Gothamist and Kosher-NY are both reporting that the Second Avenue Deli, which closed at its long-standing location last year due to rent issues, is set to reopen on Monday, December 17. The pictures that Gothamist has look great. And, in exciting news for carnivorous insomniacs and those of us who work odd hours on occasion, “The new location, on 33rd Street near 3rd Avenue, will be open 24-hours a day starting Monday with a ceremonial salami cutting of ‘nickel shtikel’ links at 11 a.m.”

To avoid the apparently inevitable “my hashgacha can beat up your hashgacha” conversation, I remind you that Kosher Blog recommends that you check with your local rabbi regarding any questions about appropriate kashrut. This, in my opinion, is not the appropriate forum for that discussion, since such decisions are not universally applicable and we prefer to avoid the lashon harah that often accompany these arguments.

Just steps from Times Square and directly across from famed kosher steakhouse Le Marais, Clubhouse Cafe is being billed as the “hip bar scene” for young Jewish professionals. I don’t take my after-Kosherfest dinner reservation lightly, since Kosherfest is usually my only visit to Manhattan each year, but my urge to try a hot new boîte on its opening night overshadowed any worries about a nascent restaurant finding its legs. What lingering worries remained were melted away as we entered, the cafe’s mix of comforting warmth and urbane refinement welcoming us in from the cold. A handsome bar stands by the entrance, beyond which a modest collection of two- and four-seat tables, most with supple leather chairs, fills the dining room. Our party of twelve fit nicely around a sleek square table, dotted with candles, and while the table’s spartan benches weren’t the most comfortable for those of us without a wall to lean on, it lent a casual feel that was suited to our boisterous crowd — “dining hall chic.”

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Rabbi Josh Yuter investigates.

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.

Today, Kosher-NY.com launched with the aim of providing a comprehensive resource for New York kosher dining. It’s an excellent effort, and a gargantuan one — the site has several areas where further development would be desireable.

The site features a large directory — about 160 establishments in all — ranging from dining halls and coffee shops to some of the finest kosher joints in the country. The main list includes neighborhood (midtown, downtown, etc.) and type (milk, meat, and “vegetarian”), and individual listings include further details like address, contact information, kosher supervisor, hours, and a small Google map that shows nearby subway stops. Certain entries have short reviews written by Kosher-NY staff.

On top of that, concise restaurant info and restaurant suggestions based on location can be requested directly from your cell phone, or sent to your phone from the website — a great feature.

Given that the site doesn’t cater to my particular demographic, I asked a local for his impressions on the site. Here are our combined thoughts and suggestions:

• Including subway data is a necessity for Manhattan, but the instructions are a little confusing, both for residents and out-of-towners. Links to driving and subway directions (provided by HopStop) should be included prominently in the listing text, and not relegated to the marker within the map.
• A more data-intensive browsing interface should be developed to include more important fields like cuisine, kosher supervision, and whether a restaurant has been reviewed. Since the site’s policy is to include restaurants with any kind of heksher, most visitors will appreciate the saved click by knowing the level of supervision up front. Make the list sortable by each field.
• Add an advanced search, with which the user can clearly select all of his desired attributes.
• The reviews seem accurate, just add more of them, and enhance reviews with lots of pictures. With so many kosher options available, the human factor is critical in helping people make dining decisions.
• Allow visitor comments and ratings. Keeping reviews and other data fresh is difficult, so learn from Zagat and Shamash — let other people help out.
• Consult a web usability expert to improve the site design and add some professional polish. For example, link underlining is inconsistent, and a black background with grey text can be difficult for some to read.
• Add “e-mail this listing to a friend” functionality.
• Include all the data fields available on other sites, like methods of payment, restaurant features, price range, and menus.

Such a site was long overdue, and if maintained and extended vigorously, Kosher-NY.com will be here to stay. We wish the site’s creators the best of luck.

For those of you who don’t read the New York Times Dining & Wine section regularly, here is article on Central Asian restaurants in Queens that appeared last week. The reporter describes kosher Bukharian restaurants in glowing terms:

A spirit of abundance pervades Bukharian restaurants. Kebabs of pure lamb fat, crisp and smoky, perfume every dining room. Platters of plov are enormous. And warm chewy bread called lepeshka, like a huge bialy, keeps coming until you say stop. A few doors down at Fortuna restaurant, the owner, Isak Babayev, mourns the barberries, the sweet yellow carrots, the pomegranates and the fresh walnuts of his native Uzbekistan. “Everything was organic, although we didn’t know that word,” he said in Russian. “There were the most wonderful red- and yellow-fleshed melons, and green grapes as long and thin as a woman’s fingers.”

A list of the best Central Asian restuarants in New York includes three kosher establishments. There is also a recipe for shurpa lagman, an elaborate lamb and vegetable stew served over noodles.

There are those who say that Dougie’s is passe… not what it used to be. But for those who get to chow in New York only now and then, it can really hit the spot…

I realize that everyone hip already knows all about Dougie’s, but still - I think it is appropriate to talk about our incredible meal.

Read Tzvi’s review

One of the greatest things that happened on my mother’s birthday, March 31, was the long-awaited post on Kosher Blog detailing the locations where Neshama sausages could be purchased in the New York area. Now, while most people spend the bulk of their time working and dedicate an off-day to charity, I work for a charity, so I dedicated an off-day to working - that is, embarking on the search for the elusive Neshama sausage.

My first attempt was an immediate success: Eli’s Supermarket at 1411 3rd Ave (at East 80th St). Upstairs, Eli’s has a separate kosher fridge with kosher cheeses and meats, and they had Neshama tucked away behind some other hot dogs — it took some searching. There was only one option, the Apple-Walnut-Cranberry Breakfast Sausages. They were quite pricy though, $11.99 per package.

Next - Fairway: no success. Plus, it was crowded, pushy, difficult to navigate. They did have a nice kosher selection, but no Neshama. However, this was the location on 74th St., and the KBlog posting of “Fairway Wholesale Uptown” was sufficiently vague to include the possiblity of either the 74th St. or the 132nd St. location.

Next attempt: Zabar’s. Success! Bingo! The nexus of the Jewish Neshama. Although there was a temporary failure because the first door is actually a treif lunch place, I eventually realized there was a grocery next door. The kosher section was quite spacious, and the Neshama was abundant. Four different kinds — they had the same Apple-Walnut-Cranberry that Eli’s had, but they also carried the Country Apple Sausages, the Mild Italian, and the Spicy Italian. Plus, each was priced at only $7.99 per package. Great deal! I bought a whole bunch.

The rest were all failures — Whole foods on 89th, while they were friendly and helpful, did not carry Neshama. Kosher Marketplace on 90th, while they do have a nice kosher selection and would be a great Thursday evening shopping store, did not even know about Neshama (at least the 2 people I spoke to), and Fairway on 132nd also did not carry (though their selection of other kosher meats was enormous - and in Harlem?!) Amish Fine Foods - I didn’t try, but I was surprised to find out that they actually do have a website.

In the end, Zabar’s wins at 2245 Broadway and West 80th. They have the most options and the best price. After a long meaningful search, it’s great to have found one’s Neshama.

From today’s New York Times “Food Stuff” column:

Eli Zabar has converted a little ice cream stand at the front of Eli’s Manhattan, 1411 Third Avenue (80th Street), into a kosher bakery. To comply with kosher rules, it is fully enclosed and separated from the rest of the store, and it uses only fresh yeast approved for kosher baking. Rabbis check things out at least once a week. The breads - including baguettes, a ring-shaped bread and focaccia made with kosher olive oil - come out of the oven three times a day. The bakery is closed from sundown Friday until after sundown Saturday. Prices are $1.29 to $2.95.

Many of Eli Zabar’s kosher breads are available online at EliZabar.com, with shipping available to anywhere in the U.S.

While in New York for KosherFest, I had dinner at Solo, self-described as a Mediterranean venue with an Asian kick. It’s located in the Sony Building on Madison Avenue, on the first floor. The decor is very pleasant: the outer wall is made up of lights, seen from inside and outside the restaurant, that slowly change colors. The restaurant is composed of a main room, which seats about 60 people, 4 private rooms of different sizes, and a nice bar at which we sat at while waiting to be seated.

Though I made my reservation a full two weeks in advance, the earliest time I could get for 6 guests was 9:15 p.m. On top of that, when we got there, the restaurant was full, and we waited nearly twenty minutes at the bar. On the plus side, since it was really packed, we got lucky — they gave us their best private room situated directly off the kitchen. This room features a glass sliding electric door directly to the kitchen (a.k.a. the chef’s table) and it also had a flat screen TV — so we got to watch (silently) that evening’s World Series game.

Once seated, we were introduced to our waiter; he was genuinely nice and seemed happy to serve us. He explained the menu and the specials very professionally, was patient with all our questions and answered all of them perfectly, and was also extremely knowledgeable when it came to helping us order from the wine menu (which could be a little intimidating even to me). I should mention what also impressed me about the restaurant was the fact that they have a constantly changing tasting menu for $85 (without wine). The only caveat is that everyone at your table has to order it. Naturally, with six friends we couldn’t agree to go for it, so I decided I was there to taste and I would create my own tasting experience off the regular menu.

For my first appetizer, I had the yellow fin tuna tartar: wonderfully fresh, and presented beautifully with a layer of Haas avocado and a mango salsa.

For my second appetizer, I chose a special — creamy black truffle risotto. Before I go on (and explain how this was probably the best dish at Solo), I have to explain that I went to a non-kosher cooking school in California (a Cordon Bleu program), so I am not exaggerating when I say I must have made risotto a hundred times. This was the best risotto I ever had, with truffle oil and black truffle shaven on top. The flavor was so strong (in an excellent way), the texture was perfectly al dente, and it had a creamy mouth-feel even without any real butter. A classic presentation, this dish was divine; everything I had imagined a truffle risotto to be and more!

I had also ordered the soup of the day, which was fish chowder. It was really quite first-rate: not too fishy, had really nice sharpness to it (I believe it was ginger), and slightly spicy.

For my entree, I had the Solo “Cowboy Steak” which is marinated in wine. The steak was exceptional, cooked perfectly the way I wanted it. It came with large onion rings, which were decent but a little bland, and with roasted potatoes, which were much too spicy — not one person at the table ate more then three of them.

For dessert, I had the caramel souffle, which is basically a regular chocolate souffle but it comes with an outstanding caramel sauce and a vanilla ice cream that was first-rate (homemade using real vanilla beans). Though the souffle itself was a little over-cooked for me, the sauce and the ice cream on their own made the dish well worth ordering.

Overall, it was the best restaurant experience I ever had, because I had such a great time. I got very lucky with the private room looking into the kitchen, watching the Red Sox win, and our waiter, who most definitely helped make the evening one I won’t soon forget.

Now, you’re probably thinking: how much was it? Well, yes, it was expensive. I went overboard with ordering five courses and a $60 bottle of wine. But I do suggest you go there for a special occasion or for a high-stakes business meeting. It’s a great opportunity to show friends or clients that kosher restaurants can be just as excellent as non-kosher ones. In this chef’s opinion, it’s really the best kosher restaurant out there right now that can compare to New York’s non-kosher fine-dining restaurants.

Often, the wittiest anecdotes to Modern Orthodox life come when we attempt merging those two seemingly discordant modes that define us: the “modern” and the “Orthodox.”

A lawyer friend invited me to a firm reception, hosted in a posh East Village club. Never one to turn down cheap eats I happily accepted. And, so, our heroine found herself spending yesterday evening with the cr譥 of America’s fledgling legal elite–shaking a few hands, sharing a few ambulance jokes, and wholly indistinguishable from the rest of the crowd except for her rather apparent lack of exposed cleavage (which I’m convinced at least one partner picked up on) and the blue kippah srugya perched neatly atop her friend’s head.

Then came dinner. Prime rib for one hundred and fifty and shrink-wrapped Abigael’s for two. After freeing the pre-packaged food from its cellophane prison, with more than a little help from a handily toiveled Swiss Army knife, our heroine committed, for her companion’s amusement, the supposedly grievous sin of consuming sushi and chicken in the same forkful. When he ran off promptly thereafter, I figured that witnessing my brazen lack of chumra?dik-ness had sent his nerves into a tail dive.

Lo and behold, he reemerged moments later with the greatest find I’ve ever seen in a treyf joint, an unopened, yes, unopened
bottle of kosher wine. (Perhaps he hoped that liquoring me up might prevent future violations of presumed halakhah.) Only problem was, his trusty Swiss Army knife didn?t have a corkscrew.

I made for the bar, hoping to swipe one off a waiter. The ensuing dialogue:

Waiter: “Why do you need it?”
Heroine: “To open our wine.” (points to table and thinks “duh”)
Waiter: “Yeah, I offered to open it but the guy flat-out refused.”
Heroine: “Well, you know, we wanted to do it ourselves. The thrill of the hunt.”

I smiled a secret smile to myself as I went back to our table, where I proceeded to get horrifically tipsy on the finest Rashi’s got to offer.

Like ColumbiaAuds mentioned below, we’re in New York City for Danny and Devora’s wedding. Given our schedules, we weren’t able to sample the city’s many Kosher options until last night, when we hit Abigael’s on Broadway. Sarah and I have been there before, so the true test was from my parents, who haven’t always enjoyed the Boston Kosher experience. To Abigael’s merit, the service, decor, and food passed the muster of non-Kosher palettes with flying colors.

Run-down of our meals: we started with two soup specials. I had the “Italian Lentil Soup”, made with a mixture of vegetables, orzo, and veal sausage. The women had roasted pepper and potato soup. Both were delicious and served in a creative manner: the soup remained in a small metal cup, presumably to keep it very warm, before being poured, at our table, into large soup bowls.

For entrees, we enjoyed Skirt Steak San Pedro (Dad), Yakatori Tasting plate (Mom), Chicken Rouladen (Sarah), and the Boneless Rib Eye Steak (me). While my Rib Eye was cooked perfectly and delicious, my father’s Skirt Steak was a real treat with much more flavor, an exciting presentation (on a grilled nan-style flatbread with three sauces, and slightly sweet, roasted white potatoes). Mom’s Yakatori platter was from the appetizer menu, since she wanted a smaller portion; it was presented elegantly and offered small tastes of skewered chicken, sausage, and beef. I felt the sausage could have been more intense; it almost seemed like a thick-skinned hot dog. Sarah’s Chicken Rouladen was delicious: a large portion of chicken breast stuffed with a sourdough/sausage mixture, sliced, and served alongside roasted vegetables (all of which could have been a bit warmer). My Rib Eye was probably the simplest of the four meals: topped with caramelized onions (a great touch), and served with steak fries.

My father enjoyed his meal with a Baron Herzog California Merlot, which was soft, fruity and with no detectable aftertaste.

We capped our meal with tea, Glenlivet scotch, and Abigael’s wonderful molten chocolate cake. One cake and four spoons was just enough for each of us, and we were all impressed by the quality of the non-dairy dessert. (I hope to find/engineer a similar pareve cake recipe. Stay tuned.)

What I find most magnificent about Abigael’s is its true maturity in the Kosher world. Chef Jeff Nathan isn’t trying to be “not your grandmother’s” this-or-that. He just creates great food, with a heksher. The elegant ambience and astute service are such that religiously-observant patrons don’t have to make excuses, as in other restaurants, for Kosher, but lesser-quality experiences.

Though the Abbetts have New York’s many other Kosher destinations to explore in the future, we’ll certainly return to Abigael’s again and again.