A Trio of Latkes

The Classic:

Makes about 12

5 Large Potatoes

1 Large Onion

3 Large Eggs

1/4 cup Matzoh Meal

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Shred the onion and potatoes in a food processor.  In a bowl combine potato and onion mixture with eggs, matzoh meal, salt and pepper.

Heat about a 1/4 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium heat.  Grab about a baseball's worth of the potato mixture and form a patty.

Fry on each side until brown.

Sweet Potato Leek:

Makes about 12

2 Large Potatoes

2 Large Leeks

5 Large Eggs

1/4 cup Matzoh Meal

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Shred the leeks and sweet potatoes in a food processor. In a bowl combine sweet potato and onion mixture with eggs, matzoh meal, salt and pepper.

Heat about a 1/4 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Grab about a baseball's worth of the sweet potato mixture and form a patty.

Fry on each side until brown.

Parsnip Zucchini:

Makes about 12

2 Large Parsnips

2 Large Zucchinis

3 Large Eggs

1/4 cup Matzoh Meal

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Shred the parsnips and zucchinis in a food processor. In a bowl combine potato an onion mixture with eggs, matzoh meal, salt and pepper.

Heat about a 1/4 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Grab about a baseball's worth of the parsnip an zucchini mixture and form a patty.

Fry on each side until brown.

Burger of the Week

Burger of the week: A 1/2lb hand formed beef patty with cripsy corned beef, onions, schug mayo, sweet and sour ketchup on a kaiser roll.

Chulent results and my award winning chulent recipe

I went with the name "Vegetarians Need Not Apply" and I won!!!!! Here is the approximate recipe:




This makes roughly the equivalent of 2 deep 9X13s




3 lbs of potatoes pealed

3 large onions sliced

1 bags of barley

1 bag of beans

3 boxes of beef stock

1 large garlic sausage (think about a foot long and an inch thick) sliced

2 medium sized Italian sausages sliced

2 lbs beef stew meat

Fat and meat for 2 lamb breasts

2 small kishkas

2 lbs assorted smoked cold cut ends (my local butcher saves the ends of their cold cuts and sells them at a discount)

1/2 an envelope of onion soup mix

Paprika

Chili Powder

Black Pepper

Honey

Ketchup

Saute the onions with the lamb fat and meat on medium heat until they start to brown and then let cool.

Add the beans, barley and beef stock to a very large foil pan (the ones that are about twice the size of a 9X13).

Quarter the potatoes and add them.

Add all the meat products, making sure that all pieces are roughly the same size.

Add both kishkas, breaking on up, and adding the other whole.

Add the onions with the remaining lamb fat and lamb meat.

Top with the onion soup mix, honey, ketchup, chili powder, pepper, and paprika to taste.

Mix, cover with foil, and cook at 225F for about 24 hours.

Name My Chulent

I am entering the Chulent cook-off for my shul.  They have asked us to come up with a name for our chulents.  I am looking for suggestions.  Please post your ideas in the comments to this post.

To give you an idea about my chulent, but not give away all my secrets, it should be rich, with a smokey note, and touch of heat.

Thanksgiving, it just never ends and I think I like it

OK so the past few years we have been invited out for thanksgiving, so I did not get to be in charge of the big meal on turkey day.  While I did make green beans and cranberry sauce for the meal we went to on Thursday, I passed on making the turkey and dragging it over to our host.  I did not want deal with it, or pay for it.

But of course I could not, not make turkey for the season, so I decided so make Thanksgiving part 2 Friday night.  We were a smaller crowd so I did a bone out, butterflied, stuffed, and rolled turkey breast.

The stuffing recipe was very basic. I sauteed 4 large onions, in way more oil then is healthy, about an inch worth, until the onions are golden. At that point add matzoh meal until it absorbs most of the oil, but is not dry. Continue cooking the the stuffing until it is lightly browned. Cool and and stuff it in the turkey.

I recommend getting it boned and butterflied by your butcher.  I tied it to keep its shape.  I wrapped it in beef fry to help keep it moist.  I roasted it at    350 *F covered until it hit an internal temperature of about 160*F. 

I put a layer of onions, celery, and bell peppers under the turkey and added some chicken stock to the pan to keep the turkey from drying out.

Burger of the Week

1/2 lb ground beef on a kaiser roll with ketchup sauteed onions and mushrooms and homemade shoestring oven fries.

Why I Hate Greenbean Casserole, and What I Plan On Doing About It

Here is the thing about green bean casserole, it is just plain bad.  It is generally make with inferior processed products.  Canned green beans by definition are already overcooked in the canning process, and then you go and cook them again.  Canned cream of mushroom soup soup also not exactly high quality stuff. One thing I do have to admit, I like the French's onions.  Now I realize they are not exactly high quality or healthy but they are tasty.  Although they tend to get a bit soggy in a casserole. All together it makes for a rather unhealthy dish with mediocre flavor and a mushy texture.

Here is what I am planning on doing about it:
1.  Just don't do it.  Don't make the casserole.  Green beans can be delicious, roasted, steamed or sauteed as long as  they are not overcooked.

2.  If you must have your casserole, use fresh green beans.  Also, sweat some fresh mushrooms covered so the liquid does not evaporate and mix in a roux and some cream.  To make it non-dairy (parev) use margarine or oil in the roux and soy milk.

My Mother's Cranberry Relish 2 Ways

My Mother's Cranberry Relish 2 Ways

Just like in every movie where a guy is being hassled by the cops, you can do this the easy way or the hard way.  Both of these can be made ahead of time.  I actually like this better the day after I make it so the flavors have time come together. First the easy way which is the way my mother does it:

1 Can Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
1 Can Mandarin Oranges Drained
1 Can of Crushed Pineapple Drained
1 Package of Strawberry (or other red jello) made per directions on the box

Break up the jello with a fork and mix in the cranberry sauce, mandarins, and pineapple.  Chill and serve.

And now the hard way, or the way I do it:


2 Bags of Fresh Cranberries
1 Bottle of Cherry 7-Up
1 Can Mandarin Oranges Drained
1 Can of Crushed Pineapple Drained
1 Package of Strawberry (or other red jello) made per directions on the box

Add the cranberries and the Cherry 7-Up to a medium sized pot on medium high heat until it comes to a boil.  After it comes to boil turn it down to a simmer and cook until reduced by half.
Break up the jello with a fork and mix in the cranberry, mandarins, and pineapple. Chill and serve.

Article in the Daily Northwestern about the closing of Malibu Pizza

http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/city/kosher-restaurant-closes-due-to-lack-of-community-interest-1.2653177#.Tq7eA_TqdgG

I have to say I take issue with the tone of the quote from Kenny. It is tough for everyone these days. Even so if you are at EJ's on Saturday night it is packed. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Guest Post at YeahThatsKosher.com

Check out my guest post over at http://www.yeahthatskosher.com/

Alton Brown is Awesome!!!

Went to a Q&A and book signing with Alton Brown tonight.  The man is hilarious and really nice.  We was just as nice as I remember him from the last time I saw him.  He signed 2 books, 1 poster, and 1 t-shirt for me.

Got a little news about one of his new projects.  He is going to be doing some e-cookbooks, with videos and they are going to be called "25" as each one will have 25 applications (recipes).

Just like last time he let the kids go first for the signing.  He had some good lines during the Q&A but I can't really remember them.
He mentioned that he will have some other new projects that he thinks Good Eats fans will like next year.

Tentative First Night Rosh Hashana Menu

There is a custom in the Jewish religion to eat symbolic foods called Symonim (translated as signs) on the first night of the new year holiday Rosh Hashana. Instead of just serving them as is I like to incorporate them into composed dishes. The list includes beets, apples, leeks, honey, cabbage, pomegranate, carrots, black eyed peas, dates, fenugreek, fish, and meat from the head of an animal, usually a fish, and gourd.
Here is what I am going with this year:
Beet carpaccio with apple and leek slaw and honey vinaigrette
Herb and onion topped gefilte fish
Beef and rice stuffed cabbage in a pomegranate tomato sauce
Pomegranate BBQ sauce Braised beef cheek with date, carrot, and sweet potato tzimmus
Honey baked turkey breast with apple and butternut squash stuffing
Sauteed beet greens
Black eyed peas with fenugreek

Recipes and pictures to follow early next week.

Another one bites the dust...goodbye Kosher Subway

Chicago is not kind to its kosher restaurants.  We lost our kosher subway.  Food was OK, but prices were a bit high for deli sandwiches.  Still a loss.  See the announcement from their Facebook page below:

Kosher Subway

Yes, it's official. Skokie Kosher Subway has officially closed it's doors today. Unfortunately, Walgreens bought the strip mall where we were located. We considered moving locations, but it took us 2 years to find this location and we did not want to go through the process again. We did not expect it to happen so soon, but another Subway has purchased our franchise and was eager to close the deal. We are so thankful to all of you who have been so supportive!
Shabbat Shalom!

New York Trip Restaurant Round-Up

On my recent trip to New York I decided not to go to any fancy steak places.  I hit three restaurants while I was there below are my reviews:1. Smokey Joe's in Tenneck, NJ: Food was OK but nothing special.  I had the pulled brisket sandwich and the meat seemed a bit a stringy and dry.  My wife had the burger that also seemed a little dry and both our buns did not seem fresh.  For a BBQ place their house BBQ sauce leaves something to be desired, maybe a little bit of heat.  There fries seem fresh and good.  the include corn brad and onion jam as a free started that is excellent.  I also had a couple of their sausage as an appetizer, and was very disappointed.  The hand no sear on them, the texture was grainy, and they fell apart as soon as I cut into them.  The decor was cute but I could hear the owner yelling at someone on the phone.

2. Olympic Pita in Midtown:  Pretty typical middle eastern place, but honestly I was to full from lunch to enjoy it.  I order the chicken soup and it was inedibly salty.  It tasted like it came for a mix.  I order a falafel plate that was decent.  The place wine and sparkling water on table trying to get you to buy it which I find tacky.

3. Carlos and Gaby's in Brooklyn:  The food was good but the service was horrible.  Their web site says they open at 11 but they do not open the doors until noon and even then they are not really ready.  The lunch specials are a pretty good deal.  I had the two taco ordered on soft and and one crunchy both were tasty.  I also ordered  the Philly egg roll but they forgot to provide the sauce.  My wife ordered a chicken fried steak sandwich that was supposed to come with nacho, which they forgot.  When did finally get them they were just a sad little bag of flour tortilla chips.

Stop the presses!!!

It looks as if Slice of Life/ Hy Life Bistro will now be taking credit cards starting after the 9 days.  They made this announcement about 20 minutes ago about 3:35 central time on Facebook.

Maybe this is the year for the Cubs too!!


And now we have confirmation from the Manager Geoff Winner!!!

Another one bites the dust...Goodbye Devon Fish and Pizza

Again Chicago struggles to support another kosher restaurant. Devon Fish and Pizza has officially closed their doors according their Facebook page. This place just never seemed to gain traction, maybe it was the awkward sounding name? I was there only a few times and i found their food decent, although I have heard from other that it was inconstant. I never did taste their sushi although at least their original sushi menu seemed very "mock Krab" heavy.

While it is sad we lost another restaurant I can't say I am surprised. These days I assume a kosher restaurant will fail in Chicago and then am pleasantly surprised if it survives.

Homemade iced cinnamon buns

Lemon Poppyseed Bread with Blueberry Jam

I used the bread maker again.  Came out even better this time.  I think in order to get a good crust you really need to pull it out hot and not let it cool in the bread maker.

Bread:
Bread Flour 3.25 Cups
Water 1.5 cups
Yeast 1.5tsp
Poppy Seeds 3 Tbsp
Dried Crushed Lemon Peel 2 Tbsp
Sugar 2 Tbsp
Salt 2 tsp
Margarine 3 Tbsp

I added it all in the bread maker and let it do its magic.

Jam:
6 Cups of Blueberries
3 Cups Sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
Lemon Juice 1/4 cup

Great mistake

So I was trying to make roasted garlic bread in my bread machine.  I accidentally turned off the machine at the time I was supposed to add the garlic.  I decided to just bake them based loosely on a method from Alton Brown.  The pulled the dough out of the bread machine shaped it studded it with roasted garlic and let it rise.  The important part here is slashing the top of the loaf, the corn starch wash, and the water pan in the oven.  These work together to create a great crispy crust along with a soft crumb.  Odds are this loaf won't make it past tomorrow night.

Bread machine success

Bread machine success

Bread machine fail

Bread machine fail

Got 4lbs natural casing hotdogs. Oh yeah!!!

First attempt with the bread machine.

Thank you Jessica Rine  for the bread machine.

The crumb was pretty soft, fluffy, and consistent.  The crust was not bad but a little softer then I would like.  Probably because I did not pull the bread out when it was hot, but rather let it cool in the machine.

Recipe:
3.25 cups of bread flour
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp margarine
3 Tbsp sugar
1 3/8 cup sugar
1.5 tsp (1 envelope) active dry yeast

Follow the directions on your bread machine!!!

Burger of the week

Burger of the week



This something I am going to try and do, if not every week, often.  I am going to try and come up with interesting burgers.  So here goes:

I will start from the bottom and work my way up:
Bottom half of a toasted bun, soft crumb but a little harder crust so it does not fall apart
Mayo mixed with spicy brown mustard spread thinly.   This provides a "waterproof" layer as well as some richness and a little bit of sharpness
Fresh raw spinach for some earthiness and crunch
Sauteed mushrooms for some more savory earth flavor
1/2 lb all beef patty seasoned with just fresh ground black pepper.  I do not add salt as kosher meat is pre-salted
Sauteed onions for sweetness
Ketchup because I love ketchup because it is sweet and tangy all at the same time
Top half of the toasted bun

TLC's response

‏טיין לי צאו commented on your link.
"We're working on it by cooking them longer in the fryer, but if the sauce comes on the side then it isn't the same. We already have plain fried wontons. The Hunan Wonton is one of those products that is really good fresh, but 30 min later it gets a bit soft. It's supposed to be 1/2 crispy. I'm going to fry them longer, and see how the sales of them go, and if people continue to order them then we will keep them on. Thanks for the input."

The problem with Tein Li Chow's Hunan Wonton.

  I have confirmed my concerns about the Tein Li Chow's Hunan Wonton.  If you toss it in the sauce they become soggy quickly.  I suggest providing the sauce on the side for dipping.  Otherwise the flavor was good.

Grilled 3 cheese sandwich

Grilled 3 cheese sandwich



Ingrediesnts:
2 slices of a high quality soft white bread.  Italian loaf works well
1 Slice Munster Cheese
1 Slice Yellow Cheddar Cheese(The Sharper the Better)
1 Slice Pepper jack Cheese
1 Tablespoon of butter at room temperature

Put the three slices of cheese between the bread.  Spread 1/2 the butter on the outside of both the top and bottom slices of bread.  Place the sandwich in a COLD frying pan.  IMPORTANT THE PAN MUST START COLD.  Turn the heat on to medium, no more no less.  Too hot and the bread will burn before the cheese melts.  Too cold and the cheese will never melt and you your bread won't get crispy.   Cook on each side until golden brown and delicious, roughly five minutes per side but keep an eye on it.

Serve with some creamy tomato soup and enjoy.

What is your favorite type of cheese for a grilled cheese sandwich?

Alton Brown's Chili modified to be kosher and shabbos crock-pot friendly

Alton Brown's Chili modified to be kosher and shabbos crock-pot friendly

Ingredients

• 3 pounds stew meat or whatever is on sale
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 2 (12-ounce) bottle of beer, preferably a medium ale
• 1 (16-ounce) container salsa
• 30 tortilla chips
• 1 diced green bell pepper
• 1 diced red bell pepper
• 1 diced medium onion
• 1 teaspoon chipotle powder or smoked paprika
• 1 medium can of tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions

Place the meat in a large mixing bowl and toss with the oil. Set aside.

Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat until hot. Add the meat in 3 or 4 batches and brown on all sides, approximately 2 minutes per batch. Once each batch is browned, place the meat in a clean large bowl.

Once all of the meat is browned, add the beer and meat to the crock-pot.

Saute the peppers and onions in the pan that you browned the meat in. Add the vegetable to the crock-pot along with the salsa, tortilla chips, spices, and tomato sauce.  Cook on low

Yields 4 servings but can be easily scaled up to fit your crowd.  Also you can go vegetarian with this one my skipping the meat and adding a bag of kidney beans directly to the crock-pot instead.

Garnish with onions, jalapeños, and corn. 

My post about the Shallots bar menu including the private message, saved to my blog.

Daniel Peikes

‎Shallots Bistro raised their bar menu prices, NOT COOL. They ruined a good thing of being cheaper then @kens diner

16 January at 21:52 ·  · 

• Chava Sara Siebzener likes this.
• • 

    Alyssa 'Block' Gordon why how much is stuff now?

    16 January at 21:59 · 
  • 

    Ronit Peikes burgers start at $11m but don't include fries anymore. also, they only come with lettuce, pickle and tomato. you pay extra for any topping- grilled onions are $3 extra, so is avocado. pineapple is $2 and mushrooms are $4 extra. it's crazy

    16 January at 22:02 · 
  • 

    Ronit Peikes also, for the chicken, you pay $2 extra for any glaze- list price is just plain chicken.
    *and the burgers only start at $11 not $11m :)

    16 January at 22:03 · 
  • 

    Daniel Peikes Also charging extra for a dipping sauce for your Chicken is really dumb!!!

    16 January at 22:03 · 
  • 

    Karen Hoffman Zimmerman I still haven't gone to the bar menu despite them being so close by to me. That was a dumb move.

    16 January at 22:03 · 
  • 

    Karen Hoffman Zimmerman Mendy made me a great mushroom and grilled onion hamburger for me for shabbat. Thank you Mendy :)

    16 January at 22:05 ·  ·  1 person
  • 

    Daniel Peikes everyone should just cook more at home.

    16 January at 22:06 · 
  • 

    Alyssa 'Block' Gordon wow that's really stupid!! why mess it up. see now they are getting greedy!
    they should see this post- we should start a protest

    16 January at 22:06 · 
  • 

    Daniel Peikes I think everyone should start their own posts about this and tag @shallots bistro then then will get the message as it will show on their page.

    16 January at 22:09 · 
  • 

    Max Friedman And they haven't updated their online menus in months (Summer 2010? Really?) so you don't know the prices have changed until you actually sit down.

    16 January at 22:21 · 
  • 

    Ronit Peikes these newest changes only went into effect at the end of last week

    16 January at 22:55 · 
  • 

    Rifi Bleichman that is really awful...

    16 January at 22:59 · 
  • 

    Joseph Jacoby I went there tonight and what would have costed $32 ended up being $50+

    16 January at 23:03 · 
  • 

    Yoni Asher go to Tailgators

    17 January at 07:06 · 
  • 

    Dovid Freedman Remember when the Burger Buddy was $5? Sigh.

    17 January at 08:01 ·  ·  1 person
  • 

    טיין לי צאו This is a job for....Tein Li Chow Man!

    17 January at 12:17 · 
  • 

    Daniel Peikes ‎@טיין לי צאו thanks for having a value menu!!! You have done a great job of keeping the consumer in mind!

    17 January at 14:19 · 
  • 

    Winnerauto Repairs you should write a review on their page!

    17 January at 15:54 · 
  • 

    Daniel Peikes I tagged them in the original post so if you go to their page and and toward the top click Shallot and others is shows on their page.

    17 January at 15:57 · 
  • 

    Shallots Bistro 

    First of all we thank you very much for your feedback, it is very important to us.
    We do feel your pain, the fries are back on and included with the burgers as of mid January.
    The new bar menu is posted on our website:
    http://www.shallotsbis...See more

    06 February at 13:53 · 
  • 

    Daniel Peikes 

    ‎@Shallots Bistro I appreciate your response and we thank you for adding the fries back. You guys do a great job as far as quality and ambiance and I understand that there is a cost associated with that. In my opinion and a again this is ...See more

    06 February at 15:13 · 
  • 

    Shallots Bistro 

    The short version of my answer: Thank you for your compliments. We appreciate those as well :)
    
    It is not specified on the menu, but the fries are served with the burgers. The rest of the items stay the same as listed (we are still charging f...See more

    06 February at 18:06 · 
  • 

    Daniel Peikes check out my notes to see shallots full response to this. It is very honest answer and I think everyone should read it. I want to personally thank Sam for it!

    Saturday at 19:55 · 

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    

    Between You and Shallots Bistro

    

    Shallots Bistro 06 February at 19:35 Report

    I am sending it in private only because I don't want to bore all your friends with the details of the restaurant business, feel free to post any points you think are helpful at anytime...But you asked some good questions and I owe you some answers.
    
    
    
    The issues with the previous, non-a la carte menu was a combination of two issues. A- We were loosing money on many of the items simply because we made mistakes in the original pricing. B- Our expectations & customers ordering habits were totally out of whack...
    
    A- The baskets were not priced at profit, the wings were priced lower than the kosher takeout restaurants and was obviously our mistake. You are paying $7.99 to $9.99 per LB at any of Chicago's take-away joints (including TLC) you were actually paying 10%-30% more than Shallots old bar menu prices on wings and tenders. (That is before we discuss the hand cut fries that were free, the 5LB take-out minimum quantities TLC has for the $7.99+ per LB item prices).
    
    When guests compare prices, they compare apples to apples. We don't get anything for free, table cloth and napkins alone cost over $1.50 on average per table. Servers min wages, servers insurance, cost us well over $2 per table or average $1 per guest. Believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg..
    How can we be cheaper than a fast food or take out??
    This is without discussing quality of food at all.
    
    We tried, it is simply not worth it for us....Customers understand that and don't expect us to be cheaper than TLC, Srulies or Kens. We appreciate them.
    
    How did we make these mistakes:
    Shallots typical markup is lower in %percentage than dairy and ordinary kosher restaurants due to the high food costs involved in fine dining. (If a $22 dry aged steak is marked up %50 and sold for $33 we are making $11 on that dish).
    In these low cost/low priced items, we should of worked on a higher % markup due to the fact that the %=$ do not cover extra costs involved (disposables, dips, extra labor for substitutions, all the things that are considered pennies when selling a $40 entrée. They make it or break it on a $7-$14 item). For this we needed the price adjustments. If food cost us $3 and we charge $7, the labor is $2 we will lose money after the dips, disposable, dish-washing, service, linen etc.
    
    B- A la carte. One out of two orders in the burgers would look like this )a real example I pulled off the POS(: $10 Burger, med, add avo, add grilled onions, extra pastrami, egg, well done sweet potato fries baked, BBQ sauce & slice of raw onions...SPLIT...
    
    We NEVER say NO to a customer. I think anyone can see the cost here is going to be more than $10.... And at Shallots we never had this customer before... We are very happy to have them, we are eager to serve them. That is the purpose of the bar menu, it is not built for the traditional Shallots costumer. But we do not want them to take us under...
    So we changed the menu to suit this type of customer as well. We don't want everyone to pay for this either.
    
    
    One can argue, just raise the price $2 per item and cover all the extras. I am not convinced it's fair or the best solution. It may make us look better, but is it the best solution for the ordinary customer? I think a customer should be able to get a great burger for $11. Just $1 or $1.50 more than red-robin, and the food cost there is 13%-18%, they are open 375 days a year... Our food cost is way way higher and we will be open in 2011 only 236 regular dinner nights. So all in all 1.50 more is extremely reasonable.
    
    I think by now I touched or answered most of the points you stressed. I thank you for your patients, thank you for listening. If you have any questions/comments please feel free to respond.
    
    If you want to continue reading, be my guest...There is one major item in kosher restaurants that most customers don't think of at all. They think kosher is more expensive because that is what they see in the stores when they go shopping. They have no idea that actually the kosher food cost is very small peanuts compare to kosher "overhead" (I am not talking about cRc fees & Mashgiach).
    
    If you asked red robin to be open 236 days, they would tell you it's impossible, the overhead will kill them. We are open 236 days, and we pay insurance, rent, salaries, utilities, dues etc. for 365 days. Fast food kosher joints will be open 286 to 336 days, because Fridays & sometimes Saturdays are even better than regular weekdays.
    For a sit-down restaurant that 90% of it's sales are dinner, Friday does not exist, and Saturday only works in the winter time, if at all.
    
    Successful restaurants are those that are making a profit of 10%, if you ask them to close 25.5% of the year they would think you are crazy... It is a huge expense that non-kosher customers have no reason, and will not pay for.
    But that is 80% of our "kosher" costs. Not the food costs.
    We are proud and happy to close on Shabat and holidays, don't get me wrong I am not complaining. But it costs so much in the food-service industry mostly because our "upside" is so small (10% profit) and our downside is so big...
    
    I hope this helps a bit to understand the unique challenges of a kosher fine dining restaurant that is out of the tri-state area ...
    
    Best,
    Sam Wasserman

    

    Daniel Peikes 12 February at 19:47

    Sam,
    First I am sorry I did not get back to you earlier but I have been a bit under the weather. I want to thank you for sending me your previous message. It definitely clears things up, and I appreciate your honesty when it comes to admitting the mistakes that were made. I completely understand the costs involved as I grew up around the kosher food business. The prices seem fair and I can now completely understand the need to raise them. I honestly do enjoy myself when I come to your restaurant. Thanks.
    Your satisfied and now well informed customer,
    Daniel Peikes

    

    Shallots Bistro 13 February at 18:10 Report

    Always a pleasure!
    At your service,
    Sam