Before heading to the MAP Theater’s off-off-Broadway production of Exile, James Joyce’s 90-minute play, which is rarely performed, we stopped into the fairly new Frena, where Taboon once was located on the corner of 52 and Tenth Avenue. It’s a warm and friendly place decorated with lots of greenery from the ceiling.

It is a modern Middle Eastern concept in Hell’s Kitchen that — as Taboon did —celebrates that cuisine and its frena, the traditional communal Moroccan oven producing fresh, fragrant bread brushed with olive oil, Maldon salt, wild dry za’atar,

We had to have that bread ($9) as the centerpiece of our meal, along with a trio of their dips ($26). We selected the spicy feta with sumac and olive oil, the baba ganoush with tahini garnished with fresh pomegranate arils, and the cauliflower hummus with tahini, aleppo peppers, and sunflower seeds.

We also sampled their cauliflower steak “gratin” ($28) rubbed with spice, date syrup and sheep’s feta.  I’ll return to sample more of Chef Naon’s cuisine; I won’t be back to or recommend the show. I understand why isn’t often performed. 

I highly recommend Frena, the perfect location for any show at MCC Theatre. 

 
Frena
Hell’s Kitchen
773 10th Ave
New York, NY 10019
(646) 503-1464
frena.nyc