The most exciting dish at Hummus Place—the local chickpea chain, now with four locations—isn’t the hummus at all. There are three tasty versions of the spread, but all of them are outdone by Shakshuka ($6.95), an Israeli dish made of stewed tomatoes, peppers, spices, organic eggs and (for a well-spent $2 more) Halumi cheese.

On previous visits to the restaurant, I’d avoided the Shakshuka. Sure, it looked good, but why settle for one dish when you can make a meal of all of the tiny plates like falafel, lebna or a dish of the namesake hummus (I like the Masabacha variety, served warm with whole chickpeas and olive oil)? Then I tried it and found out why: It blows them all away.

The dish arrives sizzling in a skillet, the eggs cooking in the sharp red sauce. It’s smart to crack the soft yolks quickly, before they have a chance to set, and mix the mess together. Israeli custom is to eat the dish with pita, pushing the stew around with a piece of bread (the whole-wheat pockets here are particularly well suited) while the rich yolk and the vinegary base mix, coating the vegetables and egg whites and making for a more complex dip than any of the hummus on the menu.

“It’s so much a part of Israeli tradition,” says general manager Yigal Ashkenazy.

Hummus Place’s Shakshuka “Israeli brunch would include Shakshuka—it’s traditionally breakfast, but here it’s good anytime.” He adds that the cheese is a New York addition to the dish and recommends dousing the dish with hot sauce (a special, imported variety is available) and scooping it into a pita to enjoy. With an air of Shakshuka authority, he sniffed, “That’s how we would do it.”

And while the history of the dish is of obvious Middle Eastern descent, there’s something very New York savvy about the thinking behind it—something that no pizza-loving local could disagree with. “Tomatoes and cheese,” says Ashkenazy, “just go together.”

> Hummus Place

71 7th Ave. South (at Bleecker St.), 212-924-2022, www.hummusplace.com