Chef taking over former Wiltshire spot brings 'very soulful' Mediterranean food to NuLu

What happens when a talented chef brings everything they’ve learned throughout a career studded with some of the brightest stars in the Louisville food scene? Well, it’s a little bit like what happens when a variety of ingredients and cuisines come together on fertile land. You get something new and wonderful that showcases the abundance at hand.

And luckily for us, we’re going to be able to experience the magic mingling of both of those things when Noam Bilitzer’s first restaurant of his own opens soon in NuLu at the former Wiltshire on Market space at 636 E. Market St., which closed after 14 years in late July.

MeeshMeesh Mediterranean honors the food traditions of the eastern Mediterranean, encompassing flavors from Israel — where Bilitzer is from — as well as Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and more. And it benefits from the path Bilitzer has taken since studying at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte, North Carolina. His career has included time as corporate chef de cuisine at 21c Musuem Hotel group, executive chef at Red Hog Restaurant & Butcher Shop, culinary director for Eternal Optimist (which includes Ryan Rogers’ restaurants Feast BBQ, Royals Hot Chicken, and bar Vetti), and a private chef, which led to a private events business and a pop-up series featuring Mediterranean street fare.

That's when Louisville culinary icon Susan Hershberg reached out, Bilitzer says, about collaborating at Wiltshire on Market. Swamped at the time, he first didn’t think he’d do it, he says. But he quickly realized what an incredible opportunity it was, so he came on as acting executive chef and launched a chef-in-residency program where he was able to test out the MeeshMesh concept under the Wiltshire umbrella.

If that sounds like an amazing chance to get started without the massive investment and risk of starting a brick-and-mortar restaurant from scratch, well, it is.

After 14 years at her NuLu location, Hershberg had decided to pass the torch to the next generation of restaurateurs, she said in a social media post. “The tradition of inspired, locally-sourced, handcrafted cuisine will live on beautifully with this next generation,” she wrote. “I am proud to pass the baton.”

The stars and timing aligned.

"After like 15 years of being in restaurants, I just got to the point where I had the confidence in myself to say 'it's time to do this for yourself and do it on your own,'" Bilitzer said.

And going out on his own, he wanted to showcase foods from the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, a cuisine he feels is underrepresented here.

"The food is very soulful," he says. "For me, it's very nostalgic and I just think it's undeniably delicious.”

It’s also so far beyond the pita and falafel that many of us know and love, he says.

The Levant is “also known as the Fertile Crescent,” he explains, with the biggest defining characteristic of the food of the region being the use of fresh vegetables and fresh herbs. There’s also a stunning array of ingredients.

"That strip of the Levant region," he says, "has every climate, every type of terroir … [which creates] a really diverse type of agriculture from seafood, coastal, mountainous and snowy and cold, and tropical and Mediterranean. It's really beautiful and unique."

Adding to the plethora of the ingredients themselves is the range of influences the area has experienced over millennia.

"So you've had Ottoman and Turkish presence there, and you've had British presence there, and you have influences from North Africa and influences from Europe," he says. All of these cultures "have all influenced the cuisine in so many ways."

Drawing from such a rich wellspring of inspiration with the Levant, and with his own experiences, Bilitzer has created a vibrant menu designed best-experienced family-style, with a table full of gorgeous dishes shared among a group. While its seasonal nature means the menu will change frequently, some dishes we might see at launch include scallop crudo with lavash; whipped labneh and fava beans with lemon and mint; za’atar fries with garlic confit; grape leaf wrapped branzino with fennel, artichoke, and almonds; and vegetable tagine with couscous.

His can’t-miss recommendation? A Freedom Run Farm smoked lamb hummus.

Bilitzer knows he’s stepping into big shoes in the former Wiltshire location. And he knows how attached we tend to get to our favorite places and favorite dishes in Louisville. But the response from Wiltshire regulars has been good, he says, and with his aim to continue providing a welcoming space where diners can create beautiful memories, he’s looking forward to a positive transition.

The MeeshMeesh name of the restaurant means apricot in both Arabic and Hebrew and reflects the warm and inviting atmosphere diners can expect.

Echoing what is hopefully a growing movement in this industry post-COVID, his sole emphasis isn’t just making diners happy, Bilitzer says.

"We're offering above market wages" for staff, he says. "There's tip pooling for all employees, there's health insurance, paid time off,” and my favorite? Family meals — the meal staff have together before service — must be delicious and nourishing.

"It’s written into our policy," he says.

MeeshMesh is expected to open by mid-August. Find more details at meeshmeesh.com.

Tell Dana! Send your restaurant “Dish” to Dana McMahan at thecjdish@gmail.com and follow @bourbonbarbarella on Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: MeeshMeesh restaurant brings eastern Mediterranean flavors to NuLu