Bravo Pizza

Bravo Kosher Pizza

By: Shoshana Blum

Broadway @ 37^th Street – (212) 268-4499

Over the summer I worked at a local camp as a counselor.  One of my friends who had been working at the camp with me came to my house for Shabbos. Sitting around after Shabbos, we decided we should go out to eat because we wanted to please our food blog audience. Actually, more because we were hungry.  Though teenagers may work hard all summer, we don’t get paid much.* So we did what all self-respecting, low-paid employees do, go for pizza. In honor of motzaei Shabbos, we decided to try out, upscale pizza, aka Bravo.

So Esther, my friend Chaya and I took the train to 42^nd street. We got out of the subway station, and I couldn’t figure out which direction to walk toward Broadway. Common story for many, but as a native New Yorker, I was admittedly ashamed of myself.  We walked a few blocks to 37^th, wondering if we would find the restaurant. While walking, we talked about a lot of things because when you put teenage girls together (happy birthday to Esther who is now a teenager) the weirdest topics come up. On our topic list came the numa numa song, shoes, and wondering if it was even possible that while trying out a new restaurant we would NOT run into somebody we knew- probably on a date.

Never mind all that, back to the food. We walk up to the restaurant and see a massive line of Jews and non-Jews (because, of course, we can just tell the difference!?) at 11pm waiting for some really good pizza.  The window outside displayed about twenty plus different pie combinations I had never even thought to make. They looked really tempting and fresh, having been prepared soon after Shabbos ended.  We spent most of our time there on line, saying things like totssupcool and taking selfies.
After about a twenty minute wait, we were right outside the door when I noticed there were no french-fries on their menu (which dear readers you likely already know, is a pet-peeve of mine).  Seriously?!  It’s a pizzeria. There has to be fries. I was thinking this as we got pushed through the door. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful ceiling. Copper colored with individual square panels that looked rustic and like I was eating in a café in Italy. Not that I have been to Italy, but you know what I mean, quaint.  Not so quaint is Bravo’s counter that runs all the way down the side of the restaurant when you walk in, so there is about a lane and a half of space to walk along side it.  This space was taken up by crowds of people ordering their food.

We were standing at the door at the back of the line, and I looked around for a paper menu. The man behind the counter, who looked frazzled and hot from the amount of work and stress that night, came up to us and yelled over the noise, “What can I get you?”  I took the hint and guessed there were no menus…oooookaay…if I wanted food, this may be my only chance. Chaya and Esther ordered a baked ziti to share. I, still a little confused about the lack of menu, just pointed to the first slice of pizza I saw and asked the man behind the counter, “Hey, Dude? Is that slice good?”  He didn’t even answer–just put the slice on a plate and pushed it down the counter like in an old Western bar scene.  The people in line whom we had been talking to for a few minutes started laughing. I guessed I would find out soon enough if it was good or not.  We were all laughing really hard at the situation.

 

When I got to the end of the counter, a woman asked me what I had ordered, and I told her I didn’t know.  She figured out I had gotten a stuffed vegetable pizza.  The serving of baked ziti was massive. So with our food in hand, we took our seats at the back of the restaurant. The baked ziti was delicious. It was like an Alf redo and baked ziti hybrid. It was great. Not too much

Very Large Very Good Baked Ziti

sauce and the flavors were excellent. Honestly, we haven’t tasted such good pasta anywhere this good yet in Manhattan.

Stuffed Vegetable Pizza

The pizza was interesting. It was also a very large portion, and I had to eat it with a knife and fork, which was a first for me since I was two and my mother spoon-fed me pizza (or did I just dream that?).  It was a not-so-crusty crust filled with vegetables and cheese. To me, it tasted like regular vegetable pizza–just messier.  It was still very good.  Unfortunately, it was right about the time that cheese fell out the side of my pizza and landed on me that the lights turned on and the much-enjoyed ambiance died.

We had an interesting time at Bravo Kosher Pizza. I think I would go there over Café Roma on the West Side, …because the train ride and roaming around 42nd street was way more exciting than Amsterdam at 102nd street.  On the way home, we stopped for slurpees at 7/11 and got a super sugar rush! We got home and rolled into bed with full bellies.

The next day at work I was sitting in the playground with my adorable campers.  One of my co-counselors walked over to me an told me she was on a date the night before, and driving past Bravo Pizza she saw us!  We didn’t see her, but it goes to show, it really is impossible to go out on to eat and not see someone you know.

*  Now that we have completed our tween years, we might need to change our domain name to kosherTEENS.  Stay tuned.

 

My Most Favorite Food – Pesach Edition

                                                          B”H

My Most Favorite Food – Passover Edition

W. 72nd Str.

Pesach: cleaning, shopping, cooking, guests.  For many people this is the most active time of year.  And when Pesach actually arrives, the results may not be as productive as you had hoped for. At our house on Pesach, we keep everything to the extreme! No peels, no liquid may touch the matzah, frying in chicken fat instead of oil (ahh!), you get the drift.  So before Pesach arrived, we decided to experience how other Manhattan dwellers eat during the holiday, at a restaurant, and share it with all of you.

 

My mother decided to take us on a girls outing.  Esther, Chana, (my sisters) and I all went with her to My Most Favorite Food.  My Most Favorite is one of the few dairy restaurants in

My Most Favorite Food

Manhattan to go kosher for Passover.  A few years ago, someone brought our family a kosher for Pesach cake from My Most Favorite during chol ha moed.  As young kids, the switch from our regular diet to even just a few days of a strict Pesach diet was shocking.  So without asking our local Rabbi (our father), my siblings and I tore into that cake!  It was the most delicious food we had eaten in days!  Of course, my father reminded us about our customs when he found out, but from that time, I was intrigued by how others ate on Pesach.  Thankfully, this trip was before Pesach.

 

We showed up around noon for brunch.  Just past the entrance, you pass a long display case of their tempting chocolate cakes, cupcakes and desserts.  They looked beautiful!  The selection was almost the same as before with the exception of a lot of new varieties of meringues.

 

My Most Favorite has two seating areas. One right when you walk in surrounded by glass walls which is great for sunlight and beautiful.  The larger seating area is in the back, where we sat; the set-up reminded me of Tavern on the Green.  There was a little less sunlight, and there were couches instead of metallic chairs and marble tables from the front.  We were seated

immediately and offered a bowl of matzah and butter.  [Note: It is our custom not to eat matzah 30 days prior to Pesach.]  As we were looking at the menu, a group of ladies came in and sat at the table behind us.  As soon as they looked at the menu and saw it is was kosher for Pesach, they got up to leave with the waiter calling after them that the menu would be back to normal in just two weeks.  We gave each other looks, wondering if this was a hint of our food to come.

 

When the waiter came to take our orders, we inquired if it was common for people to respond the way those ladies did. He told us most people didn’t really want this food unless they had to eat it. We ignored this because we had come specifically to taste Pesach food.  Chana and I ordered from the children’s menu (which of course comes with fries).  She got a grilled cheese on a popover, and I got fish fingers.  Esther was not too big on experimenting with Pesach food because she ordered an omelet and salad.

Kosher for Passover Grilled Cheese

 

Esther’s omelet

Our food came very quickly, as there were not a lot of people in the restaurant.  Esther’s eggs were very good and so was her salad. The eggs had herbs, peppers, onions, and cheese. The salad was simple but with a very flavorful balsamic dressing. Chana’s grilled cheese was interesting.  It came on a piece of “bread” (aka popover) that looked more like a waffle and tasted like chickpeas; it was very dry.  She only at half of it.  Thankfully, her plate also came with fries, a small piece of chocolate cake and a small fruit salad.

 

Fish Fingers With a Side of Fries

I think according to Pesach standards my meal was the best.  People really underestimate the kid’s menu.  Sometimes a restaurant will give kids something you just know came out of a grocery-store bought, freezer bag, because hey, kids don’t care to have fresh, real food, right?  Wrong.  My fish and chips were delicious!  The fishsticks were made from a fresh whitefish inside breading fried and cooked to perfection–juicy and not oily.  The fish was a little bland and it could have used ketchup or some such sauce.  I was disappointed that they didn’t bring any ketchup (or syrup).  If they had made so many things kosher for Passover why couldn’t they have ketchup.  So we asked for some, wondering if they would bring me regular ketchup.

 

The waiter approached with syrup and ketchup; we thanked him and looked at it wondering if it was ok to eat.  The dips looked normal, so we tried them.  It was definitely not what we were used to.  The ketchup was so, so, so tart with vinegar!  Instead, we tried dipping the french fries in syrup and decided that tasted better.  We just ate our fries like that, in syrup!

 

When we were done, we each had a small piece of brownie that came with our entrees.  The brownie was a thick, creamy chocolate feel with powdered sugar on top.  It was very good, sweet and flavorful.  From all of their different types of desserts:  apple cakes, chocolate, cupcakes, brownies, meringues and more, we chose one each for the boys back home.  Their review were not as good.  We had passed on the chocolate cake pops, but maybe that was a mistake.  The chocolate cupcake with a gorgeous yellow flower on top was totally dry and hard to swallow except for the small squirt of chocolate cream inside.  The apple cinnamon cupcake was sweet and edible.  My father said the mandle ‘bread’ was more delicious than usual.

 

Overall, I can make three observations.  One: My Most Favorite has the best looking and tasting desserts all year around. Better than even their regular food.  Two: They did very well with a Pesach menu using the ingredients they had, even though they were obviously making-do.  Three: I think I now know why meat restaurants go kosher for Passover more often than do dairy ones.

My Most Favorite

My Most Favorite Food

By: Esther Blum

 247 W 72nd St, New York- (212) 580-5130

           The other day I went to My Most Favorite with the KFC (Kosher Foodies at Chabad).

Grilled Cheese

I ordered the grilled cheese on the kids menu. The choices were grilled cheese, tuna or egg salad.  It also came with fruit, potato chips and a sugar cookie. The sugar cookies were so good, and very family friendly,  they come in a lot of different, fun shapes like flowers or cars. All the

SUGAR COOKIES!!

desserts are really delicious at My Most Favorite (thats why they used to be called My Most Favorite Dessert).  My favorite dessert is the strawberry shortcake. Sadly there was none ready that afternoon, so I couldn’t order it.  I ate all the food on my plate except for the crust because I dislike crust.  My father said I should just taste it, so I did.  I still don’t like crust.

Macaroni and Cheese

When we were ordering the food, I was thinking of ordering macaroni and cheese, but my sister, Chana, ordered it first, so I said, ‘I get to order the macaroni and cheese.’  Then my father said don’t fight about it, and Chana gets to order it because she said she wanted

Kosher Foodies Chabad Members

it first.  Then when my father was ready to order his salad, he realized that JP ordered the same salad so my father had to get something else.

By the way the other day was really a long time ago.

We Kids Do NOT Like the Crust.

Mason and Mug

B”H

Mason and Mug

708 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn

Now that I have gotten used to all of the fun aspects of high school, I rarely have the opportunity to get to a new restaurant (though Sushi Spot and Sweet Expressions are often-visited), I appreciate the times my father took us to  restaurants.  Thankfully, now that I am getting the hang of high school, I am finding it is actually a pretty fun place. There are really cool after school programs, learning and non-learning activities, and we are also putting on a theater production! Now that I have my social and academic life all sorted out, the urge to write for the food blog has taken precedence.

Our new destination: Mason and Mug.  Esther was busy with a friend, so she wasn’t able to join.  I decided to bring along my even younger sister, Chana, who my parents say has a very mature palette and who is also the KosherTweens food blog heiress.

A friend of ours, Chef Sasha Chack, (say his name 3 times fast!) had just opened this new restaurant in Brooklyn with a partner.  We were so excited to go try out the food.  The outing was also an official send-off to a friend of ours (we’ll miss you, Seren) who just left to study for three months in Israel!  So combine all that with the Chabad at Columbia University KFC Kosher Foodies at Chabad event, and we were having a whole party!

After school, we had theater production auditions. I was nervous I would miss out on Mason and Mug, but I would try to do it all!  At auditions, I sang and acted my little heart out, then ran to yoga class (to stay extra fit). Then Tatty who had Chana in the car with him, came to pick me up.  We all drove to Mason and Mug.

We had arrived. Mason and Mug is located on the first floor of a small building between several old-looking brownstones. We walked inside from the winter cold. The décor is unique and beautiful. When you walk in, your eye goes to the right hand side where there is a brick wall covered in a colorful graffiti mural. On the other side is a long counter with an array of pickles on shelves. The rest of our group was not there yet, so we sat down at the long wooden bar. There were only little stools in the restaurant, no chairs.  In the back of the room there were absolutely gorgeous wooden farm tables made by local workers. If I could have tables like that in my house I would just stare at them all day. They were really works of art!  If I had a phone with internet access, I would have put it on my very active Pinterest boards.

Saki! SO GOOD!!

While waiting, we ordered a spicy chickpeas appetizer and my father bought saki that they added some ingredients to–we all got a sip. I am not usually a fan of really spicy foods, but the chickpeas were amazing! Also, even that slightest taste of that special saki was so good! It had a tang and sweetness and cinnamon, which was perfect with the spicy chickpeas!

Chef Sasha Chack

While we were sitting down, I spoke to Sasha. I knew that before this restaurant he had had a pop up restaurant, so I asked him if the money from that went to pay for Mason and Mug. To my surprise, he told me that there was a kick-starter website where he wrote about his dream. He raised more than half the needed amount online from people who didn’t know him. This made me feel like anything is achievable in today’s world even writing a food blog as a tween! That people who don’t know you can care enough to take time and donate money and really invest in another person’s dream is just inspiring.

Soon after, we went to the very back of the room and pushed two tables together just as our entire posse showed up. As soon as everyone got there, we all ran up to the counter to order our food.  I was shocked by what I saw! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first KosherTweens food blog with no french fries review! I was shocked.  But then my eyes scrolled down the menu, and I saw all of the interesting flavors! The new things to try, things I had never heard of! (I was also very excited because now that I am dorming, I am also babysitting and making my own money.  Now I finally got to join the adults and pay for my own dinner!)

It got very hectic when everyone tried to order at once, so I had to wait a good ten minutes before I actually got to place my order. I ordered for my father, my sister and myself. I got the classic Vietnamese Bahn Mi sandwich and a cardamom hot chocolate. Chana ordered the potato and leek soup and my father got the fish taco.

A man and woman we know who are currently engaged were sitting next to us. They ordered the cheese platter and the fish platter and offered to share with us. As we waited for our food, we wanted to hang up our coats.  Unfortunately there was a lack of coat racks, hangers, and only a few hooks and we were all sitting on stools with no backs so most of us sat on our coats or put it on the floor hidden somewhere.

The food came in different orders. Sasha would make a pot of soup and bring soup to everyone that ordered it. Then he would make a bunch of Bahn Mi’s and bring them all out. Finally we got our food, and we dug in.  My father promised to share his fish taco with me but by the time I came back from the bathroom it was gone, so I take it that it was delicious! Diana and Paul Appelbaum,
Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine & Law Director, Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry, Dept. of Psychiatry, Columbia University Director, Center for Research on Ethical, Legal & Social Implications of Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics, faculty advisory board members for Chabad at Columbia, and close friends of ours, went to Mason and Mug a few days after us. They ordered the Fish taco and said, “The fish taco was wonderful, crunchy, lightly pickled cabbage, with avocado, jalapeno mayonnaise and fish wrapped in a soft taco.   4 bites (the size of the

Bahn Mi

taco) wasn’t enough.” My Bahn Mi was half a sub made with tofu, fresh cilantro, cucumber, carrots, and fish sauce. It was really delicious! The bread for the sub was really amazing and when I took a bite the flavors actually exploded in my mouth (I had never understood that saying until I tasted Mason and Mugs Bahn Mi!). There were so many combinations! The sweet carrots, the bitter herbs, the sour pickled cucumbers, the sauce! And overall there was a sort of delicious sour taste. And I also had gotten the cardamom hot chocolate.

We waited a few more minutes, and Chana’s soup came.  We all dug in with her. It was amazing. The soup was creamy and rich and bursting with flavor for a soup made of potatoes. After we had all finished our food, we looked at the couple next to us who half an hour later still did not have their platters. So we went to the counter to ask for it, and they told us it was almost ready. So we waited.  Soon the platters came and we were a little disappointed the fish and

Cheese and Fish Boards

cheeses were pretty regular fish and cheese and only about six pieces of each for about fifteen dollars. Well on the side of the fish platter came a red slaw that was amazing and really complemented the fish. The cheese platter had small crackers with nuts on the side I took an almond and bit into it. The first thing you experience is overwhelming sweetness but almost as fast it turns into pleasantly spice. It was really very enjoyable and I kept eating them for a while.

After we decided to bring Esther and my Mother something to eat. So we wanted to bring another fish taco but only after an hour of us arriving they were already out of fish. And they told us that most of

Deviled Eggs and Kale Salad

their food didn’t travel well so we settled on a deviled eggs kale salad, and a delicious piece of milchig carrot cake. The Appelbaums also ordered the kale salad and they thought that “The deviled kale salad was memorable: deep notes of umami in the spicy dressing, the kale perfectly mated with roasted winter squash, topped with a boiled egg still lusciously soft in the center.  We’ll be back.”  After we left, I was dropped off back at the dorm for another week of school. I had a really fun time at Mason and Mug, and Chana had a great learning experience taking notes on food. The experience was quick, affordable, and casually pleasant. We hope to go back soon and recommend it to all kids out there ready and willing to try great new things!

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Prime Sandwich

Prime Sandwich

…with friends

377 Kingston Ave, Brooklyn, NY- (718) 576-6665

 

            As (hopefully) all adults know, high school is a stressful, strenuous, tiring and torturous place! And that place is where I am at this moment in time. Fortunately it’s not all bad. Through everything, you always have good friends to keep your spirits up. So when my dorm-mates noticed that we were at midterms and all stressed out, we had an emergency morale-boosting meeting.

We met in Perel and Chaya’s room which happens to be right next to mine. We all sat there in our pajamas with coffee and homework clutched in our hands at around 1am. I suddenly started to speak about my blog, and how I had to start adding new things to it so that people would read it and comment on the blog site (um… hint, hint!). All the girls read my blog and commented on it.

Then, when I finally got to bed that night, I had a wild idea! Why couldn’t I bring my dormies on a kosher tweens adventure here in Crown Heights? So in the morning, I proposed the idea to everyone. They thought it was a really great idea and a good way to relax little.

On Monday night, we all arranged ourselves by the door ready to go. Menucha, Chaya, Perel, Chana, Manya, and me. We finally headed out the door, an hour late of course because that’s what happens when you try to organize a group of teenagers. Fortunately, I had this in mind, so we said we would leave at six thirty and really we wanted to leave at seven thirty. My plan worked great, and we left the house and walked down Kingston Avenue towardsPrime Sandwich.

  As we were walking down the street, we were very excited about going out to eat but also to relax and just hang out as friends. We arrived at Prime Sandwich, which has a huge orange sign on the front with a shwarma on it. We went inside and looked around. The restaurant had a bunch of metal tables and a big deli/ salad/ ordering counter straight in the back. The décor was a little strange: bright orange walls with the occasional black light and a mirrors all around the joint.

We sat down to order and just as we were about to I saw my friend Chaya outside. (No not the same Chaya. When you go to Beis Rivkah and live in Crown Heights, be prepared to know a lot of Chayas!) We ran out to say hi, and we had a little chat. I invited her to come and sit with us, and she came and sat for a while.

You might have picked up on it by now that we are not the fastest people in the world of teenagers (ergo the early schedule) and we took about fifteen minutes to order.  We decided to share a few things–of course! We ordered a classic burger, a pastrami- hot dog sub, Chinese schnitzel salad, New York schnitzel salad, and a roasted chicken salad. For sides, we ordered, of course!, french fries and onion rings.

Chinese Schnitzel Salad

New York Schnitzel Salad

Roasted Schnitzel SaladPastrami Hot Dog Sub

            When we went to the counter and ordered our food it came within ten minutes. We all took a lot of pictures, not just of the food, and really got to know each other much better.

Classic Prime Sandwich Burger

The burger did not taste very good. It was thin and dry and a little frozen. The pastrami hot dog sub was something we had never thought to try or make, but it tasted pretty good!

Onion Rings

French Fries

            We spent about an hour there talking and laughing. Finally we took a group picture and decided to go. We were walking up the street at about eleven o’clock and it was cold and dark out. As we were walking a man came up behind Manya and tapped her on the

Chaya, Menucha, Chana, Manya, Shoshana, and Perel

shoulder. She screamed really loud, and then we all got really scared and screamed really loud. And then we just stood there and screamed really loud, freaked out of our minds. It was Manya’s big brother who lived in Crown Heights. He had surprised her. That’s why she screamed. We thought some random person was touching her, and we were freaking out!

In the end, we figured it all out and laughed over it. We went home very full and decided we needed to do this again.

 

 

My Surprise Birthday Party

            Sunday November 10, 2013 was my Hebrew birthday. I was at a new school and no one knew it was my birthday. I didn’t get a ‘happy birthday’ from anyone the whole day. When I came home from school I was a little upset and decided to spend the rest of the day in my room.

Manya and Shoshana at Shoshana’s surprise Birthday Party

When I got home, I went to my room. Then on the house intercom one of the dormies called me from downstairs, “Your friend is here.” I was really excited! Maybe someone remembered my birthday! I ran down, and there were all the girls from the dorm and a big table set with pink trim and pancakes and a big cupcake with a happy birthday pin stuck into it.

I was so happy! Someone remembered my birthday and it was remembered by the very closest friends people could ever have! I feel I should mention it on this blog because the food was so good! There was an amazing salad and blueberry pancakes with homemade caramel! It was the most wonderful feeling! They made a special card and gave me a tiara. I just want to say thank you guys for an amazing birthday party!

Basil

B”H

Breakfast at Basil

friTATTY

By Esther Blum

270 Kingston Ave, New York, NY 11213 – (718) 285-8777

          Sometimes when I go to Crown Heights with Tatty or Mommy, I go to eat at Basil with them. The last time I went, I went for breakfast with Tatty.

Esther at Basil

I ordered pancakes. The pancakes had some fruit on the top and a scoop of something pink that i thought was strawberry ice cream and some strawberry syrup on the side. I took a bite of the pancake; it was simply delicious! Then I tasted some fruit. The strawberries were ripe and good, but the rest of the fruit wasn’t that ripe and not that good. Finally I took a big bite out the pink ice cream scoop and realized it was strawberry flavor (or just looking) butter which is a huge unpleasant surprise when you think you are about to eat ice cream!  My father said, ‘I think that’s butter.’ But he told me too late.

I also ordered a smoothie called Jump Shot; it was truly scrumptious. It had mango and some other fruits in it.

Tatty ordered a frittata (not in spell check, so I hope I spelled it right). It came with a salad. Tatty let me have a bite of his frittata. It tasted like there was cheese inside; I liked it so much. I’m sure Tatty did, too. One because it tasted so good and two because frittata sounds like friTATTY.

Goodbye Lunch at Basil

By: Shoshana Blum

            I recently moved into my new dorm room for high school. My parents drove me and helped me set up my room and settle in. I was really hungry because I woke up late that morning and had to quickly finish packing.  So I had not gotten around to breakfast that morning. I did bring a bag of cookies in the car with me to eat, but of course, when I got out of the car to return my library book, my brother had eaten all the cookies!

So once we were done unpacking, my father got us all in the car, and we went for a goodbye lunch (even though I would be back home in two days for the weekend) at Basil.

Basil is a beautiful restaurant. The décor is really very nice. There is a dark brick wall with a mirror that stretches a long way. The tables are small and the lighting is cool looking and well-lit but still with a good ambiance. The food is cooked in a huge oven behind the open bar-area counter that covers the whole length of the restaurant.  There is also an outdoor eating area so they say, but we didn’t get to see it.

When we pulled up to the restaurant, I brought Gavi, my little brother in while my parents parked the car. I asked the waiter for a table for four but he told me they had none and I should leave. It was a kind of rude but just then my parents came in and they made them give us a table.

We ordered a small lunch of Basil fries (you can see our favorites by the trend of orders), rosemary pizza with feta cheese, and a strawberry-blueberry-banana shake.  My mom ordered a healthy sounding salad with beets in it I think, and while I generally love salad, Basil is known for its pizzas and fries.

Delicious Basil Fries

The drink came first.  It was dark in color and had milk and honey added to it.  It was creamy and delicious, and we immediately ordered a second one to share. Then the fries came; they were AMAZING fries! Some of the fries still had the skin on them and they had parsley and cheese sprinkled on top. They were amazing. So amazing. Although there were two dips, one ketchup and one mayonnaise, the mayonnaise dip was really thick and tasted like it was just pure mayonnaise. Not so good.

Then the pizza came. It was delicious! It was simple yet tasty and all of the flavors balanced out – nothing overwhelming. It also wasn’t very oily which was good. Even my little brother who can be picky about what he likes ate some. Meanwhile we had already waited about half an hour for the second berry shake. It was taking a very long time. Finally it arrived, and we had it put in a to go cup. As soon as it came we left.

Croissant

We have been to Basil many times and some of the food is good and some is not. I once ordered a croissant for breakfast and a hot cocoa.  The hot cocoa was really bitter and the croissant was hard and not made from a croissant pastry; it was really hard to eat. I don’t know if it was old but it was really not good. Plus there were a lot of big sugar crystals on top of it, which didn’t really help with the flavor. But all the other times we have been to Basil, we have had really good experiences.

Now that I will be in Crown Heights, Brooklyn more often, I hope I will have a chance to eat at Basil more often. I will also get a chance to write about many more kosher restaurants located within walking distance of my new room!

(A short while later…)

School/ Jail Break

High school is so hard! I have work all the time. I sleep fifteen hours a week, and if that was not enough, to top it off, I have school on Sundays.  Well if you lived my life you would also be relieved when you hear that your dad is going to take you out of school the next day for lunch (that is-after that appointment mom scheduled for me)! That means two hours of freedom and possibly a six and a half minute nap in the car from school to Basil.

So when my name got called on the loudspeaker to come to the office, I was pretending to act all surprised because we strictly are not supposed to leave school for anything! So I hid my excitement as I practically ran down the stairs. I jumped in the car. I was really excited to see my dad since I hadn’t seen him in so long! When we drove to Basil, I managed a four-minute nap on the way.

Once we parked the car and figured out the whole parking meter, and after my purse broke (while I was spinning it around because I was so excited), and we got it from under a car that was parked across the street, (whoo!) then we went inside.

This time we were seated right away, and we had excellent service. (hmmm…adults get taken very seriously) We ordered the arugula and beet salad, the seasonal soup and Quebec tempura eggplant. I hope I got all that spelled correctly; I will try to check the menu for exact spelling next time I am there.

Tempura Eggplant

So you are thinking, ‘That is what her father ordered.  What did she order? Because kids don’t eat food with those kinds of names.’ Well maybe he did, or maybe it was mine… Our food came right away and with great service. We ran out of ketchup and before I could turn to ask the waiter for more he had put some on the table. The arugula beet salad was served with a mix of arugula, beets, mixed nuts, with a few small disks of goat cheese. The combination of texture and flavor in the salad was amazing! The sweet dressing with the salty cheese and the soft beets and the crunchy nuts complimented each other perfectly. (Kids don’t get scared by foods with new names.) The Quebec tempura eggplant was good although the sauce the entire plate was very, very acidic! Besides for that it made the tempura part of the eggplant get all mushy. The potatoes really evened it out, but it didn’t help that much. And of course, we have expressed our feelings about the Basil fries. Cooked perfectly with the skins on to keep them extra crispy and not too oily with parsley and cheese sprinkled on top.

Over all the times we went to Basil have evened out between the service and the food quality. We really recommend Basil as a great place for dinner and lunch (just please be careful with breakfast!), and if you are ever just in the area with a small hunger pain, the fruit smoothies at Basil are amazing!

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Hakadosh BBQ

HaKadosh BBQ – Pop Up Restaurant

            I was working all morning with a friend and Columbia alumna, on a Chabad House beautification project (thank you Jennifer!). Once we were done I was really tired and was ready to take a nap. Yes, just because we are young, doesn’t mean we have endless amounts of energy.  I was about to do just that when my father told us that he was going to take us all out to our old friend Ari White’s pop-up restaurant.

Ari WHite in front of his portable truck where he smokes his meat for days at a time.

Books have pop-ups. Cool birthday cards have pop-ups.  But WHAT is a pop-up restaurant?! Our dad spoke up Ari’s “awesome pop-up restaurant” so even though we kids had no idea what food would be on the menu, we all got just as excited to go try pop-up food.

Ari is better known to us for his Gemstone Catering and “Got Cholent”; he’s also a real foodie and gets along great with our father.  Ari has catered some of our Chabad House events and family simchas, and his food is always amazing! So I changed my dirty clothing, and we got on the train to go eat. On the ride there, standing-room only,  people on the train were looking at me in a very funny way, so I looked into the reflection of the train window and saw I had black spray paint all down one side of my face. I was so embarrassed!  How could no one have told me!?

When we got to the ‘pop-up restaurant’ which turns out to have been more of a food

We arrive at Hakadosh BBQ

stand at a street fair, my graffitied face was quickly forgotten among the swarms of people and the delicious smells of BBQ.

I ordered a lamb shank bone.  In my life, I have never had a shank bone. It was the biggest thing on the menu and after all my work that morning, I was hungry! It was delicious! Ari’s crew steamed it for twelve hours, and the outcome was amazing. It was juicy, sticky, and HUGE. Like a huge dinosaur bone! (Ok not that huge, but pretty huge.) Esther got a pulled BBQ chicken sandwich. It was a massive helping and extremely flavorful, but she couldn’t finish the whole thing (kid-size portions next time?).  Everything we ordered came with a plain but perfect coleslaw and pickles (good if you are into pickles which a lot of my peers are).     

  

Shoshana getting her lamb shank bone

We were all really messy so we went to sit down on a stoop to finish eating. I guess lack-of-seating would be a not-plus for pop-up restaurants with large helpings of somewhat messy-to-eat food. I was having some regrets at this point about my order because with my braces and TMJD, I couldn’t fit my mouth around the meat! While we were eating, Ari came over to us and told us that if we wrote about him on our blog, we should quote him, but he didn’t say what to quote so I just did. We also met an elderly Jewish lady who expressed over and over again how delicious the food was and talked about her kids in Monsey. She was very expressive, and my siblings and I all hid behind the massive lamb shank bone and laughed a ton because we felt awkward! Our father, expert communicator, took over.

Eating our amazing food on the stoop.

We had a great experience at Hakadosh Barbeque. Ari, we hope you do it again either during the year, or for sure next summer.  We had a fun few hours at the fair, the food was amazing, and the best of the whole deal–it was a great time for family bonding. Thanks Tatty, again, for taking us out!

Lunch at Gotham Burger

B”H

Lunch at Gotham Burger

726 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10025 – (212) 335-0005

Last year my class learned about child labor laws and the reforms this country made to protect kids from working too many hours and making sure we go to school.  My mom is really into teaching our family that injustices again kids are still happening all over the world today.  That said, I could not wait to get a job and make money to support my sushi cravings and outings with friends to restaurants.  I am lucky to have gotten a job working at a summer camp.  I made friends with some of the counselors and had a great time working with the cute little kids, including my little brother Gavi.  Last year, Esther was an assistant in Gavi’s camp bunk, so even she knows a little about the responsibility of working.

One exhausting day, when the work at camp seemed to never end, I was feeling super hungry and none of the camp food was going to satisfy me. Feeling brave, I approached two eighteen year old girls who were also counselors in the camp. Secretly I was pretty nervous; you know they were much older than me, and maybe they didn’t want to be seen with a thirteen year old. I mean how would I know, I’ve never been eighteen. So I asked them if they wanted to go to Gotham Burger with me after work! …and they said, “Sure!”  My heart was racing.  I was so happy.

So after work, the three us headed over to Gotham Burger. My little brother, Gavi was with us. One of the other counselors gave him a piggy-back ride; he was having a great time.  When we got into the restaurant, it looked really cool.  It was decorated blue and with bricks as well. There were large windows in the front of the restaurant and a long couch on one side.  Later we saw a big room in the back by the kitchen.  It was a bit loud because aside from having the radio on very loudly there were about six televisions on.  That wasn’t the best for schmoozing, or eating, really.

        At that time in the afternoon, it wasn’t crowded at all, just us and a couple.  We took a large window table and were immediately given menus. But then, to our unhappy surprise, we had to wait about fifteen minutes for someone to come take our order! Ok, we found things to talk about while we waited, but one of my new friends was in a hurry to get to a meeting and had to leave within the hour.  So once we ordered, we asked if we could have our checks right away please because we were in a hurry.

        Although we were told that our food would come right away, it took about twenty minutes to come! We think Gotham needs to run some drills and work on their timing.  However, the time passed quickly, because my little brother was just being so adorable! He was at first staring at the door looking for our food to come through the front entrance. When we showed him the kitchen, he just stared at the kitchen until he fell right asleep on his chair and started snoring!

We ordered in a way many young people on a budget do: lots of things we could all sample and share, not just one main course per person.  This way of ordering lots of food for the whole table is more like how we eat at home with a platter everyone can take from.

We ordered deep-fried chicken wings (which were very good) and also got a combo meal of a Gotham burger, with french fries and a large fountain soda. We also ordered an extra order of fries to go around the table. Why?  Because kids LOVE fries 🙂 .  The burger was amazing! It was served with a small amount of lettuce and tomatoes a perfect bun. The fries on the other hand were a big disappointment! One of the batches came so burned we couldn’t even chew them the other was extremely soggy with oil.  This is the first time we have had to give a negative french fry review; sorry Gotham Burger!

        We also ordered the Gotham hot apple fritter and the fried trios. The apple fritter was the best I think I have ever had. It tasted fresh, moist, and sweet, with just the right amount of crumble. But when the fried trios arrived, we told the waiter that we didn’t order any fritters not realizing that they were our fried trios. They had no sweet smell, just a fried fatty smell. The inside was not at all appetizing, and we ended up throwing them out…another Gotham disappointment.

        We had an amazing time hanging out at Gotham Burger because it’s not all about the food, it’s the friends. Most of the food was delicious, and the service, when they got around to helping us, was good.  I got to hang out with two great new friends, and Gavi got to take a good, long nap!

        Gotham burger is a lovely place for a lunch or maybe dinner. And so saying, I put the sleeping Gavi onto my shoulders and prepared to carry him home.

(Sorry that there are no pictures on this Kosher Tweens Blog post. it was not a scheduled event.)

PS We want to publicly thank Levana Kirschenbaum, famous chef and author, who has been reading our blog and posting links about us on her very popular blog (link here).  She liked our review of Grill 212 so much, she took us there for lunch.  She reviewed the restaurant, too (raving review actually), so we learned from her a lot about what to look for, how to order, and how to get along in a restaurant when going, ahem, specifically for the purpose of writing a review.  Thank you so much Levana! Esther and I had a really great time with you.

Levana Kirschenbaum’s blog site – http://www.levanacooks.com/blog/

 

Noi Due

NoiDue 

143 W 69th St, New York, NY 10023 – 212) 712-2222

            A highlight of this summer for our family was Esther’s Bas Mitzvah…and my (Shoshana’s) graduation from 8th grade. Naturally, food was a big part of our celebrations.  Our long time family friend (and Columbia alumna) Cymone Speed said she would take us both out to dinner, and we could pick the restaurant.  We were ecstatic! Cymone is a vegetarian so we wanted to pick a place that wasn’t fleishig. We were going to ask her to take us to My Most Favorite Food.  Then she mentioned Noi Due.  We had only been to Noi Due once, and it was a very long time ago so all we could remember were the delicious desserts from there which our parents bring home for us after their dinner dates.

One of our questions for the restaurant would be how to pronounce ‘Noi Due’.  Cymone had her unique opinion, and we had our own.  We arrived at the restaurant at twenty to eight and were told that we would have to wait, but that we would be called as soon as there was an open table. We heard it is very common to have to wait to get a table at Noi Due during busy hours in the evening.  Cymone has always been amazing with kids and so fun to be around; she suggested while we wait, we go around the corner to a soap and lipstick store called Fresh.

We smelled lots of perfumes and picked out soaps we each liked.  Amazing how an unexpected stop and thoughtful gift can totally lift your mood!  While they were getting all wrapped up in a pretty box and ribbon, the saleslady made small talk with us.  She mentioned something about if I was a ballerina?! And what did my little sister do? ‘Ohhh, you are a figure skater? AMAZING! Wow, such talented people! Is this your mother?’  Which gives me the opportunity to say, Why do grownups always think that whomever you are with is your parent!’ (I have heard this even when I am out with my girl friends!) To her credit, she wasn’t far off though–Cymone is like our aunt.

We left the shop just in time to get a call that our table was ready at Noi Due. So we walked back to the restaurant and got there at eight o’clockwith a special table by the windows just for us. The restaurant is somewhat below ground but is beautifully decorated. The far wall was decorated with large stones, and the walls were painted a nice light, cheery color. There was a counter on the opposite wall of dark wood. The restaurant was filled with tables, and all were occupied.

French Fries

We sat down and looked at the menu. The selection was decent sized, about two and a half pages of menu. We decided to order french fries (you are likely picking up on our favorite foods to order…), fettuccine with a Rosa Rosa sauce, a Caesar salad, and an olive pizza.  Our waitress was very polite and came over right away even though there were a lot of people in the restaurant. Shortly after we sat down, a bowl of hot bread and a dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar was placed in front of us.  We love bread.  I would guess most kids do, too.  Also, we love experimenting with dips; olive oil and balsamic vinegar is my favorite every Shabbos.

Olive Pizza

We didn’t have to wait long for our food. It all came within fifteen minutes of us ordering. First the pizza arrived.  The pizza was put on our table on a round dish elevated by a small stand. The pizza had marinara sauce, green and black olives, and feta cheese. It was very flavorful, and I think it tasted half like pizza and half like greek salad. Then the french fries came in a little basket. In a double dish with the fries came ketchup and a mayonnaise-based dips. Esther is strictly a loyal ketchup fan but she really did enjoy this dip as did I. The fries were perfect, crunchy not soggy and not burned.

Fettuccine Rosa Rosa,
Marinara and a cream sauce

The Caesar salad was a little bit overdressed and might have been better with the dressing on the side. It had a regular tasting Caesar salad dressing and the lettuce was crisp. Then our fettuccine Rosa Rosa came. It was delicious. Amazingly filling, not over spiced and a little creamier than we thought it would be, but still a good balance between the sauce and cream.

We were about to leave when Cymone who had ordered a piece of Dolce De Leche surprised us with a candle in it for Esther’s Bat Mitzvah.  We have to say out of everything we had eaten that night the cake was the best. It practically melted in our mouths!  When asked we found out that it came from Israel! And we also asked about how the name was pronounced (finally!). The waitress told us to put out our Italian hands (thumb to fingers in a tear drop shape) and say NOY DOO EH! Well that’s definetly better than Noowy Doowy. Noi Due, we’ll be back again soon!

Late Night at Grill 212

Late Night at Grill 212

212 W 80th St, New York, NY 10024 – (212) 724-7455

Thanks for all the helpful and supportive comments to our first blog post! So many of you wrote to us (thanks dad for the facebook plug), and we learned a lot from your comments so please keep writing.

Our dad is so excited about our new blog project, he told us he would take us out to eat — just so we could write about it on our blog!  So after our younger siblings went to bed and we finished our chores, we ran downstairs to tell him we were ready to go. He let us to pick the restaurant, and of course, we both picked different places.  So we flipped a coin, and I (Shoshana) won! We were going to my first choice: Deli Kasba.  Deli Kasba is one of my favorite places for sushi.

So we got in the car and on our way there drove past a new place called Grill 212.  A general rule in our family is to try out new restaurants ASAP because in Manhattan, you never know how long a new restaurant will last.  So, of course, we decided to try it out.  Before we even parked, we remembered our friend, Esther Pearl Marks lives one block away from where we were.  She just graduated Columbia and is leaving in a few weeks back to California –perfect excuse for a celebration, and we called to invite her to eat with us. She was there within five minutes of hanging up the phone.

Meanwhile we were having our own drama in the car! We had a parking space right across the street from the restaurant and were about to get out of the car and walk into 212 when a woman asked us if we wanted to trade parking spaces because she needed to be on this side of the street for the next day. So we got back in the car to move spaces. This is what you might call a typical NY mitzvah.  However, when we drove up to the empty space across the street which she asked a woman to hold for us, another driver wanted to park her moving truck there, and we couldn’t park there. Thanks to our dad’s patience and superior diplomatic skills, she gave us the parking space and it all worked out. We ended up walking in at the same time as Esther Pearl.

Our first impression when we walked in was that there didn’t seem to be anyplace to sit.  The walls were all white except in the back there was one brick wall. It was very brightly lit, more like a cafeteria than a restaurant. there was a smell or grilling chicken, fried food, and shwarma The overall feel of the place was friendly and family like. We were pleased the restaurant was very clean because sticky tables and seats and dirty floors don’t make for a nice eating experience.  There was a simple counter and behind that a grill and a big piece of juicy shwarma turning on a spit.  Next to that was a salad bar. But because it was late there were only about eight selections.  We walked to the back and discovered a small seating area. We chose a table and started examining the menu.

Delicious, crunchy, moroccan cigars

Grill 212 serves mainly traditional Israeli food which reminds us of Alibaba. After a few minutes, we decided to share orders of Moroccan cigars, fries and sweet potato fries, schnitzel, and salad from the salad bar.  A huge plus at Grill 212 is the unlimited salad bar.  Let me repeat that, a HUGE plus for salad lovers like myself (Shoshana) is the UNLIMITED salad bar.

We tried to order bourekas and chicken wings and were disappointed they were not being served that night. To ease our disappointment, the man who worked there upgraded our orders of fries to large size orders (even though we only paid for two smalls-yay). That is what we call good customer service or keeping the customers happy.  And we were so happy because both types of fries were delicious!

The Moroccan cigars were amazing. But here is the surprise: there was no real meat inside even though it was fleishig because the oil they are cooked in is also used for other fleishig foods. The cigars were spicy and crunchy and served with a big plate of chumus.  We had leftovers of these, and two days later, cold and right out of the fridge, the cigars made a great snack according to Esther.

The schnitzel was absolutely amazing! Best schnitzel we have ever eaten! It was breaded and served with pita and the UNLIMITED salad bar. at the salad bar some of the options were Israeli salad, a tad over fried fried onions, and crunchy romaine lettuce.Now you may prefer your schnitzel small and crunchy or like nuggets, but we like ours slightly crispy on the outside and juicy, moist on the inside.  Never dry. Never rubbery.  Never soaked in oil.  These were perfect!

Grill 212 is new and does have some fine tuning to do.  The salad plates were small and hard to eat from, and in our opinion should be big to allow more salad on the plate.  The appetizer plates are large, but the proportions need adjusting so for example, most of the plate won’t be full of chummus with some cigars on the side.

Tasty assorted cookies

Our group was sitting and talking, enjoying our meal, when the owner of the restaurant, Dovid, brought us a large plate of assorted, hand-made cookies! The cookies were a gift and unexpected and amazing! The cookies were so delicious, they elevate Grill 212 status to one of our new favorites.

Esther and Shoshana With the owners of Grill 212

We had you readers in mind and when we were about to leave, we went behind the counter by the grill and took a photo with the two owners to share with you.  We drove Esther Pearl home, and went home all praising the this new restaurant all the way home. We definitely recommend this restaurant to kids. There is also a brunch section on the menu we look forward to trying out on a return visit.  Remember to get the cookies when you go!