At Rosa Mexicano (rosamexicano.com) in Hackensack, a special Passover menu will be offered from next Monday, April 14th, to the 22nd. It includes Jalisco-style pozole soup with chipotle-marrow matzo balls; matzoh-breaded chicken breast with tomato and jicama salad, tamarind vinaigrette and salsa verde; and banana-leaf-wrapped barbecued brisket with dried-fruit tsimmes. A special sangria haroset will be made with Herradura blanco tequila, honey, cinnamon, lemon and cold-pressed apple and Manischewitz reduction.
For the 14th year in a row, Ocean Place Resort and Spa in Long Branch offers a package that includes a traditional seder, as well as three kosher-for-Passover meals per day, wine tastings, guest lectures and daily synagogue services. Amenities include entertainment, games, an indoor heated pool and activities for children.
Jerry Abramson of Matza Fun Tours (matzafun.com) calls the experience his company offers at Ocean Place “a cruise ship on land.”
The entire hotel will be dedicated to Passover from for the duration of the hioliday. Before any guests arrive, he says, “seven or eight rabbis will come in to start sanitizing, or kosherizing, the kitchen. On Friday morning, before the holiday begins, the chefs will come in and start cooking everything from scratch.”
Passover commemorates the Jewish people’s exodus from slavery. In their haste to leave the land of the pharoahs, the people had no time to let yeast rise, the story goes, so they baked flat, unleavened bread—symbolized by the matzoh Jews eat during Passover. In fact, observant Jews meticulously clean their homes before Passover to remove all traces of chametz, foods made with yeast or otherwise deemed not kosher for Passover flour. Jews who keep kosher homes often will bring out a special set of dishes and cookware to be used only on Passover.
If you want to host a seder but don’t have time for all the cooking, a number of caterers are poised to provide traditional Passover foods like chopped liver, stuffed cabbage, gefilte fish, every kind of kugel (noodle) casserole, from broccoli to sweet potato, tzimmes (a casserole of sweet potatoes, carrots and dried fruit), and coconut macaroons for dessert. Here are a few to choose from:
Fairway Market
30 East Ridgewood Avenue
Paramus
917-843-1918
fairwaymarket.com
Fred & Murry’s Kosher Delicatessen
4345 Highway 9
Freehold
732-462-3343
fredandmurrysdeli.com
Lox, Stock & Deli
228 Ryders lane
Milltown
732-214-8900
loxstockanddeli.net
Ma’adan
446 Cedar Lane
Teaneck
201-692-0192
maadan.com
Nana’s Deli & Restaurant
127 South Livingston Avenue
Livingston
973-740-1940
nanasdeli.com
Reuben’s Glatt Spot
659 Eagle Rock Avenue
West Orange
973-736-0060
reubensglattspot.com
The Kibbitz Room
100 Springdale Road
Cherry Hill
856-428-7878
kibbitzroom.com
The following, though located in Pennsylvania, serve South Jersey customers:
Betty the Caterer
7037 North Broad Street
Philadelphia
215-224-8400
bettythecaterer.com
Foodarama Kosher Catering
4510 Adams Circle
Bensalem
215-633-7100
888-309-3800
foodarama.com
SUZANNE ZIMMER LOWERY is a food writer, pastry chef and culinary instructor at a number of New Jersey cooking schools. Find out more about her at suzannelowery.com.