Any Bay Area eater worth his or her weight in kosher salt, and who follows the laws of kashrut, knows what I am about to say: A fabulous kosher restaurant has been operating in the South Bay for 20 months.
The Jerusalem Grill & Bar in Campbell isn’t as high-end gourmet as the Kitchen Table was before its demise, but it is so many things the former Mountain View eatery was not: family-friendly, affordable, casual and comfortable — a gathering spot for the Jewish community that people can keep going back to without feeling like it’s an expensive night out.
Israeli Erez Knobler, who moved to the United States in 2001, when he was 22, opened the restaurant in September 2011 for a simple reason. “Places like New York and L.A. and Miami have so many kosher options, and places like the Bay Area, which does have a high Jewish population, had only a couple of options. There was a need for a kosher restaurant,” he said. (Kosher Table operated for three years before shutting down in June 2012.)
The Jerusalem Grill & Bar — there really is no “bar,” except for a long countertop packed with Jewish reading material and flyers — is glatt kosher, meaning it’s a meat restaurant with no dairy products. The cuisine is Israeli/Middle Eastern, with plenty of options for vegetarians, and the menu is huge. Some grilled meat main courses are pricey, but there are more than enough affordable choices.
Knobler estimates his clientele is 50 percent observant Jews, 30 percent Israelis and 20 percent other. I fell into the latter category when I made my first visit last month. All 18 tables were filled for dinner on Mother’s Day; some people were wearing kippahs, some were speaking Hebrew, loud families were plentiful, and many customers knew each other.
The atmosphere was somewhat frenzied, very Israeli, and it felt great — a real sense of community.
The restaurant, which has table service, is certified by Sunrise Kosher (aka Vaad Hakashrus of Northern California), which means there is always a mashgiach (kosher supervisor) on hand and it is closed on Shabbat.
One of the cool things the restaurant has been doing recently is themed cuisine nights, offering specials in addition to the regular menu. June 12 it was sushi, and past nights have included Mexican food (with chicken fajitas, tacos, etc.) and Chinese food (kung pao beef, chicken lo mein, etc.).
“For observant Jews, this is their only option in the South Bay to dine in different cuisines,” Knobler said.
Knobler is a native of Jerusalem who also helps manage a company that sells aromatherapy products, yet he still puts in “about 100 hours a week on the restaurant,” he said. He is there to greet and seat customers every night, which is one of the restaurant’s small but nice touches. Others include clean bathrooms, good service and a bottle of wine on every table when you are seated; alas, it’s not free, but it adds a certain touch of class.
The menu includes all kinds of Israeli and Middle Eastern favorites, from soups with kibbeh (minced beef) to side dishes such as megadara (lentil and rice dish) and maqluba (vegetables and meat). There is shwarma, sabich and shnitzel. Main courses include musaka, sofrito (chicken stew with potatoes), rib-eye steak and a mixed grill. The hummus, so rich that it’s almost halvah-like, is to die for. There are 11 kinds of salads.
Not everything I had was stellar, but most of it was really good. And for the confused customer (me, for example), there’s a separate picture book with photos of all the dishes.
The location is in a mini-mall on a busy South Bay street; in hindsight, Knobler said he would probably rather be in Palo Alto, a more central location for his customer base. But things are going well, and with the Russian Café & Deli right next door, it’s quite a little Jewish enclave.
Jerusalem Grill & Bar
1740 S. Winchester Blvd., Campbell (near Hamilton Avenue)
11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; noon to 3 p.m. Friday; closed Saturday
www.jerusalemgrillbar.com, Jerusalem Grill Bar on Facebook
(408) 866-2666
FOOD TRUCK LINES: The Old World Food Truck’s appearance at Israel in the Gardens on June 2 led to some unhappy customers. There were long lines, and then long waits for food after it was ordered, and the truck ran out of some items, such as its signature pierogi.
Here’s what happened: Right before pulling into the designated spot on Mission Street, the truck blew a fuse, disabling the refrigerator, so owner-chef Kenny Hockert and his crew had to hustle back to home base and transfer food and beverage items into coolers. Only there wasn’t room for everything.
That was problem one, and led to problem two: opening about 45 minutes late. Problem three was that the truck was obligated to prepare food for some event staff.
Problem four, in my opinion, is that people who are unfamiliar with food trucks sometimes have unrealistic expectations. Long, slow lines are regular occurrences; I see them everywhere, and while some people like to wait and hang out and chat for 45 minutes to an hour, I am not one of them.
Also, the food truck game is a roll of the dice. Items do run out, and other times, a food truck will be knocked out by a mechanical problem. Tweets from trucks saying something like, “sorry! need repairs. won’t be able to make it today” are not uncommon. To Hockert’s credit, he at least showed up and tried to gut it out while operating out of coolers.
He had a full crew of four, and he said they served 200 customers in three hours, or 65 per hour, which is only a bit lower than the truck’s desired rate of 80 per hour at a crowded event.
Problem five, perhaps, was that the truck was at the Monterey Street Food Festival the night before, which meant a late 21⁄2-hour drive back to San Francisco and a
very quick turnaround for Sunday morning. Hockert, however, said that played no role in what happened at Israel in the Gardens.
“In retrospect, it certainly would have been a good event to have more prepared things than trying to cook things to order,” Hockert said. “I certainly recognize people’s frustration, which I’m openly apologizing for.”
GUY FIERI VISITS: If you plan on eating at Miller’s East Coast Deli in the next few months, you’d better do it soon. After the episode of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” featuring Miller’s airs on the Food Network later this year, owner Robby Morgenstein expects his place on Polk Street (and probably even his other location in San Rafael) will be packed with locals and tourists alike.
“Guy told me, ‘Oh dude, you are so dead [busy] when this airs,’” Morgenstein said. “Don’t plan on going on any vacations.”
Guy Fieri, the host of the Food Network show, taped for 21 hours over two days at Miller’s in late May. The segment is expected to air in three to five months.
Right now, no one knows which food items will appear on the show, but here is what was prepared during taping: chicken stock and matzah balls for matzah ball soup, corned beef, and latkes and applesauce. Morgenstein also threw in a little shmaltz (literally).
“The production staff was just great and Guy was very easy to work with,” Morgenstein said.
Morgenstein said he had nothing to do with Miller’s being chosen; it’s based on viewer suggestions and staff research. Miller’s was supposed to be featured three years ago but had to turn it down because the crew wanted to tape (and shut down the restaurant) on the first day of Chanukah, when the restaurant had a ton of catering orders to fill. The producers said they’d keep Miller’s East Coast in mind, and they did.
Amba, the vegetarian-kosher-Israeli restaurant in Oakland, felt the need to put out this tweet last week: “Amba is as kosher as ever. Rumors to the contrary are just that.” Owner Jonathan Wornick said some people apparently were misinterpreting a bit of buzz on the restaurant, that it might be adding meat to the menu and it is hunting for a second East Bay location. “But we’re not going to stop being kosher,” Wornick stressed … Wise Sons Deli, meanwhile, tweeted a picture of the old-school red plastic cups and cafeteria trays it will be using in its new café at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. The owners are aiming to open at the end of July and are hoping to start dinner service at their main location in late summer or early fall … S.F.-based King Knish’s continued ramp-up took a big jump recently: owner-chef Ramni Levy is now preparing his treats in a commercial kitchen, La Victoria Bakery in the Mission District. That means people can place orders at www.kingknish.com and pick them up at La Victoria, or follow @King_Knish on Twitter to see when knishes will be on sale at the bakery. King Knish also will be at the J-Pop Summit Festival July 27-28 in S.F. and the Monterey Jazz Festival Sept. 20-22 … Deli Board in San Francisco always seems to have interesting specials, like a “rye double-decker” last week, which included three pieces of “the best [rye] in the city” (according to owner Adam Mesnick) and two layers of meat. For updates, including when Mesnick will be serving specials like smoked fish, rye and bagels, follow @DeliBoard on Twitter … Kehilla Community Synagogue’s next Pop-Up Shabbat, a truly haimish event held outdoors at a family-friendly Oakland food truck gathering (with grass to sit on and games for the kids), is set for 6 p.m. Friday, June 14. Get a serving of spirituality with Rabbi Dev Noily, and then peruse the six or so food trucks for dinner. It happens at the Bites off Broadway event near the Studio One Art Center at 365 45th St. … A Sacramento eatery called Enotria Restaurant Wine Bar is serving bacon challah, according to the Sacramento News & Review, which notes: “And yes, they see the irony of bacon flavor in a bread with a Jewish heritage.”
Hardly Strictly Bagels runs the second Friday of each month. For more frequent Jewish food news, Follow @andytheohr
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