May 27
Jeanette Friedmanfood, holidays, life cycle events and celebrations
Everyone Agrees: Glatt is Hot!
What does that mean?
By Jeanette Friedman
Glatt kosher is a term lots of people use incorrectly to describe what they believe is a higher category of kosher standards to everything—from beef to cheese. Yet the expression “glatt” which is Yiddish for the word smooth, applies to red meat only, the kind carnivores relish, and it doesn’t apply to poultry or fish—let alone dairy products and pareve foods (neutrals). The correct term that applies to a higher standard of general kashrut is mehadrin, which means to adorn, or kick something up a few notches. It’s a category important in ultra-Orthodox households.
So what makes meat glatt? It means that the cow, steer, deer, or other animal is ritually slaughtered and that its lungs are checked and certified as adhesion free. If defects on the lungs are found, the meat is considered treif (torn, mortally injured, non-kosher) and inedible. If the animal suffered a rip, puncture, or broken bone or if the animal appeared to be suffering from a terminal illness the animal would most likely be declared treif. Different veins and arteries, certain fats, all have to be removed for the meat to be kosher, so it can get really complicated if you get into it too deeply. If you have questions about glatt kosher, koshering meat or other kashrut issues, please consult your local rabbi.
Once the meat is declared kosher, it needs to be salted and soaked before it is cooked. You can cook it as rare as you like, except for liver. Liver must first be broiled on an open flame, not boiled, baked or sautéed with onions.
Since the term glatt is loosely used, many caterers refer to all their products as glatt kosher, so you’ll see ads for glatt kosher caterers, restaurants and shops and glatt kosher labels on different products. As Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, the Star-K Rabbinic administrator wrote on the Kosher Kurrents blog, “Integrity and reliability, not … labels or signs, should be the true guidelines for the kosher consumer. …It’s always advisable to purchase meat … endorsed by a respectable rabbinic authority or respected kashrus organization….”
So why is glatt hotter than ever? Some say it’s a matter of demographics. There are simply more observant people who care about kashrut now than there were years ago. But Jeff Becker of Foremost Caterers, a top-of-the-line caterer who does stylish events that make even the most famous party planners look like amateurs, explained it very well. “We do high-end fundraising banquets in the most exclusive venues, for everyone from the ADL to the ZOA. Our hosts need to accommodate people from every walk of life. Since we don’t compromise on quality, and our glatt kosher catering is the best there is, we advise people that they should go glatt. Why not? It makes it easy for everyone to be included.”
CHOOSING A CATERER FOR THAT SPECIAL, GLATT KOSHER CELEBRATION
Now that we know what’s glatt and what’s not, you’ll soon realize that your options for an elegant, exotic or over-the-top celebration are not limited by much, especially if your glatt kosher caterer knows how to prepare interesting, trendy dishes that rival anything you see on Iron Chef or other Food Network and Bravo shows—especially if your budget allows you to indulge.
DIETARY RESTRICTIONS
Guests often have special needs—they may be vegetarians, or require sugar-free, salt-free and reduced fat diets. If they have allergies, you may want to go out of your way to accommodate them and your caterer should be helpful. One way to find out guest preferences is to have them provide information on their response cards. In addition to letting you know they are coming, you can ask, on the response card, if there are any special dietary needs that have to be met, and to please let you know immediately what they are.
SPECIAL VENUES
In the right spring and summer settings you can forget, for one afternoon or evening, the hectic schedules of car pools and balancing acts, the bustle of business or the life static that causes so much stress. You can transport yourself to another space and time, to relax and enjoy the company of loved ones in some of the most extraordinarily beautiful venues in the world—where you never thought you’d ever get sophisticated, delicious, international glatt kosher food service. In places like Wave Hill, the New York Botanical Garden, the Castle at Tarrytown and other sites, stunning grounds and lush surroundings await your guests. Together you can celebrate a graduation, the birth of a child, a special silver or golden anniversary, a coming out party or special sweet sixteen. Any excuse for a casually formal, black tie dinner or even masked ball will do.
The secret is in finding the right caterer. Think about what you want. Make some notes, and keep an eye on your budget. More than 65 percent of it will go for food, the heart and soul of your event. Then there are the extras, including beverages, wait staff and gratuities. Do you a want a tent or a venue that easily lets you and your guests move from a gorgeous indoor setting to a patio overlooking a magnificent landscape? Or do you want outrageous lighting, incredible florals and the most exquisitely designed, displayed and delicious glatt kosher food on the planet? Do your research, troll the net, Google, Bing, do what you can to find the place of your dreams. When you do find that special place, call the venue and find out which glatt kosher caterers are on their list and whether or not its available when you want it.
Each caterer has strengths and weaknesses. Check them out. Get references. Set up meetings and ask if you can attend an event similar to yours. Find out if the caterer is full service or if you need to be responsible for things like musicians and photographers. Quality matters. Is the food prepared on site and made from fresh ingredients? Is the caterer flexible? Can he do different menus and different types of table service? Ask to visit an event in progress. Taste everything.
Find out about guaranteed minimums, specific hours for the event and any extra costs. Ask for menu proposals in different price ranges so you can decide how best to allocate funds. Visit the venue you have chosen with your caterer to determine how tables will be laid out to maximize presentation. Stay in touch during the planning process, and make sure you feel good about the people you are working with.
When you do go to an event from a prospective purveyor, pay attention to what’s going on around you. Does the caterer operate like a well-oiled machine or does chaos rule in the kitchen? How do service people interact with guests? The most effective ratio for service is ten guests per server. How do the dishes look? Are they chipped or scuffed? Is the glassware sparkling clean? Does the flatware have some heft, or is it flimsy? If the caterer’s linens and accessories look worn, make sure they stock up with fresh supplies before your event. (A small but important detail is dinner napkins. Forget polyester. Napkins need to be absorbent enough to wipe your lips or quickly mop up wine or water that’s been accidentally spilled. Cotton or linen works best.)
THINGS TO FIND OUT FROM YOUR CATERER TO BE
CONTRACT DETAILS
You’ve agreed on the details and put them into a contract. Most are standard forms and may not cover everything. Insist on changes to make sure you get what you asked for. Protect yourself, especially if you or the caterer must cancel the event due to unforeseen circumstances.
The contract should include the legal name of the venue, the date, the time and the amount of time your event is expected to last. It should also include the menu, the method of presentation and service, and details concerning beverage service—from bartenders and the bar menus (name the top shelf brands you want to serve) to the sommeliers and the cost of each bottle of alcohol, including corkage fees, overtime and gratuities.
The contract should specify cost per capita, how many guests are expected, and everything included in that cost. Deposit amounts and payment schedules must also be included, and financial consequences of cancellation by either party need to be clearly spelled out. If you have a lawyer friend, ask him or her to give your contract a quick look see to make sure it’s “glatt kosher.”
Congratulations, you’ve officially hired the caterer when you sign the contract and hand over the deposit. Don’t forget to follow-up and make sure everything is as you like it.
Cream of the Crop Caterers
FOREMOST GLATT KOSHER CATERERS
65 Anderson Ave
Moonachie, NJ
(201) 664-2465
Jeff Becker
http://www.foremostcaterers.com/
Glatt. Supervision from Star K of Baltimore.
Since 1985, Foremost has grown to become the premier glatt kosher catering company on the East Coast. Clients with discerning standards appreciate the company’s culinary excellence, which is always beautifully presented. Foremost can handle anything—from serving 10,000 people attending the AIPAC conference at the Convention Center in DC with three square meals a day, plus a food court, to preparing a lovely party for you at home or at the local synagogue. They also create slammin’ barbeques for hosts in the Hamptons. They’ll help you celebrate anniversaries and vow renewals, engagement parties, showers, brissim, and even set up picnics and picnic baskets.
Foremost is best known for its top-tier venues in New York City, like the Pierre, Plaza, Ritz Carlton and Waldorf Astoria Hotels; for their ability to cater parties in all of The Big Apple’s museums, on the supper ships that circle the Isle of Manhattan, and numerous castles, gardens and special event spaces scattered across the tri-state area. They’ve been called in to make things kosher for New York’s top caterers, like Restaurant Associates, Abigail Kirsch and Great Performances. True foodies will appreciate Foremost’s collaboration with stellar chefs like Bobby Flay, Daniel Boulud, Alfred Portale and Christian Delouvrier.
Foremost also operates Café Weissmann at the Jewish Museum and the Heritage Café at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The Cafés make it possible for guests to cater private parties within these museums. Among other Foremost venues: The Woodcliff Lake Hilton, the Jersey City Hyatt Regency, Rockleigh Country Club, Skylands Manor in Ringwood, Westmount Country Club in West Paterson, The Castle at Tarrytown, Lyndhurst Castle,the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff, NY and Wave Hill in the Bronx.
MAIN EVENT CATERERS
38 West Forest Avenue
Englewood, NJ
201-894-8710 Fax: 201-894-8720
3708 Riverdale Ave.,
Riverdale, NY
718-601-6246 Fax: 718-601-0008
Joey and Martin Bodner, Eddie Iszo
Glatt. RCBC and Vaad Harabonim of Riverdale
http://www.mecaterers.com
Office@MECaterers.com
Main Event fulfills glatt kosher and any other celebration needs with a sense of excitement, creativity, and flawless elegance. Name the milestone, describe the mood you want to create, wax poetic about your vision, then relax and let Main Event do the work. They have a reputation of being client and crowd pleasers. They do brissim and brunches, kiddush, organizational dinners and intimate dinner parties. Main Event prides themselves on the warm, personal relationships they establish (and maintain!) with clients and the elegant and delicious results we produce. You will get honest advice, creative menus and competitive pricing. “We say what we mean and we deliver what we promise.”
They’ve been known to transform office blocks, beautiful gardens, rooftops and urban warehouses into perfect party spaces. They will create special events in established galleries, museums, private clubs and will seek out and book any interesting space a client might be interested in. They’ve introduced formal elements into relaxed environments, interpreted exotic or historical fare for today’s palette. They have a vendor network that allows you to explore your options for personalized printed materials, photographers, florists, musicians and light and sound experts. From intimate dinners for 20 to lavish galas for 2500, the Main Event team focuses on ensuring the success of your party, no matter the season.
NORTHERN VALLEY AFFAIRS
Temple Emmanuel
180 Piermont Rd.
Closter, NJ
Les or Marty
201-750-0333
Glatt Under Rabbi E. Teitz in Elizabeth
Facility holds up to 450 people.
At Northern Valley affairs, Les and Marty only do one event a day, so you don’t have to worry about getting rushed out of your own simcha. Twilight events start in mid-afternoon and can run for up to six hours. There’s an outdoor courtyard for ceremonies, and cocktail parties. Barbeque stations are available for grilling skirt steak, Portobello mushrooms and carmelized onions to perfection. Off premises catering is available. Some of Northen Valley’smore interesting menu items include horseradish crusted steak, crispy sea bass with pomegranate sauce, black & white sesame crusted chicken, beef or chicken yakatori, Portobello and roasted red pepper danish and other delicacies. There are also soup tasters— sips of soup—including a choice of cold melon soups in season. The caviar bar offers red and black caviar served on warm bilinis and toast points with chopped egg, onion, capers, lemon and a selection of fruit infused vodkas. In addition to all these sophisticated dishes, there’s a kid friendly menu, that includes five versions of French fries, so everyone’s hunger is sated in very tasteful ways.
THE PALISADIUM
Carlton Caterers
700 Palisadium Drive
Cliffside Park, NJ 07010
(201) 886-9207
201-224-2211
info@palisadiumusa.com
http://palisadiumusa.com
Glatt. OK supervision
The Palisadium, located on the cliffs overlooking the Hudson River and the New York City skyline, is the perfect location for a fancy kosher event. Whatever the scale, the culinary staff takes great care to make each event a success. Only the highest quality and freshest products are used in the on-premises kosher kitchen. The goal is create an experience that will surpass your expectations. The staff focuses on assuring that each detail of your event is handled in a respectful and traditional manner. They are also experts for business meetings and conferences, and offer state-of-the art audio-visual systems for presentations. Bar/Bats, weddings, brissim, baby-namings, anniversaries, dinner party celebrations, ladies who lunch…any event is possible at The Palisadium.
FIVE STAR CATERERS
195 West Engelwood Ave.
Teaneck
201-833-0889
Daniel or Sarah
http://www.fivestarcaterers.com/
When you have a big event to plan, whether it’s a simcha, or corporate event, an anniversary or other party, Five Star Caterers finds the best chefs and cooks to prepare fresh, high quality and carefully selected ingredients in your home, synagogue, office or banquet facility or other venues. In addition to a glatt meat menu, they also offer selection of dairy menus, event packages to fit any budget, and take pride in providing reliable, professional catering services at reasonable prices. They are buffet experts and provide linen cloths, individually set place settings and carafes of orange jiuce at each table, complete coffee stations with all the accoutrements. If you haven’t yet decided where to make your celebration and would like assistance selecting a location, Five Star is affiliated with many venues in the tri-state area. Among them are the Marriot Glenpointe in Teaneck, the Clinton Inn in Tenafly, Mayfair Farms in West Orange, The Sheratons in Mahwah and the Meadowlands, Florentine Gardens in River Vale, the Greentree Country Club in New Rochelle, NY, area Hilton Hotels and even Space Odyssey in Englewood, great for kids’ parties.
May 27
Jeanette Friedmanfood, life cycle events and celebrations
DELICATESSEN DELIGHTS
By Jeanette Friedman
Delicatessen, the dictionary says, comes from the German word that describes fine food and delicacies, and in today’s usage also describes the places that sell those goods. One wag described today’s delicatessens as a synthesis of grocery store and fast-food restaurant. And because Americans are always looking for shortcuts, the word has been shortened to deli. (There are not a few parents who have challenged their toddlers to pronounce del-i-cat-ess-en.) These foods bring us pleasure; they are pleasing and delightful.
What are these delicacies? They are cured meats–pastrami and corned beef, pickled tongue and brisket, Polish and knockwurst style sausages and hot dogs; forcemeats like liverwurst, salami and other cold cuts. Potato salad, coleslaw and an assortment of pickles, sauerkraut, and cucumber salad are part of the menu, along with the French fries and battered-fried onion rings.
Traditional deli brings back memories for folks of a certain age who were kids in Brooklyn and the Bronx. There was nothing like a family trip to the local delicatessen, where the salty, pungent aroma of hot pastrami, corned beef and hot dogs was tinged with vinegary hints of mustard and sour kraut. You sat in a booth, ordered Celray soda or Dr. Brown’s Black Cherry soda to drink. Somehow Coke and Pepsi didn’t work as well to wash down the goodies. The food was most often served on wax paper or paper plates, and there was lots of it. The mountain sized sandwiches came with a mountain of chunky, hot and golden French fries, loaded with Heinz Ketchup, not Hunt’s Catsup.
The only thing delicate about a fully-loaded pastrami or corned beef sandwich, loaded with coleslaw and Russian dressing or grainy deli mustard, was the care taken to make those meat slices as thin as possible. The rye bread offered a crunchy chew, with the tang of caraway seeds, and thoughts of serving these specialties with mayonnaise and white bread were inconceivable. Cheese on a deli sandwich? It’s not just treif, it’s heresy! And the hot dogs? They came three ways: rolled on one of those funny grilling machines; boiled or grilled on a conventional grill. Nothing could beat a hotdog on a solid bun wrapped in wax paper with the sauerkraut, mustard and pickle relish dripping all over your shirt. No one had ever heard of honey or Dijon mustards, only French’s and the kind the deli served up. The paprika/onion sauce comes from Sbarro’s hot dog carts and chili dogs have been assimilated into the traditional kosher deli. If you kept kosher, you brown bagged it to Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds or the old Yankee Stadium.
Today’s “delicacies” include roast beef, fried chicken, spare ribs, cold salads and an assortment of olives, as well as international menu items. The appetizing section usually has smoked white fish, sable, Nova, lox, gravlax, and the salads and spreads that accompany them. Some delis have added steam tables with hot dishes like chicken Marsala and stuffed cabbage.
Delis have also developed gourmet sections for items like sushi, pates and separate counters for hard and soft imported cheeses, specialty breads, cakes, and cookies. There are lots beverages to choose from…gourmet teas and coffees, bottled waters, flavored waters, juices, wines and liquors.
In addition being restaurants and take-out places, most delis do pretty platters that are perfect for pool parties, garden parties, brissim, kiddush, graduation parties, a quick dinner during a little league game, picnics and other outings. Some do only drop off or pick up platters, while others offer full service catering with all the trimmings.
Pick up your favorite platters from the purveyors of fine delicatessen listed here:
Ma’adan
446 Cedar Lane, Teaneck
201-692-0192
Stuart or Yossi
http://www.maadan.com/
RCBC. Glatt.
Deli menu consists of prime rib, brisket ,roast beef, corned beef, pastrami, tongue, turkey breast, smoked turkey breast, turkey pastrami, turkey roll, salami, hard salami, midget salami, cervalat, bologna, and franks…and more than 30 salads and accoutrements to choose from to design platters for your party—or seek their expert advice and find out what works best for your budget.
Foster Village Kosher Deli
469 S. Washington Avenue, Bergenfield
In the Foster Village shopping mall
Kosher supervision/Rabbi Isaiah Hertzberg
201-384-7100
Free parking.
Everything is homemade, including the corned beef, the brisket, the pastrami and soups. Side dishes include kasha varnishkes, egg barley (ferfel in Yiddish)—usually sautéed with diced onions and mushrooms. They have been rated as a top kosher deli in the area and have been around for more than 30 years. They offer full service catering for business lunches, meetings, and dinners, platter pick-ups and drop offs. Read on the Internet: “The pastrami, hot dogs, soups, and knishes are the best you can find. The owners are so eager to help and the service is quick. Unfortunately, they only have room for a few tables, but I would gladly stand in line!!! They are reasonably priced, too, for kosher food.”
Noah’s Ark
493 Cedar Lane, Teaneck
Phone: 201.692.1200
Fax: 201.692.1890
www.noahsark.net
Glatt. RCBC
True to it’s 1988 roots, Noah’s Ark just opened an old-fashioned kosher deli on the Lower East Side, but hasn’t forgotten its North Jersey clientele. Party deli packages include a cold buffet party for 15, that includes 5 lbs. of corned beef, pastrami roast beef, turkey breast and smoked turkey, 3 lbs. each of potato salad and coleslaw, a 3 lb. rye, a pickle relish tray, mustard, and Russian dressing at $11.95 per person..A sandwich party platter serves 30 (sandwiches are cut in thirds) and runs $13.95 per person. Call for specials and check the website for other menus.
Petak’s Glatt Kosher Fine Foods & Catering
1903 Fair Lawn Ave.
Fair Lawn, NJ
201-833-8200 or 201-797-5010
Glatt. RCBC
Call for Daily Specials
petaksfood@aol.com
http://www.petaksglattkosher.com
They do deli like you wouldn’t believe, with overstuffed hot pastrami on rye like the old days, chopped liver, knishes and more available. There are traditional deli platter packages and sandwich and wrap packages available for all budgets. The Traditional Deli Platter… your choice of pastrami, corned beef, roast beef, turkey breast, salami, and bologna, on a garnished platter, includes homemade coleslaw, potato salad, russian dressing, mustard, & pickles. $13.50 per person; 10 person minimum. Sandwich or wrap platters: your choice of any overstuffed deli sandwiches or salad sandwiches, cut in halves on a garnished platter; includes pickles, mustard, & Russian dressing. $10.50 per sandwich (for wraps add $1.50 per wrap); coleslaw and potato salad additional $1.50 per sandwich ordered. Sloppy Joes: Four thin slices of freshly baked rye bread, layered with roast beef, pastrami, corned beef and turkey breast, cut into triangles. Package includes homemade coleslaw, potato salad, mustard, Russian dressing and pickles and feeds three for $34. The Giant Hero is a three to six foot long loaf of Italian bread, with scooped out insides filled with seven different deli meats topped with lettuce, tomato and onions. Includes homemade coleslaw, potato salad, mustard, Russian dressing and pickles. $34.00 per foot; on average, serves three people per foot.
Kosher Nosh
894 Prospect St.
Glen Rock, NJ
201-445-1186
http://www.koshernosh.com/
Kosher supervision, Rabbi Isaiah Hertzberg
Classic kosher delicatessen. There’s dining in, drop-off, catering specials, a stimulus package with coupons on their website. they’ve got you covered from jersey city to franklin lakes, from ridgewood to kearny. they’ve got deli platters that run about $14 per person with a 10 person minimum, which come with served with potato salad, coleslaw, relishes, dressings and bread. They’ve also got jumbo sloppy joe’s –five cold cuts on a four-decker sandwich that serves three for $36.95, will potato salad, coleslaw, relishes and dressings. The Nosher’s Hero runs from 3-6 feet long, is stuffed with a variety of cold cuts including corned beef and pastrami, turkey breast, salami, shoulder pastrami, turkey roll, lettuce, tomato and onion. Each foot feeds four people and runs $44.95 per foot. Sandwich platters run about $12.95 per person and come with potato salad, coleslaw, pickles, olives, sour tomatoes, red peppers, mustard and Russian dressing.
Reuben’s Glatt Spot Catering
659 Eagle Rock Avenue
West Orange, NJ 07052
Ph: (973) 736-0060
Fax 973-736-8026
Email:Reubensglattspot@aol.com
http://www.reubensglattspot.com/
Glatt. Vaad of MetroWest.
Deli is on the menu at Reuben’s, too. Sloppy Joes: choice of any two premium meats on a triple decker sandwich with coleslaw and Russian dressing, 8 cuts per sandwich, pickles and potato salad, $39.95 per Sloppy Joe. Custom Deli Platter: choose from any four premium meats, 1/3rd pound per person; package comes with coleslaw, potato or macaroni salad, pickles, rye bread, Russian dressing, and mustard, $15.99 per person. Deli Sandwich Platter: your choice of premium meats on a decorated platter with
pickles, Russian dressing, mustard, $11.99 per person. Combo Chicken Cutlet and Deli Platters: sliced deli meats, breast of chicken cutlets/sauces, coleslaw, potato salad, fresh rye bread, dressings, pasta salad, fresh marinated salad, minimum 25 people/$20.99 per person
May 27
Jeanette Friedmanfood, holidays, life cycle events and celebrations, local stories/community
BAGELS THAT BRUNCH
By Jeanette Friedman
For Sunday or any morning gatherings, business meetings, religious festivals, and celebrations like brissim, nothing beats a brunch that features bagels in all their many-splendored flavors and shapes—with spreads to match.
In addition to the traditional holey bagel, there are bagel stix and bagel flagels—flattened bagels invented in Brooklyn in the 1990s—that come in a host of flavors. There are the traditional standbys—Black Russian, egg, everything, garlic, onion, plain, poppy, pumpernickel, rye, salt, and sesame—and cranberry, cinnamon crunch, chocolate chip, maple syrup, banana-nut, sun dried tomato, spinach, jalapeno pepper and many more. This trendy bagel fare is very unlike those tough old Polish bagels our ancestors ate in the Old Country—or the ones our parents brought home on Sunday mornings. Our great-grandparents didn’t even rate a “shmear” of plain cream cheese. And where paupers in Poland sold bagels on street corners in order to survive, the American bagel business grossed more than half a billion dollars last year.
Today’s “fruity” flavors, unimaginable to the bagel bakers of olden times, are produced by some of the biggest food purveyors on the planet, and are meant to be eaten for breakfast, sliced and toasted, making purists cringe. They remember stopping at the local coffee shop on the way to work or school to grab a hot salt or poppy bagel with a “shmear.” Maybe sometimes you’d ask for homemade scallion or veggie cheese for a change, always with a coffee, regular, in a blue cup with a Greek motif, stuck into a little brown bag with a scrap of napkin, a plastic stick, and two envelopes of sugar. You couldn’t wait to sit down at your desk, sink your teeth in to the crunch and dense, doughy delight that went down just right with a swallow of pungent hot coffee.
Based purely on anecdotal evidence, it seems bagel brunches originated on Sunday mornings in the 1950’s. Lots of dads would come home from morning services around 10 a.m. with a big brown bag of hot bagels from which a delicious aroma wafted through the kitchen. Out came a package of cream cheese and lox or Novi (aka Nova Scotia smoked salmon, which is less salty). Mom had fresh perked coffee on the stove; there was cold orange juice on the table, and she would slice some onions and tomatoes, put them on a plate, and a feast would be had by all. It would be an even better if Dad brought home a chub—a fat smoked white fish, which greedy little fingers would pick apart, right down to the bone.
Times have changed. The variety is infinite. And you can make your own “shmears” by simply adding your favorite flavorings like pimento olives, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts and raisins, garlic and fresh herbs like cilantro or dill, jalapeno peppers, sweet pickles, black and red peppercorns and garlic, strawberry or other fruit preserves, blending them into cream cheese or tofu cheese in a food processor. (Duh. Not all at the same time.) The old favorites, bits of smoked salmon; scallions, celery and carrots, or all three veggies mixed together, are now commercially available, along with a selection of fresh bagels at numerous places scattered around Bergen County.
THE CLASSIC BAGEL BRUNCHERAI
When planning your outdoor or indoor bagel brunch, your best bet is to set up a “Bagel Bar” that keeps ingredients separate and allows guests “build their own” bagels. Decide if your food purveyor will cater for you, or if you will do the plating and prep yourself. (If you do it yourself, you try Glatt Express, the superduper kosher supermarket on Queen Anne Road in Teaneck. Tammy will be glad to offer advice!
Here’s a checklist of what you will need:
1. Lots of baskets for piling on the bagels, one for each flavor (nothing tastes worse than sautéed garlic on a “contaminated” cinnamon raisin bagel). Make sure the bagels are pre-sliced. You don’t want guests cutting themselves, and having them cut bagels with plastic knives is a chore. Keep the bagels wrapped in cellophane or plastic until ready to serve. You don’t want them drying out or, conversely, getting soggy.
2. Set up a bagel toaster or a George Forman type grill for warming them up or toasting, if that’s what guests want. Bagels are allergic to microwave ovens.
3. Set up beverages: Regular coffee, de-caf, hot water kettle, a variety of teas, sugar, Splenda, sliced lemon, half and half, milk, lowfat milk, cold juices of your choice, from apple and orange to tomato and pomegranate, and don’t forget the sodas. If serving alcohol, stick to chilled light wines like Baternura Moscato or Champagne. They mix well with orange juice to make mimosas, a perfect brunch beverage.
4. Platters of fixings and deserts
a. Smoked fish—lox, Nova, sable, white fish, tuna fish, egg and other salad choices
b. Thinly sliced tomato, cucumber, bell pepper and onion platters
c. Assorted pickle and olive platters with little cups of capers. PickeLicious has a vast selection.
d. Chopped Israeli salad, potato salad and cole slaw
e. Crudites and dipping sauces—hummus, tehina,
f. Sliced fresh fruit platters
g. Mini Danish platters
h. Platter of sliced hard cheeses
i. Platters of “shmears.” Use a small ice cream or melon scoop to put your “shmears” into little cupcake cups, so guests can lift them onto their plates. Don’t forget butter or almost butter, which you can flavor as well. Make sure you have enough spreaders so guests won’t tear their bagels when applying their “shmears.” If allergies are not an issue, don’t forget the peanut butter and jelly.
j. Have plenty of napkins, drinking cups and flatware on hand. Don’t forget coffee whiteners.
k. Have lots of ice stocked for beverages and for keeping fish dishes and salads cold. Make sure the caterer ices his platters, and if you do it yourself, place your platters atop aluminum baking pans filled with ice to keep them cool.
MEGILLAT HA BAGEL: WHAT THEY ARE AND WHERE THEY COME FROM
There’s lots of bagel lore on the net, including the stories of how bagel making machines were invented. One version of the story has a Jew inventing the bagel to honor Polish king Jan III Sobieski, who defeated the Ottoman Turks in Vienna in 1683. But another source says “not so.” The bagel, from the German word ring, was invented earlier than that, in Krakow, as competition to Russian bublichkes—the same ones the Barry Sisters sang about. Only the original bagels weren’t at all Jewish. They were a lean bread of wheat flour designed for Lent, the Christian austere weeks before Easter, and then they became part of the Polish national diet in the late 16th and first half of the 17th centuries.
The word bagel is also Yiddish for what a Yeshiva boy does when he sleeps for 12 solid hours. “I slept a bagel last night,” is how the expression goes. They think it comes from one of two things…it takes 12 hours to proof a bagel before boiling and it takes 12 hours for a watch hand to circle a bagel-like ring.
Bagels came to North America at the turn of the 20th century, and were popular in Montreal and New York. Montreal bagels are sweeter and crisper because they are made with malt and sugar and boiled in honey water before being baked in a wood-fired oven. New York bagels are made with salt and malt and boiled in that special New York City tap water before being baked in conventional ovens. Today many commercial bakeries don’t bother boiling their bagels—they steam them, leaving them soft and mushy, the bane of true bagel lovers.
Bagel fans prefer “authentic” hand rolled bagels. That’s why there’s huge demand for New York-style bagels. People ship everywhere, even to California, where the fastest producing bagel making machines were invented in the 1950s. Lender’s perfected the frozen bagel in the 1960s, and New York City kosher bagels were introduced to Japan for the first time in 1989. Now the Japanese import approximately 3,000,000 bagels annually, and have created their own special flavors like green tea, chocolate and maple nut. Gregory Chamitoff, a native Canadian astronaut, took 18 sesame bagels into outer space on an International Space Station mission in 2008. Even the Chinese eat bagels, and no one really knows whether or not they invented them first!
FIRST AID FOR YOUR BAGELS
Nothing beats a fresh hot bagel. But when bagels have to travel great distances, or you’re storing them in the freezer because they are imported from New York or New Jersey, they need special care. Here are some tips for getting the best from your bagels.
When you bring your hot bagels home, don’t pull them out and pack them in plastic. Keep them in the bag until they cool off. If you don’t want to freeze them, and think they’ll be eaten over the next few days, put the paper bag they are in into a plastic bag, seal it and put it in the refrigerator.
Bagels can be frozen for up to six months without damage if you take the cooled-off bagels, pre-slice them and put them in individual zip lock bags, making sure you press as much air out of the bag as you can before you zip it closed.
When you are ready to indulge, moisten the bagel with a wet paper towel and pop into the toaster oven until heated through. Never reheat a bagel in a microwave oven unless you want to eat doughy rubber.
SAMMY’S NEW YORK BAGELS
1439 Queen Anne Road
Bagels, Deli, Pizzeria
201-837-0515
Sammy’s New York Bagels on Queen Anne Road offers a huge selection of bagels and catering packages. Sammy’s will happily cater a bagel brunch for you—they do many business breakfasts, brissim and sadly, but conveniently, platters for families who are sitting shiva. There’s homemade tuna salad, egg salad and assorted smoked fish imported from Brooklyn, along with six choices of homemade cream cheese flavors. Sammy’s is more than just bagels—there’s a glatt kosher deli and pizzeria, too. Full service catering is available.
CRESSKILL HOT BAGELS
23 Union Ave
Cresskill, NJ
201-569-3909
http://www.cresskillbagels.com/
No event is too big or small for Cresskill Hot Bagels and Café on Union Avenue in Cresskill. They offer complete office and corporate packages, packages to fit any budget, Bar & Bat Mitzvahs, Kiddushim, brissim, baby-namings, confirmations, birthday parties, Sweet 16s, baby showers, graduations, communions, and brunches, you get the idea. In addition to an array of bagels, bagels baskets, party bagels and spreads, they offer wraps, Paninis, assorted cream cheeses, fruit bowls, berry platters, crudités, sliced and chunk cheeses, homemade salads, croissants, fresh salad bars, a variety of smoked fish and appetizers. The meat department offers cold cuts, 6 Foot Hero’s. And there’s a wide assortment of beverages. You can also get coupons from their website.
BINGHAMPTON BAGEL CAFÉ
725 River Road
Edgewater, NJ
(201) 945-0122
New location: 2151 Lemoine Ave.
Washington Bridge Shopping Plaza
Fort Lee
201-947-0003
Fresh tuna salad homemade, lox imported daily from Brooklyn, rated best bagels in New Jersey. Their bagels are hand-rolled and baked on the premises, and flavors go beyond the basics. sundried tomato. They cater all sorts of celebrations and even shivas, including the perfect, pre-packaged bagel brunch with platters and all. There’s plenty of room for a sit down meal, and you can have a coffee and a sandwich, too. Specializing beyond bagels, with wraps, soups, paninis and more. Free delivery.
TEANECK BAGELS
976 Teaneck Road, Teaneck, NJ
201-833-0410
Teaneck Bagels keeps it pure and basic. No spreads, no catering, and no website. If you want hot, fresh, traditional bagels, call in your order then just go and pick them up.
GLATT EXPRESS, THE KOSHER COMMUNITY SUPERMARKET
GLATT EXPRESS SUPERMARKET
1400 Queen Anne Road
Teaneck, NJ 07666
(201) 837-8110
www.glattexpresssupermarket.com
Platters and catering are not their thing, but there’s so much to choose from at Glatt Express on Queen Anne Road when you are the person doing the food prep for your event. It’s one stop shopping, and everything you need is right there.
It’s been a year under new management and you can see the sparkling clean difference. Tammy is happy to help the do-it-yourselfers put together the ingredients for a bagel brunch or other event. Her bagels are delivered fresh daily and are baked just for her. The aisles are packed with kosher goodies from around the world, and the array is enormous. The meats and fish are brought in fresh daily, the produce is handpicked, and if you want something special, like a marinated brisket or to experiment with new spices and herbs, ask Tammy. She cares. The Lazy Bean Café next door is part of the supermarket, giving shoppers a chance to grab a cappuccino or café au lait. It’s comfortable lounge that offers a variety of coffees from around the world. In addition to lattes and cappuccinos, the cafe offers tea, salads, fresh-made soups and panini sandwiches. WiFi is free and outdoor seating is available on nice days.
PICKELICIOUS
384 Cedar Lane,
Teaneck, NJ 07666
Phone: 201-833-0100
http ://picklelicious.com/
ROBYN SAMRA
Family Day Sunday`s (10am-5pm)
Come on down with your family for sampling and every family member gets a FREE pickle-on a- stick)
PickleLicious is the place for pickle platters/gift baskets/gift cards: Robyn sells at many farmers’ markets around the region and has a handle on the hot and trendy, including very spicy, mildly spicy and unusual flavored pickled treats and olives. Platters and displays are a specialty, a perfect accent for your drop-off or catered brunches from other purveyors.
SHELLY’S CAFE
482 Cedar Lane
Teaneck
Shelly and Noam Sokolow
(201) 692-0001
Dairy. RCBC
www.shellyscafe.net
A favorite vegetarian cafe, won “Best Brunch” in New Jersey’s 201 Magazine ’Best of Begen’ edition a few years ago. Shelly’s offers innovative fish dishes, pastas and salads, favorites like French onion soup and brick oven gourmet pizza, cappuccino, coffees and assorted pastries and cakes.
The classic prix fixe brunch buffet: smoked fish, fresh bagels, pancakes, French toast, home fries, all kinds of salads and omelets made to order. Just $19 ($12 for children under 10). 10:30 am-2:30 pm., every Sunday. Tuesday night offers prix fixe specials, too. Mediterranean bouillabaisse, spinach ravioli in tomato cream sauce, sushi…always something different and inventive. Reasonably priced at $21 ($13 for children under 10). Includes dessert and choice of soup.
ARIEL’S
18 Engle Street
Englewood
201-569-1202
Craig Solomon
crms99@aol.com
www.arielskosher.com
questions@arielskosher.com
Catering@arielskosher.com
Follow them on Twitter: Arielskosher
DAIRY Cholov Yisroel, RCBC
From tamales to the smoked salmon, Craig Solomon’s kitchen ensures that you get sophisticated and wholesome food prepared fresh, from scratch. There are menu items perfect for brunching on site, taking home, or for catering a huge brunch for family and friends. Four kinds of omelets, eggs Hollandaise, double-decker grilled cheese, pancakes, four varieties of French toast and a slew of interesting pizzas are only a fraction of choices you can make for your event.
REUBEN’S GLATT SPOT CATERING
659 Eagle Rock Avenue
West Orange, NJ 07052
973-736-0060
Fax 973-736-8026
Reubensglattspot@aol.com
http://www.reubensglattspot.com/
Reuben’s Glatt Spot offers a brunch menu to suit every need. Sunday brunch consists of assorted sliced bagels, assorted sliced cheeses and cream cheeses, orzo pilaf or pasta primavera, a sliced vegetable garnish platter {red onions, lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes}, a seven-section platter of tuna, egg, whitefish salad, salmon salad. Minimum 15 people: $13.99 per person. Super Sunday brunch adds penne pasta with roasted peppers and sun dried tomatoes and Chef’s special salad OR broccoli salad with Portobello mushrooms and Health Salad OR Spring Garden Salad, a seven-section platter of babaganoush, veggie liver, tabouli, hummus, and Spanish eggplant. Dessert is mini-pastries.
Minimum 15 people: $18.99 per person. Deluxe Sunday brunch is the Sunday brunch with the addition of garnished platters of filleted whitefish, nova, lox, sable and kippered salmon. Minimum 20 people: $24.99 per person.
May 27
Jeanette Friedmanfood, holidays, life cycle events and celebrations, wine and entertainment
CELEBRATING SPRING AND SUMMER:
How to Throw a Party? Plan Ahead.
By Jeanette Friedman
The days grow longer, winter’s icy chill defrosts; gray, dismal skies blow away. Suddenly the crocuses and hyacinths raise their colorful heads in bright fresh greenery. Tulips in an array of colors, hot yellow daffodils, lavender lilacs and pink azaleas explode in flower beds everywhere. The sun shines, the sky is a bright blue and it’s time to come out of hibernation and celebrate.
Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and though the summer season starts on a somber note, by having us remember those who gave their lives for our country, we also use that weekend to celebrate the freedoms we cherish. That weekend is filled with wreath layings and parades, the first barbeques, pool parties and fireworks of the season. It’s the official opening of summer…the best time of year to rejoice in the special moments of our lives.
There are birthdays, graduations, proms, Sweet Sixteens, anniversaries, baby-namings and brissim to mark happy memories for life, along with Little League victories, golf tournaments, tennis matches and more. Find an excuse, or you don’t need a reason. All you have to do is load up on your favorite goodies, gourmet or comfort foods. You don’t need a reason to celebrate—invite your friends and relatives, share the joy and party.
What unites all of these diverse events is the real-time face-time of families and friends coming together in a beautiful setting—whether it’s an elegant indoor venue like The Palisadium, one of Foremost’s castles, an afternoon tea in the gazebo, a barbeque at the baseball field, in a local park or on your back deck. Or pack a picnic and go for a drive along the shores of the Hudson or up into the mountains—this is the season to enjoy good food and good times.
PLANNING YOUR CELEBRATIONS
Is a friend off on a world tour or is your best friend making Aliyah and you want to give him/her a send-off s/he won’t forget? The kids are finally graduating? There’s new grandchild or your first great-grandchild has arrived and you want your friends to kvell with you? You finished writing your book and it’s just been published and you owe yourself a cocktail party. Do feel like you’d rather be in South Beach or Honolulu? You don’t want to go through airport security, and you’ve got a pool in your backyard with a nearby grill and sound system, perfect for a party, or you can call the country club and ask about pool parties with a tropical theme, and let them worry about the preparations.
Pick a theme, any theme, and work from there. Once you have your location (and your budget) locked in, you will know how many people you can accommodate. You may want to invite the whole world, but space and money constrain you. Make sure you are inviting those people with whom you truly want to share the festivities. If it’s social gathering, invite an interesting mix of people of all ages who like to have conversation and who share some interests in common. The invitation sets the tone, and there are hundreds, nay, thousands, of designs to choose from, on paper, on Facebook, and everywhere on the net. Most fave service is www.evite.com.
The art of the detail.
The art of throwing a good party, casual or formal, indoor or out, starts with keeping lists. Do it on computer, Smartphone or paper, depending on what makes you most comfortable. An old-fashioned dedicated paper notebook with tabs and pockets, like a Daytimer, works great because you can scribble notes and add items easily. Whether you intend to have your party at home or another venue, checklists will differ and still need to be followed. It’s all about attention to detail.
Create a timetable.
Pick a date, the party starting time and the number of guests you expect to entertain. Book the room, park or garden you want to use. You may have to do this as much as one year or more in advance, especially if it is a bar/bat mitzvah ceremony in a synagogue, followed by a party in the hall—or if you want a special venue for a birthday, anniversary or other special event.
Give your guests six weeks’ notice if you can. And if you can’t, you use Facebook, email, or the phone to let people know you are planning a party. You can also send out a save-the-date card, to give them a heads up. When you choose your date, make sure it doesn’t conflict with other major events your guests may have already planned to attend or want to attend.
Make sure you book all the people you will need to help you make your party a success. From the baby sitter to the caterer, everyone needs to know when to be there. Make a list: Baby sitters, caterer, waiters, clean-up staff, musicians, photographers, and oh yes, don’t forget the guest of honor, the rabbi, community leader or politician, if you need one!
Food and Drink
Dairy or meat? Is food being served outdoors? Are you serving lunch, dinner or something in between? If it’s an open house you are planning, will you barbeque, and is your grill large enough to handle all the food for your guests? You’ll need special plates and serving pieces, flatware and barware
Look at the kinds of menus that interest you by going through international cook books and make a list of dishes you want to serve. Keep your budget in mind. If you are doing your own cooking, make an ingredient list, too, and set up a cooking time for dishes that can be frozen ahead of time, and those that need to be prepared on the day of. Check with your favorite vendors who make items you specifically want to serve. Some vendors do special party packages and platters—from birthdays to brissim, from light meals to full-course meat and fish dinners, and they deliver them with all the fixings. Or you can go full out and hire a caterer with a full staff, who will take care of everything from the lighting and flowers to the food and cleanup—and let you be a guest at your party, even in a castle and its gardens.
If you’re going it alone, list the stores you will need to visit: florist, liquor store, party supply store, bakery, caterer, nursery, etc. and make the trips geographically efficient so that you keep your carbon footprint as small as possible—you may decide to go green and use only recycled and recyclable utensils, or stick to real glassware, dishes and flatware, avoiding plastic altogether.
Use Google to help you find things you may not be able to access locally.
Beverages
Alcohol is always on the beverage menu for adult parties, Legally, you are responsible if your guests drink too much and get into an accident, so don’t forget that! Whether wine, beer or hard liquor is served, there are many serious issues to take into consideration.
At formal events, you may need to arrange for the corkage fees, which boosts the price per guest considerably, but you may have no choice. If you are serving wines at any event, and dietary laws are important, make sure your wines are marked “mevushal,” so your waiters and bartenders can serve your wines. There are the diet and sugared sodas, fresh juices, iced and hot coffee and various teas, served with creamer or lemon. Ice disappears fast, especially in the summertime, especially at outdoor parties. Make sure you have lots of tubs of ice on hand, because warm soda is the worst! The ice will keep your salads chilled, your food fresher, and everyone cool.
Best Face Forward
If you’re entertaining at home, you will want your guests to feel comfortable. Make a list of everything you will need to do to make your house sparkle. Schedule household help ahead of time, and make a list of everything that needs to be done—from cleaning every nook and cranny, getting the bathrooms spotless (and check them during the party to make sure there are enough paper towels and toilet paper, and that no one clogged the plumbing, to putting crisp fresh bedding, neatly folded towels and amenities in the guest bedrooms. Make a list of necessary cleaning supplies, including the silver polish, and check to see that you have everything you need when the cleaning starts. Schedule the tasks so that the most difficult ones, like cleaning the chandelier and rugs, are handled at least one week before the party. Oh…and don’t forget the windowsills.
Tablecloths for formal events can be fine linen, lace, or fine fabrics. For casual parties, place mats, runners, scarves, wrapping paper and foil can all work. Centerpieces should be low enough for guests to be able to talk across the table. If you don’t have enough of one kind of wine glass or dinnerware, mix and match crystal and china to set a quirky yet elegant table. If you plan to use your heirloom table linens and napkins, make sure they are stain free and pressed, that the silver gleams and the crystal shines. If your caterer is providing these things, check them to make sure everything is as it should be.
Take care of you, too. Make sure that a day or two before your event you get a haircut, a touch up, a facial, a mani-pedi and a massage, so that you’ll glow as hostess with the moistest…look up Perle Mesta…
The Incidentals:
Music and musicians—live band or orchestra,a dj, a hooked-up i-Pod, or a cd jukebox, make your choice. If it’s the i-Pod and jukebox route you’re taking, test everything on the day before the party so there are no last minute situations. Theme decorations include lanterns and lights, candles, place cards and place holders for formal events, party favors, printed materials (song books, prayer books, menus, etc.) Don’t forget the digital cameras, and give friends a place, like Facebook, where they can post photos, or email them to you, and then you can create your own digital scrapbook of the party.
All the hard work and party planning is worth it in the end. There’s nothing quite like being immersed in serving your guests, putting smiles on their faces, filling their bellies, and making them feel good. And there’s nothing better than kicking back on a pool lounger, martini or margarita in hand, and congratulating yourself on having pulled off an event everyone will remember for a long, happy time.
May 27
Jeanette Friedmaneulogy, food, holidays, judaism, life cycle events and celebrations, local stories/community, orthodoxy
OF KIDDUSH, COLLATIONS AND COMMUNITY
Celebrating Special Events in Shul or at Home on Shabbat &Yom Tov
By Jeanette Friedman
(It turns out the rebbetzin I wrote about was nifter 5/27, the day the paper arrived in people’s mailboxes. Baruch Dayan Emet. She was an incredible woman. Her name was Rebbetzin Chaya Frankel..from Frankel’s Shul in Crown Heights and Flatbush.)
In the old shuls in Brooklyn, run by Hasidic dynasties in Crown Heights, Borough Park and Williamsburg—even in the black-hat shuls—by the time the girls arrived with their mothers in time for the Torah reading, you knew someone was celebrating something or marking a yahrzeit. The upstairs lady’s section (der veiber shile), would be redolent with the rich scent coming from a huge pot of garlicky cholent, a heart-disease inducing stew, thick with beans and barley, beef bones and onions that had been set to simmer on the blech in the kitchen early Friday afternoon. (A blech is a steel sheet set over the gas burners to hold the heat of a low flame and slow the cooking process to a steady simmer.)
If cholent was in the air, a feast was in the offing.
A simple kiddush in days of yore was slapped on a long table. It consisted of some schnapps, dried out sponge or honey cake, some schmaltz herring and sugar-coated egg bowties that were as hard as rocks. If the men were lucky, there would be a bowl of garbonza beans (arbis), straight out of a can, dried with a dishtowel and tossed in a bowl with salt and pepper. There were no spoons or plates, and they would dig in with their fingers, using toothpicks to stab a piece of herring. Everything stank.
But in the rebbitzen’s shul in addition to cholent, crispy, grayish, but delicious potato kugel, made with onions, was stuffed into the ovens, along with delicately browned noodle kugel made with raisins, always sweet and moist, with hints of vanilla and lemon. These kugels would be wrapped in yards and yards of aluminum foil so they would stay hot without burning.
The rebbitzen would come in early with some of her friends and slice long loaves of sweet/salty cold gefilte fish into ¾ inch thick diagonal slices, slip them onto thin paper plates with a sliced carrot placed just so, along with a sprig of parsley. A plastic fork would be put on the plate, too. The plates would then be stacked on each other in the fridge. The horse radish was red, the pickles were half sours, set out in jars.
When the men got to saying the amidah for Musaf, the rebbitzen removed the kugels from the oven and carefully removed the foil. She and the women cut up to ten pans of kugel into 2×2 inch squares in record time and piled them on platters. The steamy, smelly cholent was ladled into deep bowls and passed around with thicker paper plates. Sometimes the rebbetzin would prepare “p’tcha,” also known as “galleh,” aspic made from chicken legs with lots of garlic and schmaltz. Only the really old folks would go near it. If it was Shevuoth, the kugel would be cheese kugel, there would be blintzes, cheese kreplach, cheese cake made with farmer cheese, fruit soup and herring platters—schmaltz, matjes herring in cream sauce and/or wine sauce with onions seasoned with lots of bay leaves. Sometimes, not often, there was lox with a square slab of cream cheese, but no bagels. Challah rolls would have to do.
There were usually three or four men on the kitchen squad who could carry 30 portions of gefilte fish without trays, and who had the food-transfer system to the men’s section down pat. The women set out food for the women upstairs, with slightly more refinement. There were napkins. The moment a voice from downstairs made kiddush loud enough for everyone to hear, the hoards would descend, and every drop of food would disappear in moments. The rebbe would give a dvar Torah, people would say the version of grace after meals that applied, and off they’d go—to a real meal or a Shabbat nap.
Sometimes the hosting family would stay behind with selected family members and friends to continue the celebration on site. Sometimes the festivities continued at home or in a rented hall a short walk away. Rarely did anyone stray from convention. The menus were practically static. Fruit cocktail with maraschino cherries was a luxury. Desert was usually ruggelach with a glass of tea.
Today, influenced by our meticulous moms and the Food Network, the kiddush has dramatically evolved. You can still get the basics for a kiddush and so much more from food purveyors in Northern New Jersey and beyond. There are kiddushim for vegans, for carnivores, weight watchers, and for the rest of us who just love to eat good food. From deli platters to derma stuffed boneless chicken thighs, mini-danish to caviar, a kiddush can be simple and stylish, elegant and elaborate, Middle Eastern or Mexican. You are limited only by your budget and special needs, if any.
FAR FROM TRADITION, AND DELICIOUS
In addition to the basics, there are millions of dishes to choose from if you’re planning a kiddush either at home, in shul or temple. Some unusual menu items you might want to consider: Chilled bowtie pasta with sautéed portobello mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and olive tapenade dressing; an assortment of sushi and shashimi instead of gefilte fish, or as a complement to it. Marinated asparagus salad with fresh berries and lemon mint vinaigrette, served with cold poached salmon. Artichoke and Kalamata olive tarts and mini quiches make great finger foods, as do Moroccan cigars stuffed with ground lamb, Vietnamese spring rolls with Mandarin dipping sauce, and kubeh (which should be served with an international variety of dipping sauces). A fresh salad suggestion is sliced avocados dipped in lemon juice and diced citrus fruits topping baby spinach greens dressed with raspberry vinaigrette. Even the beverages can be different—iced green tea, fresh juices, chilled white wines from Israel—the sky’s the limit.
A typical dairy kiddush could consist of bagels, cream cheese spreads and lox, fresh fruit platters, a pasta salad, a herring assortment, crackers and breads, mini muffins, assorted mini-danish, ruggelach and brownies. Beverages would be coffees, creamers and teas and sodas. To expand this menu, typically, you would add tuna, egg and potato salads, white fish, pickle platters, at least three kinds of kugel (choosing from white potato, sweet potato, regular sweet noodle kugel, salt and pepper noodle kugel, cheese kugel, kugel Yerushalmi, a kugel made with thin noodles, hot and sweet.) You might even add kasha varnishes (bowtie noodles with sautéed onions and kasha) or a variety of mini-knishes.
There are many food purveyors who are ready, willing and able to meet your every kiddush catering need—from take-out menu selections to full service catering.
SIDE BAR: About Kiddush
The fifth “commandment” of the ten reminds us to keep the Sabbath and remember it. It’s the one day of the week when we are ordered to take it easy, spend some time with our families and our community in the synagogues or temples of our choice. We “keep” the Sabbath by refraining from work on that day, and we “remember” it with the rituals we use to sanctify it. We bless the wine, traditionally using a fancy silver cup or chalice, on Friday nights before the Sabbath meal, and again on Saturday morning after services. Today, kiddush cups or bechers, the Yiddish word for them, can be fashioned by artists in ceramics, hand-blown glass or other materials. They make great gifts for engagements, graduations, bar/bats and weddings. But that’s beside the point.
A kiddush, an after- morning service celebration, could also be called a collation, a fancy word for a light meal, even when traditional cholesterol packed food is on the menu. It’s a social gathering with food that begins with a ceremony to sanctify the wine, grape juice or liquor that is used (if you would serve the drinks to a VIP, it qualifies for kiddush). The event usually marks an important lifecycle event, like a baby naming, a bris, an engagement, a birthday, a bar or bat mitzvah, or to mark the anniversary of the passing of a loved one, a yahrzeit. Most shuls have a kiddush on Saturday mornings, offering mini-danish and coffee, even when there’s no lifecycle event to celebrate. Other congregations have a Friday night Oneg Shabbat after services, which operates on the same principle.
Ma’adan
446 Cedar Lane, Teaneck
201-692-0192
Stuart or Yossi
http://www.maadan.com/
Stuart Kahan and Yossi Markovic, owners of Ma’adan, have been friends since second grade. Both worked in food service and, in 1981, decided to open a small glatt “gourmet” take out place on Cedar Lane in Teaneck. Today that store has grown to 4,500 square ft. and is packed with anything you might want to offer your guests, especially for a kiddush. They stock staples and the latest trendy items. They do dairy and meat, and carry a fine selection of wine and liquor. Non-traditional items include Buffalo wings, Jumbalaya, lamb stew, bachts (a Bukharan beef dish with rice) for an interesting change of pace for kiddush.
A Ma’adan specialty, particularly for kiddush, is the homemade herring bar, offering various spicy herrings, and old standbys: matjes, wine and schmaltz, served with sautéed onions, veggies and parve cream sauce. Baby-namings, bar/bat, brissim and other buffet kiddush events are a house specialty, and they offer full-service catering, including weddings. They’ll serve on paper plates, plastic ware or china and silver plate—depending on the hosts‘ needs. After 30 years on Cedar Lane, Stuie and Yossi pride themselves on providing customer service for foodies—no preservatives added.
Foster Village Kosher Deli
469 S. Washington Avenue, Bergenfield
In the Foster Village shopping mall
201-384-7100
Free parking.
Call for orders and hours.
Yossi and Rina have been serving the Bergen County Jewish community since 1979 as purveyors of quality kosher deli for Conservative and Reform congregations. Traditional and deli style kiddush is what they do best. As Yossi says, “It’s my cup of tea.” They also offer full service catering for business lunches, meetings, and dinners.
Everything is homemade, including the corned beef, the brisket, the pastrami and soups. The deli platters are to die for. Side dishes include kasha varnishkes, egg barley (ferfel in Yiddish)—usually sautéed with diced onions and mushrooms. The soups are exceptional. And a food critic on the net suggests “that you ask Yossi to make an Israeli pot roast for your next Shabbos.”
Noah’s Ark
493 Cedar Lane, Teaneck
Phone: 201.692.1200
Fax: 201.692.1890
www.noahsark.net
and
Rave Caterers
212-527-7059×3
www.ravecaterers.com
noam@ravecaterers.com
Noah’s Ark opened as a sit-down deli/restaurant on Cedar Lane in 1988. Since then, proprietors Noam and Shelly Sokolow have expanded the business to include Shelly’s Vegetarian Café (dairy) across the street, an old-fashioned kosher deli on the Lower East Side, an elegant, top-tier catering service called Rave, based in the Big Apple, and a brisk, mail order business that ships frozen kosher food cross-country. They have a vast menu that includes all sorts of party packages. When planning a meat-based kiddush, bang for the buck would be the Mid-Life Crisis Party. Crisis is averted when the package is a pre-packaged deli kiddush that serves 40-45 folks for under $600. Beverages are not included. Here’s what is: A 20-lb carved up turkey, 48 franks in blankets, 48 mini-potato knishes, 48 mini-egg rolls, 10 lbs. of cold cuts on platters, including corned beef and roast beef, 9 lbs. each of potato salad and cole slaw, a tray of pickles and relishes and 9 lbs. of sliced rye bread. Comes with mustard and Russian dressing. All you need to do is set it up on long tables, and maybe replace the rye bread with challah rolls for 48.
Ariel’s
18 Engle Street
Englewood
201-569-1202
Craig Solomon
crms99@aol.com
www.arielskosher.com
questions@arielskosher.com
Catering@arielskosher.com
Follow them on Twitter: Arielskosher
It’s a newcomer to the neighborhood, but Ariel’s makes a strong kosher culinary statement that is a world away from cheese blintzes, veggie burgers and mushroom steaks, This unique eatery specializes in affordable, upscale cuisine, served in a casual, family-friendly atmosphere. Craig Solomon, the chef/owner, trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, a place that turns out the caliber chefs you see on The Food Network and Bravo. He takes his cooking seriously and says his dishes speak for him. Craig uses international ingredients, makes his own pasta and ice cream. Everything is under $20, except fresh fish entrees. Off-premise catering for a dairy kiddush, dinner meetings, birthdays and other parties, Sheva Brachot, bar/bats and other special events can be set up with a buffet, an a la carte menu or family-style meals.
Craig’s reputation has attracted clientele from all around the county and rave reviews. In addition to gourmet pizzas and kid-friendly fare, the fish dishes rise above the pale: sesame-crusted salmon, cedar plank-roasted salmon, coriander-crusted tuna and blackened tilapia are only a few of your choices. There’s wild mushroom rissoto poppers, house-made gnocchi with pesto sauce, sweet potato tamales and grilled zucchini french fries. Go and sample.
Petak’s Glatt Kosher Fine Foods & Catering
1903 Fair Lawn Ave.
Fair Lawn, NJ
201-833-8200 or 201-797-5010
Call for Daily Specials
petaksfood@aol.com
http://www.petaksglattkosher.com
Petak’s has been serving food in the tri-state area for more than 75 years and catered a Chanukah party in the White House during the George W. Bush administration, they’re that good. They do deli like you wouldn’t believe, with overstuffed hot pastrami on rye like the old days. Traditional dishes, kreplach, matzoh ball soup like Bubbe made, gefilte fish, chopped liver, thin-sliced salmon, kugels, knishes and more are all available, as are a slew of international dishes from around the world: French, Italian, Oriental, Middle Eastern, and Latin American cuisine, are all prepared with close attention to kashrut, quality and culinary integrity. There are smoked fish platter packages including salads, cream cheeses and breads. There are traditional deli platter packages and sandwich and wrap packages, all suitable for the shul kiddush. There are also dairy options available, including cheese platters, fresh fruit platters, cake platters and much much more to choose from.
Reuben’s Glatt Spot Catering
659 Eagle Rock Avenue
West Orange, NJ 07052
Ph: (973) 736-0060
Fax (973) 736-8026
Email:Reubensglattspot@aol.com
http://www.reubensglattspot.com/
Over in West Orange, Reuben’s Glatt Spot offers traditional platter packages that are perfect for either a dairy or meat kiddush, along with a Middle Eastern kiddush called the Israeli Homeland Delight—a seven section platter filled with your choice of Middle Eastern salads like babaganoush, chumus, tehina, grilled eggplant, vegetarian liver, Turkish salad, Spanish eggplant, an ample supply of cut pita and a large bowl of Israeli salad. Minimum 10 people @ $9.50 per person.
The^ Famous^ Kosher Nosh
894 Prospect St.
Glen Rock, NJ
201-445-1186
http://www.koshernosh.com/
Classic Kosher Delicatessen, international cuisine, smoked fish and appetizing, soups and salads and diary section. There’s dining in, drop-off, catering and kiddush specials as well as condolence meals and platters for shiva. They also offer a stimulus package with coupons on their website, and a Shabbat Shalom special for $25.95 available from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon. They’ve got you covered from Jersey City to Franklin Lakes, from Ridgewood to Kearny.
And for something that’s just a little different, there is
Fish of the C’s
454 Cedar Lane, Teaneck,
201-928-1200 FAX: 201-928-1201
Clark Loffman
http://www.fishofthecs.com/
Fish of the C’s is a kosher, dairy, fish restaurant providing quality food at a good price in a pleasant atmosphere. (There’s a big screen TV equipped with PC hookup for presentations. The party room iaccomodates 30 for great for birthday parties, anniversaries, baby naming, sweet sixteens, sheva brachot, engagement parties, graduations, office parties and business meetings. The restaurant seats 25.
A Fish of the C’s kiddush consists of smoked, grilled, blackened or poached fish platters, house cured gravlax platters, wraps, General Tzo’s fish bites, crudités, fruit platters, cake and cookie platters, beverages and fixings. Call for details. Drop off and full service available.
And don’t forget the add-ons:
PICKELICIOUS
PickleLicious is the place for pickle platters/gift baskets/gift cards: Robyn sells at many farmers’ markets around the region and has a handle on the hot and trendy, including very spicy, mildly spicy and unusual flavored pickled treats and olives. Pickel platters and displays are a specialty, a perfect accent for your drop-off or catered kiddush.
PICKELICIOUS
384 Cedar Lane,
Teaneck, NJ 07666
Phone: 201-833-0100
http ://picklelicious.com/
ROBYN SAMRA
Family Day Sunday`s (10am-5pm)
Come on down with your family for sampling and every family member gets a FREE pickle-on a- stick).
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Glatt kosher is a term lots of people use incorrectly to describe what they believe is a higher category of kosher standards to everything—from beef to cheese. Yet the expression “glatt” which is Yiddish for the word smooth, applies to red meat only, the kind carnivores relish, and it doesn’t apply to poultry or fish—let alone dairy products and pareve foods (neutrals). The correct term that applies to a higher standard of general kashrut is mehadrin, which means to adorn, or kick something up a few notches. It’s a category important in ultra-Orthodox households.
