Kosher Food and Cooking

Top 3 Weekend Events: Passover Cooking Class, 4-Course Dinner Seder at Jar

Passover Cooking Class Meal and a Spiel private cooking school founder Elana Horwich will teach a class on Passover seder classics inspired by her bubbie, or grandmother in Yiddish. The menu designed for the class: Moscato spice haroset, "Best Brisket Ever" with potatoes, matzo ball soup, and an oli ... More >>

Testing Matzo Ball Mixes: Whole Wheat Onion Soup, Potato Dumpling Whole Grain

Nothing says Passover like a bowl of homemade chicken soup with matzo balls. For the seder feasts, that's the way to go. But what about lunch on, say, day four of the week-long holiday? By that time, the idea of yet another matzo sandwich starts to get old. We wondered if some of the fresh spins on ... More >>

Now Open: Kosher Experience at Hancock Park Ralphs

With Passover less than a month away, it's appropriate to ponder the holiday's traditional four questions and to ask a fifth: Why is the Hancock Park Ralphs different from all other Ralphs? For starters, there's a mashgiach on site, something not offered in most grocery stores. A different kind of ... More >>

Fresh Brothers Rolls Out New Skinny Pizza Crust With Half the Carbs

Fitting into our skinny jeans is a popular goal this time of year. Fresh Brothers is eager to help us get a leg up and into those pants by rolling out its skinny crust pizza. The new permanent menu item is being introduced today. As you can imagine, January typically is a slow time for the pizza bu ... More >>

9 Great Latkes in Los Angeles

Sure, there's fun to be had cooking your own deep fried holiday foods. But sustaining this ritual for a celebration that spans eight nights? Not so appealing. Most households tend to max out at one, maybe two, latke frying sessions, since ventilation methods can only be so effective. And besides, no ... More >>

3 Latke Recipes From Joan Nathan for Hanukkah

Most Jewish holidays are associated with special foods. Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is no exception. Taking center stage during the eight-day celebration, which starts this Saturday evening, are latkes, which is the Yiddish word for pancakes. The holiday commemorates religious ... More >>

Trader Joe's Chocolate Chips: Kosher Label Change Leaves Bitter Aftertaste

Trader Joe's has whipped up a big batch of customer frustration by changing the labeling on its popular semisweet chocolate chips to Kosher dairy. Until recently the chocolate chips were labeled Kosher parve, which meant they were dairy free and could be enjoyed by observant Jews after, say, a bowl ... More >>

Passover Pizza: Matzah Pizza from Fresh Brothers

For people who have been observing Passover since Friday night, right about now you might be experiencing signs of pizza withdrawal. Fear not. Fresh Brothers Pizza has a fix for you --- a special matzah pizza, available until the holiday ends Saturday night. (We'll digress for a moment to note how m ... More >>

A Recipe From the Chef: Marcy Goldman's Incredible Passover Rolls

Why is this holiday different from all other holidays? For starters, you eat a lot of matzo. Passover, which begins tonight with the first seder or holiday feast, commemorates the exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt, after they were freed from slavery. According to tradition, they were forc ... More >>

L.A.'s Idea of Jewish Food vs. What Jews Really Eat

​Our latest attempt in Understanding Cuisine through Racial Profiling finds us examining the dietary habits of Jews. But what kind of Jews? One respondent wrote, "You meant to ask what American Jews eat, right? Otherwise you will get sucked forever into separating Moroccan Jews from Polish Jew ... More >>

Jewish Iraqi Food: Yes, But in Los Angeles?

Dear Mr. Gold: My parents are coming to visit soon and I was hoping to do them proud by finding some authentic Iraqi cuisine akin to what my Baghdad-born father grew up eating just outside of Tel Aviv. His mother has stuffed us many a visit with things like sambusak, the sabich, kubeh, bamia and the ... More >>

Against the Rock-Hard Matzoh Ball

Guzzle & NoshMatzoh ball soup at Mezze.​It's almost impossible to find a decent matzoh ball at a restaurant in Los Angeles. Even at the finest delis, the standard matzoh ball is as large as a softball and nearly as hard. Perhaps this could be justified by some complex sociocultural explanation ... More >>

From Marina del Rey to Skid Row

The Kosher Corridor

A restaurant renaissance in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood

Top 5 Places to Eat in the Kosher Corridor

Guzzle & Nosh​Pico Boulevard has its share of intriguing restaurants, and the "Kosher Corridor," from Beverly Drive on the west to La Cienega on the east, is no exception. Although this neighborhood has long been home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish populations in the city, for years, ko ... More >>

Chozen Kosher Ice Cream: Babka, Rugelach Flavors No Conversion Required

Chozen's Matzoh Crunch​Many miracles have befallen the Chosen People, not the least of which is Chozen ice cream, a New York-based kosher creamer, which opened online sales at the end of last month. Pints of the miraculous milchig were previously available only in Texas and the New York metrop ... More >>

The Best in Restaurant Signage: Doheny Kosher Meat Market

Celia SoudryDoheny Kosher disclaimer​It was 5 p.m. at Doheny Kosher Meat Market on a Sunday night. We came in through the back door past a "No Admittance - Employees Only" sign. We felt like Lorraine Bracco entering the Copa Cabana for the first time in Goodfellas. There were about ten men bea ... More >>

Passover Roundup: 8 Ways to Celebrate Pesach in a Restaurant

J. RitzTraditional Venetian sweet-and-sour Pesce in carpione at Angeli Caffe. ​ Los Angeles chefs and restaurants approach Passover with respect for tradition, while applying their own unconventional and unexpected touches. There will be plenty of matzo ball soup. And then there will be Thai-s ... More >>

Purim With a Shiksa Kosher Cosmo & Poppy Seed Cake Recipes

from Wonder Bread & ham to hummus and challah​Purim is just around the corner, beginning Saturday, March 19th, and some of us are already daydreaming about hamentashen; kreplach; sufganiyot; and other bizarre-sounding foods. Tori Avey, also known as Shiksa in the Kitchen, is loosening her belt ... More >>

Top 5 Matzo Ball Soups in Los Angeles

J. RitzNate 'n Al​ Matzo ball soup is a comfort food with a relatively simple taxonomy. Camps are mostly divided along the lines of sinkers vs. floaters, clean broth vs. noodles/crackers/carrots/etc. Opinions range and styles vary, and a perusal of the literature by authorities such as Claudia ... More >>

Twenty Six by Shiloh to Open on Pico's Kosher Corridor

The "kosher corridor" along Pico Boulevard near Robertson, which has seen more new restaurants in the past couple years than it had probably seen in the previous decade, gets another addition in Twenty-Six by Shiloh. Set to open at 4 p.m. on December 16th (despite what the sign says), this is an u ... More >>

The Great Latke vs. Hamantash Debate

Like the profoundest of profound intellectual quandaries, the latke vs. hamantash debate may never be fully resolved. Since 1946, when Hillel House at University of Chicago sponsored the first annual debate pitting potato pancakes against triangular cookies, great minds -- like Nobel Prize-winnin ... More >>

Q & A With Joan Nathan: Her New Book, Jewdar The Secret French Matzo Society

​Tonight's sundown is the sixth night of Chanukah. To celebrate this occasion, we check in with Joan Nathan, award-winning author of ten cookbooks about Jewish cuisine, the latest being Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France (Knopf). It's part cookbook, part inve ... More >>

Oy, Vey! Jewish Cooking Classes for Hanukkah A Latke Recipe

Flickr/slgckgcMost cooks still fry latkes in lots of grease, but not Hipcooks. ​ You love your grandma, but just not her leaden matzoh balls and grease-laden latkes. With the eight days of Hanukkah beginning on Dec. 1 (25 Kislev for those of you on the Hebrew calendar), it's time for an act o ... More >>

Review: Schnitzly's Delicious Kosher Chips

As its name implies, Schnitzly is devoted to the schnitzel, which is too bad since their version, made with chicken, is heavy, dry and served in hefty wraps or sub sandwiches, even with the dozen or so sauces you can slather on top of them. That level of mediocrity is nothing new on Pico Boulevard ... More >>

Encyclopedia of Jewish Food: Your Rosh Hashanah And General Library Must-Have A Raisin Wine Recipe

​Food books, cooking and otherwise, elicit so many disparate responses on first-flip through. Curiosity, excitement, nostalgia. Even shock (

Takosher: Nation's First Kosher Truck Dishes Up Brisket & Latke Tacos

Guzzle & NoshA brisket taco (left) from the Takosher Truck and its co-founders (right).​ The People of the Book (finally) become the People of the Truck when Takosher (Twitter: @takosher), the nation's first kosher taco truck soft-launches on Monday, serving tacos brisket, latke, and more tra ... More >>

Squid Ink Food Fight: Matzo Ball Soup, 'n 'n Good

Matzo ball soup is something that exists with nearly the same frequency in Jewish delis in the United States as it does in Jewish homes. Tastes and opinions, as with all dishes this widely consumed, are massively varied. In fact, if you ask a group of Ft. Lauderdale grandmothers what constitutes a p ... More >>

DID JEW KNOW IT’S A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL?

Brooklyn Boys Food Truck Brings Deli Fare to O.C.

Brooklyn BoysThe Brooklyn Boys food truck​Orange County isn't known for its abundance of New York and Jewish-style delis, but the Brooklyn Boys food truck, launched on Feb. 1, hopes to change that. Roaming from Fullerton and Placentia on the northern tip to Santa Ana and Irvine and all the w ... More >>

Passover Planner: Restaurant Seders Around Town

Photo: J. RitzEvan Kleiman's matzo ball soup at Angeli.​ The two nights of Passover seder 5770 fall on Monday, March 29 and Tuesday, March 30. Our local, trusty, sophisticated Passover mavens honor the broad Jewish culinary diaspora while hewing to some familiar traditions as well. Bottom lin ... More >>

Kosher Website Launches: MyKosherLA on Local Eats

Shopping at Elat Market or Pico Glatt on a Friday afternoon can be stressful--maneuvering your cart through crowded aisles, fighting the neighborhood yenta for the last challah. But MyKosherLA, a website breaking down all things kosher into categories such as eating out, groceries, catering and kash ... More >>

The Gorbals: Stomp, the Restaurant

A Jewish-Glaswegian inspiration in downtown L.A.

Squid Ink Food Fight: Falafel Off (Say That Ten Times Fast)

The falafel is one of those foods that has migrated a long distance across multiple countries, spawning many variations, preferences and preparations. Some falafel are made from fava (though far less commonly in the U.S.) and some from chickpeas. They can be filled with different herbs, or onions de ... More >>

Billy’s: A Deli Grows in Glendale

Or maybe it was there all along

Rosh Hashanah Catering: A Guide to Timely Ordering

Photo Credit: Adam BakerCoconut Macaroons​While your internal clock may run on Jewish Standard Time, measuring by approximations instead of absolutes, restaurants don't. Making coconut macaroons and briskets for hundreds takes time and careful planning. So even though Rosh Hashanah is about a ... More >>

Kosher Credentials in the San Fernando Valley

Nu, does it have to be trayf?

Ask Mr. Gold: Kosher Credentials; Nu, Does It Have To Be Trayf?

Photo credit: Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, with dim sum menuDear Mr. Gold: My son would like to go a kosher restaurant for his birthday. Do you have any recommendations? --Michael, Northridge Dear Michael: The local universe of kosher dining is better than it used to be, when nine-tenths of my meals with ... More >>

When Bread Recipes (and Cultures) Intertwine: Alain Cohen's Pretzel Challah

What do pretzels and challah have in common? Not much. At least until the two met at Got Kosher? Provisions, a take-out shop on Pico Boulevard just west of Robertson.

Just What We Need . . .

Passover in LA: Italian Specials With Pot Roast Traditions at Angeli

Evan Kleiman cooks up a delicious hybrid Passover at Angeli with an emphasis on Italian traditions, as evidenced by cianfotta green veggie stew and one of Evan's faves, pesce en carpione. But you won't have to miss out on pot roast and chicken matzo ball soup either. Thursday, April 9 at 7:00 p.m., ... More >>

More than Manischewitz: Kosher Wine Tasting

For your kosher drinking needs, the Wine House has lots of choices in stock and an opportunity to taste a bunch of kosher for Passover wines before you commit to serving glass after glass of the stuff. The drop-in kosher wine tasting is this Sunday, April 5 from 1:00-4:00 and only costs $4. In this ... More >>

The Chosen Pancake

From Iran to Uzbekistan, the foods of the Jewish Diaspora

The Soldier

Ask Mr. Gold

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