Burger restaurant opens in Kiryat Shmona

Yehezkel Schweiger opened a new burger restaurant called Kvishtish in Kiryat Shmona, Israel, a city near the border with Lebanon. CBS News visited the restaurant on June 8, 2026, and correspondent Charlie D'Agata interviewed Schweiger there that day. Kvishtish is a spinoff of Schweiger's larger restaurant, Kvish 90, which is located further south in Israel.

The new location features a bar, a beat-up car for children to play in and pose for photos, and colorful neon signs. It was busiest on Saturday night right after the end of Shabbat during the visit period.

U.S. And Israel went to war with Iran at the end of February 2026. When air raid sirens sound, residents have seconds to reach shelter. Schweiger has two young sons and a baby girl on the way, and his 7-year-old son attends school in Kiryat Shmona.

Construction of Kvishtish was done under fire. " On June 8, 2026, Israeli forces bombed the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Iran said the strikes crossed a red line. Within hours, two dozen Iranian ballistic missiles were launched toward Israel.

Schweiger said he is not bothered by the proximity to the border. "No. I get up every morning since I'm here and I look around at the view that I have here and say thank you. Thank you that I can have the rivers next to me and all of the eucalyptuses here, and that's what I need.

I'm not a person of the city," he said. One customer asked whether staff were worried about the situation. Schweiger replied that it is their job. The customer said she lives in the area. "This is our home, and we don't want to leave it," Schweiger said.

Schweiger described the restaurant as a sanctuary and said staff try to stay positive despite the war. "We try to take people that are very happy and come to work, and since they are happy they go to the customers very happy, and it's a chain, a circle that goes around," he said.