Nachum Segal and David Benzakai discuss the Art of Prime Restaurant

So, I had an experience earlier in the week and uh it's very unusual that I do this unless we literally have a business relationship with uh with a sponsor or something like that, but my wife and I, Stacy and I on Tuesday evening to celebrate Yoma um found ourselves in what was for us a brand new restaurant. We'll find out how long it's been around in a moment. And one of the things that really attracted me to it was I was 99% sure that it was in the same location on Coney Island Avenue. Now, those of you who are old-timers, follow along. I was 99% sure that it was the same location as Famous Pizza. Do you remember that? Famous Pizza on Coney Island Avenue, right near 18th Avenue. And it was there for God knows how many years or decades. And the food there was spectacular. And I said to I said to Stacy, I think that this space is where Famous Pizza used to be. And sure enough, uh, we got a little bit of a history lesson that night and that's exactly where it was. And now it's again a kosher restaurant, much more upscale and beautiful and really amazing. It's called Art of Prime. We were introduced to it by our good friend Elon Korn Bloom, who just let us know, like thousands of others found out, that there's an early bird special there. And I thought we'd go for the early bird special like this prefix menu and you know we'd be the only table in the entire restaurant. Place was completely packed on a regular week night and now I understand why. The food is spectacular. The service was great and our good friend Allison who a lot of you remember this a very nostalgic conversation we're about to have with David Benzakai. Um Allison who so many of us remember from T for Two and other restaurants that she ran. Um, she is the essentially the matraee, the person in charge, the manager, and you walk in and just a completely professional environment. And we had the most fabulous of times this past Tuesday night. So, Art of Prime is located at 943 Coney Island Avenue. That's the historic address, 943 Coney Island Avenue. David Ben Zakai, a pleasure to say good morning and welcome to JM in the AM. >> Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for having me on your show. >> A pleasure. We had such an amazing experience. Now, you told me off the air that you're you you've basically opened about a year ago, right? This is about a year old. >> Yeah. Yeah. We opened up uh about a week after Pesak last year. >> And look, if anything, you know, based on what I saw this week, if that's any indication, uh you guys must be uh just uh hitting it out of the park because we were there on a regular weekn night. The place was packed. Everyone seems to love the food, the decor, um what you've done with the place, just absolutely beautiful. The wine selection, I mean, everything there looks so good and uh everything we had tasted so great. And um I would imagine, not that I know anything about the food business, but those who are familiar with the food business know how difficult it is. I would imagine to get to this level to scale up to this type of uh of of culinary environment, it has had to have been an amazing yman's effort over the last year. >> Oh yeah. Um you listen I I think that it um obviously it's all comes from a god but you know um I'm blessed the fact that um I was introduced and I have met the chef and the staff that came along at the right time and uh gave me that support. Um, you know, I, uh, after that, you know, when we were introduced with Allison and it, it was great. The entire team at the end of the day, it's all about the team. Um, you know, it's it's it's the team that you put together that makes things happen. It's it's, as you know, anybody in the restaurant industry, they know how difficult it is. Like you mentioned, it's it's it's very tough. Yeah. uh espec especially today, you know, uh you know, Brooklyn uh is is is is blossoming with all the different kosher restaurants out there. Um >> how how did how how did you find the chef, by the way? I mean, that's the key. And the food was spectacular. Um how'd you find the chef? you know, I I put an ad on Indeed and I was just looking for chefs and um he was probably my second call and and and when I met him um it's not as much as his experience because you have to know that uh it takes time to really find out the experience of anyone, right? I mean people could draw up any type of resume and show you all kinds of pictures but in reality uh you know once you start working with them then you really realize whether they actually could do the job right >> and what really attracted me to him is that uh the kind of person he was >> and I always tried to look at the personality first than anything else because uh a lot of things could be adjusted a lot of things could be taught but when you have um you know when you don't have a good p personality that that becomes an issue. And to me, what was important is for the staff to be respectful. Um, again, anybody in the restaurant industry, they understand how loud it could get in the kitchen and uh the things got that could happen in the kitchen uh when things aren't getting done. But I am blessed that we do not have that. uh you know uh everybody is very friendly and they have uh utmost respect to each other. So it's it's a it's a big factor for me. It's a it's very important. >> Pretty amazing. David Benzakai is with us. He owns Art of Prime which is located it's like it's like the the only fancy entrance on the block. You you you'll be shocked folks when you see it because that area of Coney Island Avenue is nothing fancy at all. But when you get to this area to the stansions in front and the carpet in front of this restaurant, it's just a very very welcoming site. Um the uh I mean and you mentioned the um the chef and the staff. There's something impressive about your staff because first of all, all of them are connected electronically and I don't think I've seen that in too many restaurants where literally they have a an earpiece in their ear and I'm assuming that you know at a moment's notice they can inform the right person about you know whatever important message they have for the specific table that they're serving, right? That's the whole point of it. Correct. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. They all have to be in the communication with with each other. And what what I one thing that I implemented that is extremely important is that >> it does not matter whether that table is is your responsibility or not right >> every table is everybody's responsibility everybody has to work together to make sure that experience is there it's it of course it's very difficult of course it's very difficult to make everybody happy but we do everything we can to make sure everyone is happy and service is important at the end of the day. People go out, they want to get the experience. They want to be able to have a good time, right? And no question about it. And and and the vibe, you know, sometimes you could if you're in the right circle, um the food could be good. Um you know, uh the alcohol could be good. Everything could be good if you're in the right circle in a in a right environment and the energy is right. So that's very important. Oh, I was we were very impressed and and and what speaking to that point about service that everybody's responsible for every table. It's the it's the old I need more ketchup, you know, all you want to hear is certainly and not hear okay, I'll get your waiter. Like you don't want to hear that. You just want to hear of course, you know, we'll bring we'll bring it to you immediately. You know, like that type of thing. David Benzakai is with us. Now, am I the only nostalgic one? Because half of my experience, frankly, cuz I'm such an old guy, half of my experience on Tuesday night was I was so happy that I was sitting in the old legendary famous pizza location. Have others mentioned to you that that has some meaning to them when they come to that location? >> Yes, actually many do. Many do. They come and they say, "Wait a minute. Was this the original famous pa?" And I go, "Yeah, yeah, it was. It was." And uh it's always been a food space, but again now it's a kosher one. Uh again, it is kosher because of Art of Prime. And there was one dish I wanted to ask you about. We went with the prefix with the early bird special. Uh totally fantastic. I mean, you know, and I'm usually skeptical about those deals and what you get and what you don't get. And every bite was fantastic. And I I told you this off the air without any without any uh anything other than just, you know, uh letting Allison know that night how impressed we were by the whole thing. But there was one dish that we took note of that came to the table next to us and I saw that it was on your social media and it it looks like it it frankly looks excuse me for uh portraying it this way. It frankly looks like hanging pieces of meat. Could you tell us what that is? >> Oh yeah. Um so we it's a well it's a strips of beef. Um we call it the beef bacon. So, um, yeah. Um, I, uh, I've seen it, um, in a place, uh, as I was scrolling and putting everything together and chef and I, we were trying to put not only the dishes that will taste good, but at the same time, the presentation is very important because the first thing we do is we see with our eyes, right? So, our eyes are the first, you know, the eyes and and and the smell. >> People eat with their eyes, they always say. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. If it's presented right, uh, you know, the rest is pretty much, uh, you know, up the hill. >> Um, so that's it. You just asked for what you what' you call it again? Just beef bacon, you called it. >> Beef bacon. Yeah. >> And that's it. Yeah. It's it's a unique dish. It's prepared really nicely and you'll see the presentation, folks. Uh, really commendable. I think that's what I'm going to go for the next time I am at Art of Pro. It is rare that I walk out of a restaurant and say to my wife, you know, we are definitely coming back here. But this was like we we we just got to come back there. And the uh like as we said, the location is 943 Coney Island Avenue, the old famous PA. Um Allison actually told us because a lot of us were like, you know, can this place be a destination restaurant because of its location? Number one, it's obvious that it is just based on what I saw. The place was packed. Uh but in addition to that, I didn't realize that in addition to a lot of other ethnic groups that are growing in that area, the Jewish community itself is growing pretty well in that area. >> Yeah, Borashem is growing. It's it it it's expanding. Um I think the area is is going to get there. I think it takes time. I know a lot of people sometimes come in and they ask me a question, but why here? Why here? I feel like if you look at the map, we're like in the center between Bora Park, um Flatbush and uh what Midwood and uh Kensington. Um yeah. Yeah. And Crown Heights. So we're kind of in the center of everything. A lot of people that coming from, you know, King Highway and Avenue R, Avenue S, they go like, well, we have to go through this uh they call it Little Pakistan um area. But uh I have to say it's it's it's it's safe. Um, again, we all live in Brooklyn, right? So, it's as safe as it could get, but uh I I think adding um you know, a a a place where, you know, the Jewish people could go to, I think we elevate the area, we elevate the neighborhoods. >> No, I agree with that and I think there's a lot of potential there. Uh saw it with my own eyes. Uh, are you one of those places because a lot of Brooklyn places are really open late and people linger, you know, till, I don't know, 10:30, 11:30, sometimes after midnight. Do you find that your place is open that late sometimes? >> Um, well, the thing is, again, some people stay a little late, uh, even after the kitchen is closed, they hang out, uh, you know, with friends, they the bar is still open. Uh, we will stay open until the last client leaves. So, uh, you know, we don't throw people out. So, uh, you know, as long as people having a good time, we did try to be open on Moz Shabbat, uh, you know, we even had live music, uh, saxophone, uh, that didn't do so well. And I completely understand why. It's a meat restaurant. Uh, everybody was eating all day the meat and they want to kind of if they're going to go out, they want to go out and have um, you know, something light, you know, nothing heavy. Uh but it it didn't do so well. So we decided to close MA Shabbat. Right now we're going to be opening actually at 1:00. We're going to be serving lunch. >> When does that start? When will that start? >> Uh it's going to start actually Monday. Oh wow. >> So starting Monday, we're going to be open at 1. Uh anyone? >> Yeah. Um it's a smaller menu with some sandwiches, some uh additional things on the menu that we don't have on a dinner menu. And where people either listen either meet business meeting, um a small gathering if anybody that wants to go out um lunchtime, >> right? Take the take the take the office out for their big thank you. >> Uh yeah, that as well. That as well. Uh or any events uh you know, pharmaceutical events, medical events. So that that's because we're all fully set up for that. We have projector screens. We have uh we have the lighting. We have I mean we have all the technology that you know you need to have in a place to do almost any kinds of events. >> David Ben Zakai invites everybody to Art of Prime 943 Coney Island Avenue. I had a nostalgic and really really great 2026 experience there this week. Uh the early bird special is well worth it and you never hear those words from me. You did a great job on the popcorn chicken, by the way. I'm going to recommend that to everybody. It's really, really a good popcorn chicken. >> That was That was actually That was Allison's idea. >> Great stuff, >> Allison. Yeah, Allison did. >> Oh, and by the way, there rumors that you want to adjust the early bird. I don't know. I'm an insider who saw it from the perspective of a customer. I think you're hitting a home run. I don't think you should make any changes, but that's just my two cents. >> Well, you know what it is. The adjustment that we want to do is specifically uh on when we're actually uh serving it. The reason why is because uh an early bird uh it it it it does give a little pressure on the kitchen >> uh when you have those days such as Thursdays or Sundays that are busy. So what happened was um we've noticed that it might impact the level of service that we're giving to the clients. So it it does affect and one thing I don't want to do is I don't want the clients to leave uh upset right >> uh that the service wasn't up to par or you know it it's it's it's tough so you can't it's very difficult that's why we felt that you know we need to have a fine line in terms of when you we could do it so that way um we actually could give the 100% service that we we must give. Uh after all, people come in, they spend a lot of money at the restaurant, and it's important that it's important that they get the service, they get the quality food, they get the service, they get the experience because they spending money. >> Yeah, understood. That's why you know more a lot more about the restaurant business than I do. All I can say is how good it was and how wonderful the service was and how great it was to see Allison and her role. Uh you really have an amazing team there. Everybody go to Art of Prime. Art of Prime. You go there today, by the way, folks. They've got the early bird going on tonight. Just make sure to make a reservation, which I never thought we'd have to make, but uh we saw how packed the place was, so thank God we did. Art of Prime, 943 Coney Island Avenue, a Nakamagle recommendation. David Benz, hi David, I look forward to meeting you in person, and thank you so much for joining us this morning on this venture. It's really, >> you know, I mean, thank you so much. >> 100%. Like I said, it's a lot of nostalgia and a lot of uh good vibes um from your new place, Art of Prime, everybody. 943 Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. More coming up. You're listening to JM in the A.M.