Israeli Street Food in Brooklyn + More Hot Dish
Shakshuka pita Image by Courtesy of 12 Chairs
The Kiosk, the summer concession at Brooklyn’s 12 Chairs Café, is back online for summer with some delicious-sounding menu additions.
Along with Israeli-street-food staples like pita and falafel, sabich and terrific hummus, you’ll now fine a shakshuka pita with feta cheese, green omelet pita with herbs, cream cheese and salad. Wash it down with Israeli wine.
Montreal Deli Still Going Strong at 70
Raise a glass to Montreal’s Snowdon Deli, which turns 70 this month. According to the Montreal Gazette, the deli northwest of downtown each week serves about 90 pounds of chopped liver, 200 pounds of coleslaw, 300 pounds of smoked salmon and a whopping 1,200 pounds of smoked meat.
Cool Jewish Pop-Up in Calcutta
Challah from Calcutta Image by Facebook
Coolest Jewish pop-up of the week: Jewish Kitchens of Calcutta, a showcase of traditional Indian-Jewish recipes hosted by Mumbai chef Pia Promina and Flower Silliman, a Kolkata-based Jewish cookbook author and food historian.
The menu also features dishes like anjoli, a cold fish dish made with coconut milk, chopped chicken liver, and mahashas, another classic Calcutta Jewish dish featuring stuffed vegetables. More at Mid-Day.
More in Montreal
Montreal’s also getting a brand-new Jewish food venue. Fletchers is the new café inside the Museum of Jewish Montreal, whose opening the Forward reported this month. Fare like Iraqi chickpea-filled sambusaks served with amba, cold borscht, Montreal-style knishes and pizza bagels is “inspired by Montreal’s diverse community,” according to the museum’s Kat Romanow. Workshops, pop-up dinners, tastings and cookbook launches are also on tap.
About the name: Sharp-eyed readers may remember the high school in several Mordecai Richler novels as Fletcher’s Field High; the real Fletchers Field, a park in Montreal’s historically Jewish neighborhood, is now called Jeanne-Mance Park.
This, You Call Shabbes Chicken?
Image by Flickr
Quote of the week, from UK Guardian review of Brighton restaurant The Cow:
“I try to establish in what way the ‘Shabbat half chicken’ is Jewish, as the menu claims. Did it own a sizable Philip Roth collection? I study the pale flesh and wonder whether it has been drained of its life blood through kosher slaughter, a great way to ruin a fine chicken…. [It] would not be recognizable as Shabbat chicken to any of the Jewish mothers I know. ‘This, you call Shabbes chicken?’”
From ‘Porking’ to Kosher
“They went from porking to kosher.”
That’s how the New York Post reported on a Jewish businessman’s alleged demand for kosher food after “a wild, sex-fueled plane ride to Las Vegas.”
Real-estate investor Jona Rechnitz is at the center of an investigation around bribery at the NYPD.
Baseball Great Strikes Out With Jewish-Deli Order
Image by Flickr
Spotted at Rosenfeld’s Jewish Delicatessen in Ocean City, Maryland: Sports great Cal Ripken, Jr.
He may know baseball, but it sounds like The Iron Man should have asked for advice on what to order. “He reportedly had a turkey club on wheat toast, while his girlfriend had a cinnamon-raisin bagel with cream cheese and tomato, a combination we can’t really fathom,” writes DelmarvaNow.
Wave of Kosher Options at Jersey Shore
Heading to the Jersey Shore this summer? You’ll feel spoiled by all the kosher options, reports the NJ Jewish Link.
“For starters, there are 18 restaurants, three butchers, two supermarkets with glatt kosher delis, five pizza places, Chinese food and more,” the Jewish Link says. Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson even has a kosher concession stand.
‘Hasidic Lady Gaga’ Hits Big Time
‘Hasidic Lady Gaga’ Image by Flickr
Haredi singer Lipa Schmeltzer, who’s been dubbed the “Hasidic Lady Gaga” has hit the big time.
Schmeltzer stars in new commercial unleashed on Israel last week by Pepsi Max. Tagline: “Top Heimish Food,” the tagline of a Hebrew-language Pepsi campaign seeking votes on homey eateries.
You can catch the latest Lipa hype here.
Alt Kosher Fights on in Israel
An “alternative” kosher certifier has lost a big legal battle in Israel. But supporters who resent what they call an Orthodox monopoly on kosher certification are fighting back.
This month’s Israeli Supreme Court decision means Hashgacha Pratit, or Private Supervision, can no longer use the word “kosher” in its kosher certificates.
But according to the Times of Israel, the organization launched a social media campaign urging customers to eat at restaurants using the alternative kosher certification, and to share pictures of their meals and dining experiences with the hashtag #kosherhere or #reallykosher. “We are here to stay,” says Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz, a founder.
Freedom Cookies
Challah Connection’s Freedom Collection Image by Courtesy of Challah Connection
For the Fourth of July, Challah Connection is offering what it calls the The Freedom Collection.
In addition to challah, babka and rugelach, the bundle (which feeds 8–10) includes fourth of July cookies. “Our red, white and blue cookies are a festive new spin on the classic black and white cookie recipe,” according to the company’s Jane Moritz.
“The only thing sweeter than our baked goods is freedom and independence,” she says.
While celebrating our country’s independence, Challah Connection is also celebrating going international — at least as far as Canada. They may not quite appreciate the red, white and blue cookies, but babka is appreciated everywhere…
Michael Kaminer is a contributing editor at the Forward.
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