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Alix Wallis a freelance writer in Oakland, Calif. where she specializes in Jews, love and food.
Alix Wallis a freelance writer in Oakland, Calif. where she specializes in Jews, love and food.
Lining up participants for The Great Big Jewish Food Fest has been the easiest experience with event planning Jeffrey Yoskowitz has ever had. “Not a single person we’ve asked has said a flat out ‘no,’”Yoskowitz said, “everyone has said ‘I’m in, I want to be part of it.’” Yoskowitz is the coauthor of the “The…
For nearly four decades, Karen and Barry Mason owned Circus of Books, a book and video store that was considered Los Angeles’ “center of the gay universe.” Later, they became one of the largest distributors of gay pornography in the country. Now their lives are the subject of a documentary dropping on Netflix on Wednesday,…
Since July 1 of last year, Jami Goldstene, a former public relations executive, had spent seven days a week running Solomon’s Delicatessen in Sacramento a long-awaited Jewish deli she co-owns that had finally opened after years of delays. Then came Covid-19. On March 15, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that restaurants had to shift to…
(JTA) — BERKELEY, Calif. (J. Weekly via JTA) — Alby Kass, one of the founders of the Russian River Jewish Community some four decades ago, has died March 31 of complications from COVID-19. He was 89. After spending the past year battling a number of other illnesses, he succumbed in a San Leandro hospital bed…
March 8, 2021 may be a date that goes down in Jewish history: that was when The New York Times declared “The Best Bagels Are in California.” As evidence writer Tejal Rao singled out Berkeley, California’s Boichik Bagels, which, she wrote, “have the look of Labrador puppies curled up for afternoon naps: soft and pudgy,…
SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) – In the compact, open kitchen of the apartment here that Dalit Gvirtsman shares with her husband, about a dozen women are jostling for space. One is chopping tomatoes, another is sauteing onions and another is squeezing a few dollops of honey into cooked egg noodles. Just beyond, the dining room table…
It’s a quote that’s made the rounds already, but it’s so good that it bears repeating: “It’s as if pastrami and corned beef got together, had a couple glasses of wine, turned on some Barry White and made a baby.” That’s how Lex Gopnik-Lewinski describes smoke meat, a delicacy so delicious that Gopnik-Lewinski used to…
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