Last-Minute Rosh Hashanah Dinner Rescue

Braised Brisket is on Mile End Deli’s Rosh Hashanah menu. Image by Courtesy of Mile End Deli

By Michael Kaminer September 28, 2016

There’s still time to plan this year’s Rosh Hashanah meals, whether or not you’re the one at the stove.

Offerings from restaurants and purveyors seem especially imaginative this time around — both mindful of tradition and completely fresh.

Take the October 2 and 3 Rosh Hashanah dinner at Joe and MissesDoe in New York, where housemade “pretzel challah” is the lead-in to chilled organic salmon with gribenes, caramelized brisket with horseradish and “Jewish Mah’s honey cake.” It’s $90/person. The “Jewish Mah” is co-owner Jill Dobias’ own mother.

At Wise Sons, the terrific San Francisco deli chainlet, you can order a catered Rosh Hashanah dinner spread including house-made challah, chopped liver, chicken soup and matzo balls, braised brisket and free-range chicken and desserts including noodle kugel and honey cake. It’s all available a la carte rather than priced as a set menu.

The Manhattan location of Mile End Deli will serve an erev meal on October 2 and 3. On the $60 set menu: Matzo ball soup; braised or beer-brined chicken; schmaltz-roasted potatoes; sweet kugel with honey and shaved plums; faro and bowties with brussels sprouts radish and pumpkin seeds and cookies & cream babka.

The Israeli-Brazilian partners behind Padoca Bakeryon the Upper East Side have rolled out a High Holidays slate of treats including chocolate babka, apple babka, honey cake, apple cake and festive round challah bread. Also appropriate for the holidays, but sold year-round: The Romeo & Juliet Babka. It’s named for the combo of guava and cheese, which Brazilians apparently consider the perfect pairing.

Mamaleh’s just opened in July, but the Boston deli is already kicking it with a phenomenal High Holidays menu. You’ll get farm apples, honey and house-made challah; chopped liver with bagel chips; matzoh-ball soup; deli pickle plate; kasha varnishkes; root vegetable tzimmes; and steamed pudding, a traditional British cake, for dessert. The kicker: The package includes organic beeswax candles. The whole shebang clocks in at $175 and serves 4-6.

The terrific General Muir in Atlanta is offering a trad Rosh Hashanah menu that sounds like a steal at $30/person. Think matzo-ball soup; gefilte fish; chopped liver, brisket and roasted chicken; tzimmes, kasha varnishkes and more. You can also grab apply honey cake and black-and-white cookies a la carte.

And chef Tori Valdes at 251LEX — that’s in Mt. Kisco, New Jersey — is offering a Rosh Hashanah supper with a Mediterranean accent from October 2-4. For $29, you’ll get spreads like hummus and babaganoush, both house-made; shaved kale Caesar salad; roasted chicken, brisket, flank steak or chickpea falafel as mains; and honey-walnut cake for dessert.

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Michael Kaminer is a contributing editor at the Forward.

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