Around this time last year, we “reported” on a peculiar new symbol from the OU, and we’ve just come upon something equally as strange:

The new Barilla product labeling seems to bear an “OU Sauce” heksher! Some new chumra we’re not familiar with?

This just in from GAN EDEN Wines:

Now through Pesach, people who see this announcement on the Kosher Blog — and anyone they tell about this sale, of course — will be able to purchase a minimum of 5 cases per order of GAN EDEN 1997 Limited Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon for $120 per case, plus sales tax and shipping cost. As each case has 12 bottles, that works out to $10 per bottle plus requisite costs. I would very much doubt that there are better values on the shelves these days. And remember, the GAN EDEN 2000 Syrah can be added to the order for $108 per case.

To order, contact Craig Winchell at ganeden@ganeden.com.

Roving reviewer Ari is back with his take on a suburban Detroit curiosity.

I normally think reviewing pizza places is a waste — but Jerusalem Pizza of Southfield, MI is worth a mention.

After eating at Jerusalem Pizza a number of times, I’ve had the opportunity to try BBQ Chicken Pizza, Falafel Pizza, Mexican Pizza, Alaskan Pizza, Hawaiian Pizza, and a variety of others. If you check out the menu, you’ll notice that there are a number of other strange pizza offerings, including chulent and kishke, both of which I’ve heard are very good. In fact, first hand, I can say that most of the items served at Jerusalem Pizza are very good.

But is it “pizza?”

I’ve had bad pizza (Pizza Cave of Teaneck, NJ), mediocre pizza with good crust (Cafe Eilat of Brookline) and altogether excellent pizza (Jerusalem Pizza of Elizabeth, NJ). I’ve had overpriced pizza (Nut House of Silver Spring) and cheap pizza (Blue Cheese Pizza at Jabbett’s — free!). None of those places served a pizza that even vaguely resembles the item served by Jerusalem Pizza.

Jerusalem Pizza provides only three tables, so you will almost certainly be eating take out. The “pizzas” come in a familiar cardboard box, and look vaguely like traditional pizza. The crust is thick, crunchy, and a bit oily. The plain cheese pizza is mediocre.

But the specialty pizzas make Jerusalem Pizza stand out. In one notable example, BBQ sauce is layered with tofu chicken and cheese, while another layers corn, beans, and nachos. Tehina, falafel and olive oil? These pizzas offer a surprising variety to my jaded eyes. The thick crust is used as a vehicle to heap on toppings (frequently up to a half-inch mound).
The pizzas are too small, the crust is too thick, and everything costs too much. But I keep going back to Jerusalem Pizza because there are plenty of other pizza places if I just want a cheese pizza.

Alanna of A Veggie Venture is helping us all stay warm this winter by inviting readers to submit recipes for soup (preferably with plenty of veggies). My contribution is a hearty vegetable barley soup that I learned to make from my grandmother. It’s very simple but quite delicious as well as healthful. You can use a food processor to chop the vegetables.

Vegetable Barley Soup

6 cups water
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1/4 cup lima beans, soaked overnight or covered with water and microwaved 5 minutes
1/4 cup split peas
1/4 cup barley
1 tablespoon oil (I prefer olive; Grandma likes canola)
1 teaspooon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Chopped fresh dill or dried dill, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 1/2–2 hours.

According to the Washington Jewish Week, at least three Washington area Dunkin’ Donuts stores will be forced into selling non-kosher products by spring, due to the parent corporation’s continually expanding menu options.

Technically, the edict from corporate brass stated that franchiser Jim Willard could “no longer make menu modifications.” As such, he must serve the sausage, bacon, and other treyfa delights currently absent from his stores.

Naturally, this should raise the wider community’s collective hackles — will the kosher Dunkin’ eateries in other Jewish locales be next? It’s time to act — contact Dunkin’ Brands, Inc. with your dismay:

Dunkin’ Brands, Inc.
E-mail: customerservice@dunkinbrands.com
Phone: 800-859-5339
Fax: 781-737-4000
Mail: 130 Royall Street, Canton, MA 02021

Of course, this might be the perfect opportunity for enterprising entreprenuers to open kosher Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf franchises across the east coast. Boy, do I miss that place.

It’s here — the Gordon & Alperin “kosher strip mall” is finally entering its delicious phase two. The Kosher Blog had an insider’s preview tonight of Avenue Deli, 549 Commonwealth Avenue, Newton, MA (under the supervision of Rabbi Aaron Hamaoui).

First, “deli” is such a limited term. While the restaurant has all our favorite deli standards — pastrami, corned beef, et al — the menu is dotted with so many other delicious choices like steak tips, hamburgers, kebabs, grilled panini, and hearty soups. But even such a menu is limiting, confides owner (and attentive chef) Ricardo Bosich.

He likes to wake up in the morning and think of new and fresh dishes to serve — so expect to see interesting, homemade specials listed.

Our dinner was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The hot corned beef and pastrami sandwiches (served on fresh bread from Bodavi Bakery next door) were both delicious, especially coming in from the bitter New England cold.

Reasonably priced, too — three dollars cheaper than Rubin’s. (Granted, Avenue Deli has counter service, but with Ricardo behind the counter, it’s a pleasure.)

And as a special treat, we were served a plate of grilled chimichurri-marinated steak. It looked so good, we forgot to take a photo before digging in…

The finishing touches are still being applied, so do call first and ask for the hours - 617-332-4170.

After Novembers’s trip to Kosherfest, the gang and I met up with some local friends and readers for a swanky meal at Solo. I had really wanted to try their tasting menu, but I ultimately decided it would be too onerous and costly to foist upon a big group. Our decent-sized group let us try most everything on the menu, limited as it was — the restaurant’s main dining area was devoted to a large function, so the menu was pared down quite a bit, most notably missing all varieties of fresh tuna.

As such, we were shuttled off to a quiet, glass-enclosed room, where Valentino, our able waiter, greeted us and thoroughly explained all of Solo’s dishes. In the spirit of the day, we ordered, and then passed our dishes around for all to try. Aside from Avi’s chicken, I think we were all quite satisfied. What follows is our amateur photographic record; the lighting wasn’t ideal, so use your imagination as necessary.

David’s Cowboy Steak, an extra-thick bone-in aged ribeye topped with hearty onion rings. One of the tastier steaks I’ve ever tried.

Chaim’s steak au poivre. This one really surprised me. The ginger-infused poached pears were a heavenly match with the black pepper encrusting the steak

I ordered this veal filet. The veal was cooked perfectly, but it took me a few bites to warm up to the yam/sausage hash beneath. A fine, hearty meal for those looking to venture beyond steak.

The details of Avi’s chicken dish escape me, but I recall he was unimpressed. I wasn’t surprised, as my one experience with the Prime Grill (Solo’s sister restaurant, which I’ll never visit again) involved a similarly disappointing chicken.

The Jack Daniels-infused chocolate mousse.

My dessert, the banana brulee tart. Outstanding! Crisply browned bananas, decadent shortbread crust, delicate caramel ice cream. And a healthy portion, to boot.

“Do you eat dairy out?”

It’s one of those phrases that only makes sense to a select group of people, in this case, Jews with some traditional background. The question refers to the relatively common practice of keeping a strict separation between meat and dairy at home while eating non-meat products at non-kosher restaurants, even though such establishments obviously do not use separate meat and dairy utensils. For the most part, the practice has persisted as a folk custom without rabbinic endorsement. In the mid-twentieth century, when kosher restaurants were few and far between, some Conservative rabbis and a few liberal Orthodox rabbis found ways to make limited exceptions, but for the most part, those who considered themselves bound by traditional halakhah were forced to concede that food prepared at non-kosher establishments was not kosher. Mordecai Kaplan, the spiritiual father of the Reconstructionist movement, endorsed the practice of keeping kosher at home while “eating out” as a way to maintain Jewish culture while allowing Jews to experience the modern world and interact freely with their gentile neighbors. This position was based on sociological considerations, however; Kaplan had no interest in preserving the traditional halakhic system.

It is not surprising that many Conservative Jews (as well as some nominally Orthodox Jews) continue to eat dairy out. People aren’t entirely consistent by nature, and not everyone who keeps kosher does so for strictly halakhic reasons. Nor is it surprising that many Conservative rabbis eat out, as many are essentially Reconstructionist in theology. What continues to amazing me is how many Conservative Jews, including so-called rabbis, seem to think that “eating dairy out” is a coherent halakhic position. Many, in fact, seem to think that it is the only coherent halakhic position, and that anyone who doesn’t eat at non-kosher restaurants is a religious fanatic, while anyone who doesn’t keep separate utensils at home is “non-observant.”

According to an article in the New York Jewish Week, a recent survey found that 71% of Conservative rabbis eat hot dairy food in non-kosher restaurants, while 92% eat hot food in vegetarian restaurants lacking rabbinic supervision. This has prompted Rabbi Paul Plotkin to begin to compose a teshuvah opposing the practice. The word teshuvah means “answer.” Traditionally, teshuvot responded to specific questions, which means that they usually expressed halakhic positions that weren’t maddeningly obvious. Unfortunately, the Conservative movement has apparently reached a point at which its rabbis can’t appreciate what would be apparent to any outsider who gave it a moment’s thought.

I fell into the Conservative movement more or less by default. For a while, I found its peculiar foibles amusing, but lately, it’s really started to piss me off. I’m thinking of starting my own Deconstructionist community. Any takers?

(Cross-posted to Apikorsus, please post comments there.)

I tried a great new side dish this past Shabbat, from Cooking Light. (Don’t worry; it doesn’t taste particularly “light.”) My only adjustment to the recipe was to make it parve by substituting canola oil and a little bit of water for the butter. (Butter is about 20% water, which helps to properly brown onions and other veggies.) Next time I’ll probably use more pepper and thyme and maybe add some garlic, but really, no complaints.

Hat tip to Alysha of The Savory Notebook (who has a great pic), and to DH, for washing and slicing all those mushrooms.