LINCOLN HEIGHTS, Calif. — In today’s challenging restaurant environment, it will take some luck to succeed. In the case of Mazal, a new Israeli vegetarian restaurant that had its grand opening in Lincoln Heights Thursday, luck is literally on the menu. It’s the theme of the entire restaurant, from its decor to the hummus, couscous, and grilled cheese toasted pitas it makes from scratch.

“I’m a little superstitious,” said Tal Zaiet, the 27-year-old owner of Mazal, which, in Hebrew, means good fortune.  

What You Need To Know

  • Mazal is a new vegetarian Israeli restaurant in Lincoln Heights

  • The menu features classics like hummus and baba ganoush, as well as grilled cheese toasted pitas

  • The restaurant serves wine and beers on tap from local breweries

  • Its outdoor seating area has eight tables

Zaiet was born and raised in Los Angeles, but his mother Hanni used to work at the family’s bakery in Israel. Now she makes Mazal’s rotating menu of desserts, whether it’s a cinnamon bread pudding, a chocolate coffee cake, or something gluten- or dairy-free.

“It’s whatever she’s feeling. My mom is a phenomenal cook,” said Zaiet, who’s spent the past year working with her to craft a vegetarian menu that incorporates a lot of her family’s Moroccan ancestry. 

Mazal’s specialty is a spicy couscous made with squash, red onions, and garbanzo beans, but Zaiet counts the homemade hummus (chickpeas), tahini (sesame seeds), baba ganoush (eggplant), and a stewed tomato and bell pepper dish known as madbkha as the restaurant’s “heavy hitters.”

"The Moroccan influence gives everything a spicier, zestier kick," he said. “I wanted to show the world what our recipes are, and what my mom’s are.” 

A true family business, Mazal was inspired by Zaiet’s father, David, whose lifelong dream was to own a restaurant, despite working in construction. The space where the restaurant sits had been the warehouse for his flooring business for the past 20 years. 

“It was just wood hanging from the wall and forklifts and sanders,” Zaiet said of the space, located along an industrial strip of San Fernando Road. 

While Zaiet’s professional background is in marketing, he left that world to help manifest his father’s dream. For the past two years, the two have worked side by side, building the restaurant from the ground up, by hand, “literally everything from the bar to the concrete floors, the tables, the benches, the plumbing,” he said.

A self-described “wood geek,” Zaiet designed the space himself with an abundance of handmade wooden details, including the bar. Crafted from a 42-foot-long slab of Napa Burl, it’s center is inlaid with red resin and decorative evil eye beads that date back to ancient times.

 

Zaiet’s Israeli heritage is front and center at Mazal. The palm-shaped Middle Eastern amulet known as the hamsa appears throughout the space, from laser engravings in the tables to a decal set in the polished concrete floor to the glittery disco hamsa dangling from the ceiling in the restaurant’s main indoor seating area. 

COVID, however, is keeping the action outside for now. Mazal’s patio has eight tables. It’s strung with tea lights and dotted with potted plants growing parsley, sage, thyme, and many of the other spices and herbs that Mazal’s cooks use in the kitchen.

“When someone orders tea, you’ll see me running back here and snipping off some of the leaves of this lemon verbena plant,” he said.

 

Beer and wine are also on the menu. In addition to the Goldstar bottled beer it imports from Israel, Mazal has five beers on tap and one hard kombucha — all of them from local breweries such as Three Weavers Brewing Co. in Inglewood.

Located on the Northeastern side of Chinatown, on the opposite side of the LA River, Lincoln Heights is the next pocket of the city that’s likely to gentrify, Zaiet said. He pointed to examples of other bars and restaurants in the area, such as the Lincoln Kitchen & Tap gastropub and The Heights Deli & Bottle Shop, as well as other Israeli restaurants, such as Bavel in downtown’s Arts District.

“It’s developing and it’s super exciting,” Zaiet said of a location that is in between up-and-coming Chinatown and already discovered Highland Park. “I’m getting a lot of love from the community that I didn’t expect.”

Mazal is located at 110 N. San Fernando Road in Los Angeles. It is open for patio dining, curbside pickup, and delivery from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and from 2:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sundays.