Food

Bay-Area Bagel Saviors and All the Weekly Dish

Image by Flickr

By Michael Kaminer July 28, 2015

San Francisco’s Bagel Saviors

Amid all the about lousy bagels in the Bay Area comes this welcome bit of news: Evan Bloom and Leo Beckerman of Wise Sons deli will open a bagel shop this month on Fillmore St. in San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Bloom and Beckerman will aim to crank out more than 5,000 bagels daily; the shop will seat 12.

It’s a huge comeback for the duo, whose commercial baking operation was hit by a devastating fire early this year.

A Muslim, a Jew, and a Vegan Walk Into a Restaurant…

Image by Courtesy of The Pantry

The Pantry’s falafel burger.

“Hey! Did you hear the one about the Muslim, the Jew and the Vegan who went to dinner? Well, they had a great time.”

That’s the pitch for The Pantry, which just opened as Orlando, Florida’s first kosher/halal/part-vegan/local/ecologically aware eatery.

Kosher and vegan options are cooked in separate prep areas with their own utensils.

The menu, appropriately, careens from shakshuka to stir-fries to nachos to pasta.

Band Name of the Week

Jerry’s Kosher Deli plays the music of Jerry Garcia, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Bob Marley and others — “with a Jewish Jam twist.” The band launched the San Francisco Giants’ Jewish Heritage Nights program this week at AT&T Park.

Jewish Food Fest in Scranton

For at least one day, Scranton, Pennsylvania, will become a hotbed of Jewish cuisine. The Jewish Discovery Center’s annual food festival is slated for August 2 at PNC Field in nearby Moosic.

On tap: Stuffed cabbage, Shor Habor kosher hot dogs and desserts, including chocolate babka and fruit hamantaschen, says the Scranton Times-Tribune.

More Breaking Kosher News From Pennsylvania

A new kosher eatery’s opened its doors in the Philly suburb of Narberth, reports The Jewish Exponent.

Star of David Kosher Grill is the latest spot from local restaurateur Sharon Abargel, whose Northeast Philadelphia eateries include kosher spots Espresso Café and Japanika, which serves sushi, Chinese and American food.

Star of David will serve a slightly disturbing combination of kosher sushi, Chinese food, steak, shwarama and burgers.

Changing of the Deli Guard in Buffalo

Risa Paonessa, who owns several Jewish delis in Buffalo, will take over the former Reuben’s New York Deli, the Buffalo News says.

Look for a menu similar to her other spots, with corned beef, whitefish salad and chopped liver; soups like matzo ball soup and sweet-and-sour cabbage and salads. But “We’ll probably do a little bit of expansion, things like potato pancakes, kasha varnishkes, noodle kugel, things like that.”

Michael Kaminer is a contributing editor at the Forward.

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