La Lasagna

January 2025 revisited
When Yosef, La Lasagna's owner made aliya from Italy, the family recipes made aliya with him. Talk about authentic! At La Lasagna you can enjoy delicious dishes, rich in Mediterranean flavors and full of Italian secrets. In addition to great food, La Lasagna offers a warm and welcoming, relaxed and informal environment.

La Lasagna is celebrating its 20th year in the same location on Dizengoff Street. It is curious to revisit restaurants that have survived the years, and to see the innovations that have kept them going. When we visited this restaurant shortly after it opened, it had a one-dish menu with seating on picnic tables.

How times have changed! Yosef has improved every aspect of his restaurant. The picnic tables are now individual white cloth-covered tables, topped with long-stemmed wine glasses. The restaurant was renovated and the seating area was expanded. The street-side seating is covered in the winter, but the wall of windows facing Dizengoff St retains the Tel Aviv vibe.

Lasagna may be the namesake, but the restaurant offers many other Italian dishes all the Italian pasta, ravioli, gnocchi, fettuccine, salads, pizza with cracker-thin crust and desserts that one would expect.

In addition to the standard fare, La Lasagna has found its niche in the culinary world of special diets. There is a full menu of non-dairy, vegan, gluten free and whole wheat dishes. These are all clearly marked on a colorful graphic menu available in both Hebrew and English.

The restaurant boasts the largest menu of gluten free dishes of any kosher or non-kosher restaurant in Israel. The full-page gluten-free menu includes brochette made with gluten-free bread, a host of gluten-free pastas including lasagna, gnocchi, and even gluten-free beer!

The word is out and people come from as far as Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh for this menu. All the foods are made in house, under Yosef’s strict supervision, who keeps the gluten and the gluten-free kitchen tools completely separate. And speaking of Yosef and of supervision, the restaurant is now Mehadrin Beit Yosef.

eLuna Revisits La Lasagna Restaurant
We stopped for a late lunch at La Lasagna to check out the new face of this restaurant. Though Yosef was anxious to show off his new additions to the menu, we went with the tried-and-true and shared the gluten-rich lasagna with mushrooms from the standard menu and a pasta dish from the gluten-free menu.

The lasagna came to the table still bubbling from the oven. Layers of fresh pasta, mozzarella, bechamel, Parmesan, and fresh mushrooms were baked in a creamy tomato sauce and served with a crusty brown top. The lasagna is a good size for one hungry diner but it would be tight for two, though sharing this main dish would leave you wanting for a very worthy dessert.

The dish of gluten-free penne in rosee sauce was a generous portion for one. The sauce, says the menu, is made with tomatoes, fresh garlic and cream. We suspect that, like all good chefs, they left out the secret ingredients from the description. The pasta was somewhat crunchy, and perhaps a bit more al dente than I am used to. We agreed that there was no discernible difference in taste between this gluten-free pasta and the more familiar gluten-rich pasta. The secret, we figure, of both the lasagna and the pasta is the sauce which was delicious even without the pasta. We topped off our meals with a cup of strong coffee, but after two filling main courses, we reluctantly passed on the dessert.

In the restaurant there was a large group of diners sharing a table piled high with huge salads, pizza and lasagna. Our mouths were watering as we watched the dishes come out of the kitchen.  In another corner was a middle-aged couple, smiling demurely at one another, exploring their first date. Two other gentlemen at another table rode in on korkinet scooters and ordered only coffee and a luscious looking Panna cotta (also gluten-free). The cakes are from Biscotti but the Panna cotta is all Yosef.


From the menu:
Salads: NIS 70 - 80
Soups: NIS 39
gluten-free penne in rosee sauce NIS 75
lasagna with mushrooms : NIS 83
Pizza: NIS 75 - 85
Desserts: NIS 50.