, he learned from Chef Victor Gloger various aspects of authentic Spanish Cuisine. The lessons he learned from Gloger appear to be most valuable as Gloger had taught him so much about fish; how to cook, how to prepare and how to eat such a wide variety of fresh and salt water species.
After cooking for Politicians, Ambassadors and Presidents at Choelys, Eli was driven to go to and learn from the best and in 7 months’ time, he went on to work with Chef Jonathon Roshfeld. At the world famous Herbert Samuel restaurant in Tel Aviv, young Buliskeria went from line cook to sous chef in 6 months under the tutelage of the Master Chef Roshfeld. It is during this time at Herbert Samuel Eli meets his sweetheart, the soon to be Pastry Chef Shir Rozenblat.Upon his departure from Herbert Samuel, Roshfeld hires Eli to become his Executive Head Chef in multiple projects, one of which is called ‘Dinner,’ a farm to table restaurant where each vegetable, fruit and ingredient was hand chosen daily by Buliskeria and the master chef, thus accelerating Eli’s desire to use the freshest possible ingredients in every dish.
ELI BULISKERIA
Another project, which is still successful today, is Captain Curry, located in Tel Aviv’s heavily populated marketplace which serves delicious traditional Indian street food. Captain Curry gave Executive Head Chef Eli ‘Buli’ the opportunity to work with a broad array of spices and varied textures which is so much rooted in his philosophy of cooking, “multiple textures in one bite.”
In the spring of 2016, Eli had the opportunity to again cook kosher food for an army of people, but this time it was at Barbarossa. Barbarossa is the restaurant at the Luxury Creta Palace, a 5 star hotel on the Grecian shore. Working again with both the celebrity chef Jonathan Roshfeld and Pastry Chef Shir Rozenblat in one of the most legendary Pesach meals ever created, the trio served over 2,000 meals during the 2 week period. The experience in Rethymno fortified Eli’s aspiration to work with Shir.
Eli’s tireless work ethic continues as he moves to Kiev for 6 months as a consultant for 2 restaurants, PORTO and Just C.A.F.E. which are still successful today. After designing the menus, training the staff and establishing the budget where the kitchens can be profitable, the young chef travels to NYC for 5 months. When asked “why New York?” Eli answers, “New York is the epicenter of the world and is the place where the best restaurants in the world are and I want to be where it is the best.”
He was afforded opportunities to stage (pronounced stahz) an older practice where a chef agrees to work in another chef’s kitchen for free to learn new techniques and approaches to cuisine as well as a form of interview in some cases. His first stage was in Faro, a 1 Star Michelin Guide rated Farm to Table restaurant featuring Seasonal American Cuisine with Chef/Owner Kevin Adey. Eli’s says his greatest thrill though was to stage at “the best restaurant in the world,” Eleven Madison Park, home of Chef Daniel Humm.
In early 2017 Chef Eli Buliskeria’s yearning to work alongside Pastry Chef Shir Rozenblat had come to materialize when the two were enticed to work at the Paper Factory Hotel. The pair had created an exceptional Israeli focused restaurant in addition to an outstanding banquet experience for weddings, entertainment and one of a kind special events. In a matter of months, the twosome placed their stamp in New York as some of the best Mediterranean fare in town and word got out to Tuvia Feldman, a fashion designer in Manhattan.
The Israeli born Feldman had contacted the couple in an effort to inject a new life into his Michelin Guide Recognized Upper West Side establishment, Bustan. Bustan has been rated by Open Table as one of the top 100 Neighborhood Gems in the United States. Tuvia wanted to maintain the high standards that Bustan had developed over the years and was looking. He found those elements in the hard work, drive for excellence, creativity and unique talents of Chef ‘Buli.’
In a few short months that ‘new life’ has sprung as new neighbors to the area have said “I literally want to eat here every night,” while the Israeli guests are saying “this reminds me of home” and this is all because of Chef ‘Buli’s” approach where everything is incredibly fresh, simple and not getting complicated. Hard work, love for food and strong beliefs had led Chef Eli Buliskeria to “the epicenter of the world, where the best restaurants are” while still remaining true to his principles and philosophy. Slowly but surely with the ideology of Buliskeria and the talents of his counterpart Rozenblat, Bustan is becoming the place “where all good things are happening” on the Upper West Side.