Restaurant Review: A Shawarma Stall Is the Stage for a Spice Virtuoso

For a long time, I thought of Lior Lev Sercarz as the chef who got away.

After moving to New York from France in 2002, he held prime spots in Daniel Boulud’s organization, first as a cook and sous-chef at Daniel for four years, followed by two years in charge of the catering kitchen. For many young cooks of that era, the Boulud finishing school was a ladder that led straight to a restaurant of their own. But instead of moving up and out the way Andrew Carmellini, Melissa Rodriguez, David Chang, Rich Torrisi, Hooni Kim and others did, Mr. Lev Sercarz stepped sideways. In 2010, he opened La Boîte, a closet-size shop on the western fringe of Hell’s Kitchen where he sold spice mixes and sophisticated little cookies, or “biscuits,” as he called them.

This is not to say that Mr. Lev Sercarz left the restaurant scene entirely. Eric Ripert, Michael Solomonov, Ana Sortun and others commissioned him to design custom spice formulas. For chefs, few things are more powerful than having access to flavors nobody can quite reproduce. This was the promise of a bespoke blend from La Boîte.

Mr. Lev Sercarz also made a line of off-the-rack spices that ordinary people could buy. Some of these did more for my enjoyment of life than just about any restaurant in town. The cardamom and star anise in the blend he calls Reims gave contours and shading to my poached apricots, and even made me enthusiastic about oatmeal. Lula, a green powder ground from seaweed, fennel, coriander seeds and who knows what else, made the simplest things — grilled porgy, buttermilk salad dressing, potato chips — at least three times more interesting. Microtonal composers and experimental jazz players are sometimes said to explore the notes between the notes. Mr. Lev Sercarz’s blends work in much the same way. The spices he buys, the way he grinds and measures and combines them, can make you taste the flavors between the flavors.

The more cabinet space I gave over to La Boîte’s squat little canisters, though, the more I wished Mr. Lev Sercarz would just start a restaurant already.