Tel Aviv Fish Grill in Tarzana is another great hummus.

As far as I know, one of the best hummuses in the San Fernando valley.

The food there overall is great. Fresh, tasty, authentic. A little pricey but worth it.

Dinner last night at Saffy’s, new restaurant from the owners of Bestia and Bavel.

Food overall was incredible.

Hummus was perfect 10/10.

Nothing else needs to be said. It’s incredible. If you just like food and especially if you like hummus there is no way you will be disappointed.

Most hummuses that branch out from a conventional traditional hummus are overconfident, arrogant even.

I think it must take a thorough grounding in hummusness to effectively branch out. Like learning to crawl before you can run, knowing how to make a solid traditional hummus…or at least being deeply aquatinted with them is a prerequisite to making a niche hummus.

Too many make feeble attempts at fancy hummuses who clearly lack the necessary pedigree.

My wife and I stumbled into Obour Hummus on a family trip to the Bay Area and the San Mateo farmers market.

I tried a handful of flavors and ended up buying a jar of the traditional hummus.

I don’t tend to be a fan of the fancy, unconventionally flavored hummus because, for the most part, they’re not done well. And being a hummus connoisseur of habit I settled on the classic. But while at the market we sampled some of the other flavors.

They were all delicious and on a return trip to the San Mateo farmers market I’d summon up the courage to take home a different flavor.

Obour hummus is hands down the best organic hummus I’ve ever had. That alone makes me happy. I’d mentioned previously having lost hope in finding a hummus that was both organic and knew what it was doing by being hummus.

The other flavors all had distinct and delicious balances of spices and personalities. I don’t know how else to describe them other than they felt right and made me feel like I was tasting hummus that knew what it was doing. They respected what made hummus hummus, grounded in tradition, while trying something bold and different than what its ancestors had maybe had the means or the wherewithal to accomplish.

I have full respect for Obour hummus. I won’t even go into talking about consistency and balance of flavors because it’s not about that.

This is the hummus of a master that needs to be experienced, enjoyed and appreciated and I look forward to taking home a more adventurous flavor on my next run in with Obour.

Hats off.

10 out of 10.

I’ve had Cava store bought hummus before and it’s one of my favorite store bought hummuses.

There’s a flavor garbanzo beans start to take on when they lose their freshness stored in plastic on grocery store shelves. It’s the antithesis of fresh out of the pot hummus served in Israel and, I imagine, other parts of the Middle East.

Something that occurs to me in writing that last paragraph is that my hummus repertoire is limited based on a course of study that has focused primarily on middle eastern varieties and primarily Israeli.

I’m feeling inspired to branch out for a better understanding of the different branches in the hummus family tree. For example how does a Greek hummus tend to differ from a middle eastern one? Or an Israeli from a Lebanese hummus? How many cultural varieties exist?

It occurs to me even more than before how under qualified I am to curate a blog about hummus.

But I love hummus. So I can’t help myself.

I’d also like to believe I know a good one.

Back to Cava.

It’s acceptable, especially for a store bought brand. It’s better than most. Decently fresh but not amazing. If you can’t get to a farmers market or a local restaurant that makes it fresh it’ll do.

And I realize in writing this review that in general hummus doesn’t like to be trapped for too long in plastic containers.

Even my favorite fresh farmers market hummus (Brothers) starts to lose some of its charm after a few days.

Somehow Cava’s doesn’t tend to get as offensive as other store bought hummuses get after sitting on the shelf, the consistency is decent, and the hint of tahina flavor is legitimate.

Rating 7.

One closing note is if you do have a Whole Foods in your area (which is where I buy Cava hummus) their own fresh made hummus is pretty good and I’ll write a separate review about this one one day.

But if you want a safe bet from the pre-made fridge at Whole Foods, Cava’s is decent.

Went out to lunch with coworkers and was not expecting a hummus entry today. But an unexpected hummus is always a pleasant surprise…actually I can’t really say I’ve had many unexpected hummuses…or any. This really was a special day, on many levels.

I got a side of hummus with my felafel wrap entree which, in hindsight, didn’t really offer enough hummus for a thorough assessment. But I didn’t really need too thorough an assessment to determine that I liked it and would come back for more.

The presentation and preparation was really nice…loved the touch of some fresh herbs (parsley I’m guessing), a sprinkle of paprika and drizzle of olive oil.

And nothing says, We care about our hummus quite like a few whole garbanzo beans sitting on top of it.

Consistency was really good, balance of flavors was nice. It was hard to get a good sense of the pure hummus on its own as the flavors in the garnish, while delicious, were a bit overpowering, so next time I’ll order a side to allow delving into a purer experience of Dish n Dash’s hummus.

I feel like some of my hummus reviews are written in anger because some hummuses make me mad, and this hummus didn’t make me mad at all. Not even in the slightest.

It caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting this from a place called Dish n Dash. But it spoke to me in all the right ways. And it delivered. I give it an 8. And I look forward to coming back and trying it again. On its own.

I ordered the Hummus Sabich from Oren’s Hummus in Palo Alto. It sounded delicious:

Hummus with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, potato, cucumber, tomato, chopped pickles, Amba sauce, and fresh herbs.

But in reality it was a bit of a letdown. The consistency was much too thick. I also feel like a true Israeli hummus is heavy in tahina and Oren’s had a mostly garbanzo bean flavor. On top of this, I didn’t find the other flavors to be all that strong. So it felt like I was eating a thick, lightly flavored garbanzo bean paste.

The flavors that were there were good but the balance of flavors was just lacking. And the consistency wasn’t ideal. Based mainly on these factors I give Oren’s Hummus a 7.5.

I should note that my wife’s hummus had tahina drizzled on top which mine didn’t. When I added some of her tahina-drizzled hummus to mine it really improved the flavor, and with the benefit of tahina I might have bumped my rating up to an 8 or even an 8.5 but my rating is based on how it was served.

A couple other dings overall are the fact that the sauces we ordered weren’t included in our takeout order.

And another ding is the disappointment of each pita being wrapped in an individual plastic bag.

Especially disappointing in an area that prides itself on innovation and sustainability. But regardless of the disregard of Oren for our beautiful planet, the plastic effectively suffocated the pitas in their escaping heat vapor making them soggy and even a little chewy.

Oren’s is a chain with a few locations around the Bay Area and I had high hopes but unfortunately Oren’s is a pass.

A good friend recommended Sonny & Joe’s Hummus. I googled it and the first thing I noticed was that it is made by Kroger, which set off some red flags.

I’m happy to be proven wrong but I don’t imagine Kroger to be a company with the best integrity when it comes to crafting ingredients designed to be put into our bodies.

Clicked through anyway however to take a look. Package looks innocuous enough.

But clicking through to ingredients I see a couple of scary devils.

I’ve rarely come across a hummus with preservatives (Sabra is another brand that comes to mind). They just don’t seem necessary, and aren’t something I would recommend anyone to knowingly put into their body.

Sunny and Joe’s is a pass. There are plenty more hummuses in the sea.

This is probably one of the best hummuses I’ve ever had in my life. My hard-core foodie wife says it is the best hummus she has ever had. We have both been to Israel where hummus flows aplenty. There is little the beats Brothers hummus.

Perfect consistency, balance of flavor, quality of ingredients. They must use some kind of magical tahina. Freaking delicious. Just perfect.

If you’re in the LA area I’m not sure you’ll find a better hummus.

We get it from the Sunday farmers market in Brentwood.

Enough said.

https://www.brothersproducts.com

Having found Hope Hummus in my favorite supermarket, the Santa Monica co-op, I’m really quite disappointed about having to give it a low rating.

Overall I’m gonna come out and say it. 3 out of 10. Biggest complaint is off the bat it’s just too salty. I also wasn’t psyched with the overall consistency. It’s a bit runny and I would just say the overall balance of flavor left much to be desired.

I give them some credit though for being organic and being on the shelf at the co-op. I just hope they can get the flavors better in V2.

Only closing thought here is that I have tried a handful of “Healthy“ hummuses at this point and Hope Hummus, no pun intended, has put a nail in the coffin of any hope I’d had to find a high-quality hummus at any kind at a store that specializes in healthy foods. Which is odd because hummus is basically a healthy food.

I can’t say I’ve ever come across a hummus with anything in it that I would consider unhealthy, Maybe that’s why I like it so much