Shaya, a small(ish) New Orleans restaurant serving israeli food, headed by Alon Shaya, has been The Place to Go for more than a year now. It just captured the moment like few places in this city, and it became just tremendously popular. Which is why I haven't gone until recently.

The food is very good. The pita is exceptional. I had:

hummus with lamb ragu, which was a mite heavy for me and could have used a little emulsification.

Watermelon with feta was, well, watermelon with feta. So too, grilled asparagus was grilled asparagus.

Halloumi was fantastic.

Desserts were weird. Delicious, but compared to the small plates, they were absolutely enormous. Reasonably creative without being disjointed.

I don't know whether I'm grading Shaya on a harder scale because of the acclaim it's received, but I'd wonder how those who may read deal with restaurants like that. Does it change the experience?