Best place for a big party
Even a 747 looks small next to the Grand Canyon.
No matter. Unless you intend to invite half the people in the phone book, your large party can most likely be accommodated by the first-place-winning Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.
The California Street edifice can even host several large events simultaneously: Party planners have their choice of the Pottruck Family Atrium, Kanbar Hall, the Fisher Family Hall, the Gallanter Family Rooms or one of many conference rooms.
The building even comes equipped with three kosher kitchens and 181 parking spots.
Tilden Park’s Brazilian Room is smaller, but j. readers seem to adore its expansive patio and floor-to-ceiling windows, making this Berkeley treasure runner-up.
First:
The JCC of San Francisco
3200 California St., S.F
(415) 292-1200
Second:
Tilden Park’s Brazilian Room
Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley
(510) 540-0220
Best place for a small party
When chef Domenico Testa was informed that Bar Ristorante Raphael in Berkeley had been voted best place for a small party, he was quick to point out that his restaurant isn’t so small. “Hey, we’ve got room for 80 people,” he noted.
The kosher Italian restaurant launched by Testa and Noah’s Bagels founder Noah Alper “has a little bit of everything,” according to the chef. “Everything” includes a full bar, finger foods and fresh fish.
And when the place is closed on Monday, it can be rented out for private parties.
“It’s basically for everybody. You can be a religious Jew and come here, or anybody that likes some fresh homemade pasta or the Italian-style pizza I make,” he said.
“It’s basically Italian vegetarian. And it happens to be kosher.”
First:
Bar Ristorante Raphael
2132 Center St., Berkeley
(510) 644-9500
Second:
JCC of San Francisco
3200 California St., San Francisco
(415) 292-1200
Best klezmer band
Daniel Hoffman — uber-violinist and founder of The Klez-X — splits his time these days between the Bay Area and Israel.
Regardless, his group (formerly the San Francisco Klezmer Experience) is good enough and available enough to be considered the best klezmer band in the Bay Area.
And despite what’s obviously a long, long commute, Hoffman promises the band will play on.
California Klezmer, which used to be known as the Bay Area Klezmer All-Stars, took second place.
First:
The Klez-X
Daniel Hoffman, (510) 658-4528
Second:
California Klezmer
Gerry Tenney, (510) 465-7911
Best band
Joel Abramson comes from a long line of performers, from bandleaders to cantors. Abramson himself has been in show business for 30 years, and apparently he’s doing something right since he and his aptly named Simcha Orchestra are the most widely sought-after group for Bay Area simchas.
The San Jose-based entertainer, who is fluent in Hebrew and has a master’s degree in Jewish education, has an expansive repertoire of Jewish and Israeli songs. Though he performs at weddings (and loves doing so), the majority of his business comes from b’nai mitzvah.
“There are simply a lot more of them,” he said. “And people often like dealing with someone Jewishly knowledgeable.”
First:
The Joel Abramson Simcha Orchestra
(408) 265-7279
Second:
The Shtetlblasters
Michael Gill
(510) 287-2540
Best DJ
At DJ conventions — yes, there are such things — b’nai mitzvah are often looked down on as “just kids’ parties.”
The DJs at DJK productions don’t feel that way.
“I’ve been doing them for 15 years and I love them,” said Ken Maas, the “K” from DJK Productions. “The DJ is on the whole time, the party flies by and you’re having a blast.”
J. readers voted Maas’ San Leandro-based company the best in the Bay Area, with many singling out Daryl Grace, one of five or six DJs who work for Maas regularly.
Maas says he and his DJs can handle any event, but b’nai mitzvah are easily their specialty. “We treat these parties with the kind of respect they deserve,” he said. “We don’t look down on them at all.”
First:
DJK Productions
877-DJK-4-FUN
Second (tie):
J.J. the DJ
3281 Victory Lane, Soquel
(831) 477-1942
The Joel Abramson Orchestra and Entertainment
(408) 265-7279
Best party planner
If your daughter’s bat mitzvah won’t be complete without a Britney Spears look-alike, Barbara Heimowitz is your woman.
Half of the husband-wife team that runs the Castro Valley-based Celebrity Gems, the first-place winner as party planner, Heimowitz will ensure your event comes off without a hitch.
Celebrity Gems can provide stilt walkers, belly dancers or a steel drum band.
Heimowitz, who has been in the business for about 18 years, said henna artists are the rage at b’nai mitzvah these days. Also extremely popular, she said, is her memory book — where she takes digital photos of the guests before the service, then prints them out and has guests sign near their picture during the party.
First:
Celebrity Gems
(510) 581-5964
Second:
Barbara Kweller
(510) 410-4413
Best photographer
Joyce Goldschmid has been photographing bar and bat mitzvahs for about 20 years.
“You either love 13-year-old kids or you hate them, and I really love them,” said the first-place winner. “They’re funny, creative, quiet and loud, all wrapped up into one.”
Goldschmid, who lives in Redwood City, describes her style as journalistic, which makes sense, since she also works for j. (her work has graced many of our covers).
While Goldschmid, of course, includes posed shots for events, that’s not what she enjoys most. “When the portraits are over, I stay for the rehearsal,” she said. “Sitting there watching the kids rehearse, you catch some amazing stuff.”
And now the 13-year-olds that she photographed years ago are rebooking her to shoot their weddings.
Larry Rosenberg, a San Franciscan, placed second.
First:
Joyce Goldschmid
(650) 364-4400
Second:
Larry Rosenberg
(415) 239-9360
Best videographer
Wendy Sims is enjoying her second career, and now being recognized for it by j. readers who voted her into first place.
The high-tech refugee leapt into videography three years ago and hasn’t looked back.
The Foster City resident keeps busy with the videographer’s bread and butter — weddings and b’nai mitzvah. She also has created numerous fund-raising films for Jewish day schools plus the Peninsula Jewish Community Center in Foster City.
One of Sims’ favorite parts of the job is putting together films of a b’nai mitzvah student’s friends and family to show at the celebration, “Jerry Maguire”-style. Sometimes she’ll even throw in a music video featuring the boy or girl of the hour.
First:
Wendy Sims
(650) 218-4995
Second:
DJL Productions
(510) 482-5160
Best kosher caterer
About 10 percent of Bar Ristorante Raphael’s business is catering, and chances are good that the next time you attend a kosher event, you’ll be dining on its lasagna, Caesar salad or brodetto, a fish stew.
In addition to b’nai mitzvah and weddings, first-place winner Raphael is doing quite a lot of Jewish community events.
“We have done everything from bringing in two meals to someone who keeps kosher to a Shabbat lunch for 250 people,” said Hope Alper, catering manager.
Bar Ristorante Raphael even contracts with non-kosher caterers to make sure that guests have a strictly kosher option.
First:
Bar Ristorante Raphael
2132 Center St., Berkeley
(510) 644-9500
Second:
Too Caterers
441 El Camino Real, Menlo Park
(650) 322-4189
Best ketubah-maker
San Francisco ketubah-maker and calligrapher Robin Hall, tops in this category, has been making ketubot since 1977. In the Bay Area for 24 years, the native New Yorker does a brisk business here, but the Internet has vastly expanded her marketing opportunities.
She’s getting so many rush orders that her inclination is to ask, “Did you just meet on JDate a few weeks ago?”
Hall said these days more people are buying marriage contracts with lithographs than commissioning original works of art. Lately, her work has featured more brightly colored collage and abstract design rather than more traditional art.
Second place went to Mountain View-based Melissa Dinwiddie, who several years ago came up with the winning logo for Palo Alto’s To Life! Festival.
First:
Robin Hall
(415) 771-1719
Second:
Melissa Dinwiddie
(650) 938-3939
Best chuppah-maker
Remember when couples used to tie a tallit to four poles and that was the end of it? These days, more couples are designing their own chuppah, the wedding canopy. But often an artist is needed to make their vision come alive.
One such is Nancy Katz, whom j. readers voted best chuppah-maker in the Bay Area.
“It’s one of my favorite things to do because it involves working with a couple and seeing who they are and what they’re all about,” said Katz. “They don’t only do it to get married under it, but for it to be a part of their home.”
Katz, who is known for her painted silk, often draws the design and then allows the couple to paint it.
This will change soon, as the artist is moving to Massachusetts this summer (but, she says, she’ll welcome Bay Area commissions).
Fabric artist Elizheva Hurvich took second place. Hurvich’s chuppahs are often pieced together using silk, taffeta or velvet, and are embroidered with ribbons or beads.
A hearty chup, chup, hurrah to the chuppah-makers.
First:
Nancy Katz
(413) 625-6582
Second:
Elizheva Hurvich
(510) 557-1504
Best place to rent formal wear
For 100 years, Bay Area-based Selix Formalwear has been helping men look sharp at weddings, proms and awards shows.
So it should be no surprise that our readers voted Selix No. 1 in this category.
With 13 stores across the Bay Area, no one is ever too far from a rentable cummerbund, ascot, top hat or pair of patent leather shoes.
Coming in second, Men’s Wearhouse, the 500-store national chain fronted by the dapper George Zimmer whose catch phrase “I guarantee it,” may not be the best, but we love the guy anyway (he’s a nice Jewish boy after all).
First:
Selix Formalwear
multiple locations
Second:
Men’s Wearhouse
multiple locations