Next week is Passover, and for the non-home-cooks among the chosen people, a slew of restaurants around town and in the East Bay are offering special menus or doing special events. First off, Monday, April 18, Wise Sons Deli will be popping up at Coffee Bar (1890 Bryant Street) — tagline: “Exodus never tasted so good!” In addition to brisket and gefilte fish they’ll be offering radicchio salad with shaved farm egg, and vanilla pot de creme with macerated strawberries. ($45/$65 with wine pairings, reserve here.) Then at Perbacco, on Wednesday April 20, chef Staffan Terje will be cooking an Italian-style Passover meal inspired by guest Joyce Goldstein’s book, Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen. See the full menu here, and reserve by calling 415.955.0663. ($49 per person)
Next, no Jewish holiday would be complete without a stop at Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Berkeley, and they’ll be doing their annual Passover Seder Dinner on Friday, April 22. The menu includes their famous chopped liver and matzo ball soup, brisket, and a vegetarian option: Morels and Thyme Matzo Brie with crème fraiche. ($35 per person)
Also, they’re taking orders until tomorrow afternoon for takeout Passover dinner, with pickup on Sunday April 17 and Monday April 18, but note they’ll be closing early on Monday and all day Tuesday.
And finally, Mission Beach Café is doing their Passover dinner on Monday, April 25. Chef Ron Silverberg will be doing a few spins on traditional seder fare, including house-smoked salmon gefilte fish with beet and horseradish cream; pan-seared local halibut with a cauliflower purée, English peas, sweet potato fritter, haroset relish; and roast chicken with matzo hash and asparagus. ($55 per person)
Sidebar: No holiday would be complete without booze, and the folks over at S.F.’s Distillery No. 209 (which is owned by the same owner as Dean & DeLuca in New York) have crafted a kosher-for-Passover gin using sugar cane instead of the usual, chametz grains like rye, corn, or wheat. The stuff was so popular last year they decided to do an even bigger batch this year, and as the New York Times reports, “Under the Orthodox Union’s supervision [the] distiller and a kosher winemaker have created a fragrant gin with a whisper of sweetness that’s very like the regular No. 209.” Find the stuff at BevMo or any store where No. 209 gin is sold.
For gin cocktail recipes and a few more Passover ideas, please refer to Ms. Tablehopper.
