How a Persian-Italian Jew Created One The Best Kosher Mexican Restaurants

Lenny’s Casita, which offers authentic Mexican food, has become one of the leading kosher restaurants in Los Angeles

During the pandemic, restaurants shuttered around the world. In Los Angeles, everything switched to takeout, which meant that many chefs and waiters were suddenly left without a job.

One of those chefs was Lenny Nourafchan, an LA native who was working at Charcoal Grill & Bar, a high-end Israeli restaurant in the trendy Melrose district. He’d worked in restaurants in New York and LA for years and decided that Covid was the perfect time to open his own venture.

The Persian-Italian Jew started a pop-up called Lenny’s Casita, serving food a few nights a week out of the back of Western Kosher, a kosher grocery store in Pico-Robertson, one of the bustling Jewish communities in LA. Nourafchan, who didn’t always keep kosher, had enjoyed the nonkosher Mexican food of LA, and now that he does keep kosher he wanted to bring that cuisine to the Jewish community. He also wanted to tap into the talent of his kitchen staff.

“Every kitchen I worked in, the cooks were all Mexican,” he said. “It hit me one day that we were teaching Mexican cooks how to cook Japanese or Italian food instead of letting them do what they do best. It was an ‘A-ha!’ moment.”

Lenny’s Casita offered kosher takes on non-kosher food, like Taco Bell’s Crunch Wrap Supreme, a flour tortilla wrapped with choice of protein and salsa, crispy corn tostada and grilled on both sides, and Chalupas, with black beans, fajita veggies, shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, and spicy aioli.

The restaurant became a quick hit, and soon, Nourafchan was able to secure a storefront and open his own space.

Today, two years after Lenny’s started, it now offers a variety of meats like smoked brisket, beef cheek, chicken, and carne asada, the most popular dish there is the corn ribs, which are vegan and come with garlic, parsley, and salt and pepper.

“One of my main goals as a chef has always been to make vegan items taste as delicious as meat,” said Nourafchan. “While my specialty has always been and will always be meat, one of my bestsellers at Lenny’s Casita is the Corn Ribs. It takes on a flavor like salted buttered popcorn and it plates beautifully as well. Its simplicity tends to shock people.”

The chef shows off his versatile cooking skills on Fridays, when his restaurant also offers Israeli takeout items at its Shabbat Shuk. Signature dishes include Roasted Jalapeno, which is made of charred jalapenos, peeled and deseeded and then marinated with garlic, Wagyu Boneless Short Ribs, which is described as “the most tender, delicious meat that exists on the planet,” and Truffle Baba Ganoush, an upscale take on a classic Israeli dish.

Nourafchan initially learned how to cook at 3 years old, when he made polenta with his Italian grandmother. He discovered that high-quality ingredients are crucial, and overcomplicating a dish is never recommended.

“The concept and the style of Italian cooking from my grandmother specifically has been the simplicity of subtle flavors,” he said. “I want the ingredients to shine. The more you try to cover up and mask them, you’re going to have a bad quality product. The Corn Ribs are a perfect example. People go crazy for them, but they have very few ingredients. The quality of the corn is what makes them so good.”

Growing up, Nourafchan followed traditional Jewish practice, but he didn’t keep kosher for part of his teen years. That’s when he tried dishes like Mexican Street Corn, authentic LA tacos and burritos, and Taco Bell menu items that would inspire him to start Lenny’s decades later.

“When I started keeping kosher again, I missed that food, so I recreated it in a kosher way,” he said. “It’s way better than the Taco Bell versions.”

A devoted husband, father, and Jew, Nourafchan splits his time between his home, the restaurant, and synagogue. He wakes up in the morning, prays with a minyan, does carpool for his kids, learns Torah, and then goes to the restaurant to manage it. He’s home for dinner, and then goes to synagogue for afternoon and evening prayers.

“Then I go straight back to the restaurant to greet the customers and check on everything,” he said.

He attributes his success to “brachas (blessings) from Hashem,” he said. “That’s it, 100 percent. It’s all completely in the hands of Hashem.”