Food coverage is supported by a generous donation from Susan and Moses Libitzky.
Whether you’re looking for traditional seder essentials, creative holiday-friendly meals or indulgent chametz-free treats, you can find the goods somewhere in the Bay Area. In the list below are local restaurants, bakeries, grocers and caterers offering everything from kosher-for-Passover staples to holiday-inspired extravagance.
This list is not exhaustive. Consider it a starting point for your holiday planning. Just make sure to place reservations and orders sooner rather than later.
Food & Wine
Afikomen Judaica has a selection of Passover offerings, including local artisan and Israeli wines, shmura matzah, red and white horseradish, organic grape juice, candies and locally made treats like Charles Chocolates chocolate-covered matzah. The store also carries items like haggadahs, bedikat hametz kits, holiday-themed toys and seder plates — including one made of dark chocolate. 3042 Claremont Ave., Berkeley.
Amy’s Jewish Kitchen, a small business run by Amy Fischer Smith, is offering Passover desserts geared toward chocolate lovers. Boxes of chocolate-covered matzah, chocolate-dipped Medjool dates and dark chocolate frogs are available for $18. Order online for pickup April 7-14 at Amy’s residence in Lafayette, exact address provided with order.
As Kneaded Bakery has boxes of chocolate-dipped macaroons and mandelhörnchen, which are marzipan-based German almond horn cookies dipped in chocolate, as Passover specials. The treats are available April 11-20 at farmers market outposts and at the brick-and-mortar location, 585 Victoria Court, San Leandro.
Bi-Rite Markets has a Passover menu of braised brisket, roasted cauliflower and carrots with lemon tahini dressing, matzah ball soup, chopped liver, chicken stock, charoset with apples, dried fruit and almonds and two types of macaroons. The items are available at all three locations. Orders must be placed 48 hours in advance in-store at the deli counters or by calling the preferred pickup location.
Draeger’s Markets has matzah ball soup, braised brisket, plank salmon, latkes, potatoes gratin, stuffed potatoes, chickpea pancakes, grilled asparagus, braised kale, grilled vegetables, fruit tart, chocolate decadence cake, chocolate pecan sponge cake and almond sponge cake available for catering. Plus, it has a large Manischewitz selection, including Passover wines, gefilte fish and other holiday staples. Locations on the Peninsula and the East Bay.
Market Hall Foods and Bakery in Oakland offers a range of Passover specialties, from fully prepared meals to hors d’oeuvres, starters, entrees and desserts. Available items include everything needed for the seder plate, matzah ball soup, brisket, braised chicken, grilled salmon, gefilte fish, chopped liver, two kinds of savory kugel, honey-roasted carrots, grilled asparagus, roasted potatoes, chicory salad, flourless chocolate mousse cake with fresh cream and brandy, almond meringue cookies, brown butter almond torte, chocolate-dipped or plain coconut macaroons and pavlova with lemon curd, whipped cream and fresh fruit. The Passover menu is available April 11-19. Orders must be placed by noon, two days before your pickup date.
Mollie Stone’s is known for its large, year-round kosher selection, but on Passover the stores take it a step further. An assortment of matzah products, including Israeli matzah, matzah farfel, matzah cake meal, chocolate-covered matzah, matzah meal and matzah ball soup mix, are available, as well as honey, preserves, Osem cakes, pickles, rendered chicken fat, jarred horseradish, babaganoush, kosher cheeses, candies and more. Mollie Stone’s also offers catered meals with gefilte fish, matzah ball soup, buttermilk-and-thyme-roasted root vegetables, latkes with sour cream and applesauce, “atomic” horseradish sour-cream sauce and a choice of brisket or flame-roasted chicken for a main dish. A la carte items can be ordered as well, including grilled tri tip, chopped chicken liver, mashed or roasted potatoes, apple and walnut charoset, sweet noodle kugel and flourless chocolate decadence cake. The store also has an extensive kosher wine selection. Of the nine Bay Area locations, the Palo Alto store boasts its largest kosher department, but Passover catering is available from all.
Oakland Kosher Foods has a customizable kosher Passover menu that includes a full seder plate, chicken soup with matzah balls, roasted chicken, brisket, roasted vegetables, roasted potatoes, carrots, candied yams and Israeli cake. Other kosher pantry staples are available including beef, veal and lamb from the deli, dairy products, frozen products, snacks, candy, drinks and a vast selection of kosher wines. 3419 Lakeshore Ave., Oakland.
Piedmont Grocery Co. has Passover pantry items, including Manischewitz matzah, matzah meal, matzah ball soup mix and gefilte fish, Streit’s matzah meal and matzah farfel, Yehuda matzah, Beaver kosher horseradish and Gefen kosher macaroons as well as prepared foods from the deli such as brisket, lamb, matzah ball soup and whitefish salad. 4038 Piedmont Ave., Oakland.
Other grocers with stock for the holiday include Scotty’s Market in San Rafael and Lucky Supermarkets across the Bay Area.
In the wine department, you can fill your four cups (and maybe a little extra) with kosher wine mainstays Hagafen Cellars in Napa Valley and Covenant Wines in Berkeley. In addition to kosher vegan wines, Covenant makes a brandy — the Covenant Double-Edged Sword Brandy — that contains no grain products, if you’re looking for something on the stronger side. A newer label called Kleinlerer Wines is also selling two kosher releases with grapes grown in Lodi.
Restaurants
Father-daughter deli Bubbala’s has a full Passover menu, including a seder plate kit, apple, walnut, honey and sweet wine charoset, chopped chicken liver, “mock chopped liver” aka meat-free mushroom pâté, matzah ball soup, brisket, Mediterranean-style pan-roasted chicken, gluten-free potato kugel, tzimmes with carrots, sweet potatoes and raisins, roasted spring vegetables with tarragon, latkes, sweet walnut-stuffed prunes simmered in Manischewitz with sugar and lemon, flourless dark chocolate torte with espresso and chocolate ganache and gluten-free mini coconut macaroons. Order for pickup April 12-13. 906 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., San Anselmo.
Canela Bistro and Wine Bar is offering a four-course meal that includes a Passover plate starter with homemade matzah, horseradish-deviled eggs, pecan haroset, roasted and pickled beet salad, and veggie crudité with salty “tears” followed by matzah ball soup, house-pickled veggies, matzah farfel, roasted bacalao with lemon capers, artichoke and olives, spinach, cauliflower rice, and a fruit crumble with almonds, coconut, halvah and passion fruit puree. Additional options include a flight of paired wines, vegetarian dishes or another course of lamb ribs, pickled veggies and carrot puree. Order 24 hours in advance for local delivery or takeout April 11-20. 2272 Market St., S.F.
Comal will again mark Passover with multi-course family-style dinners served in its private dining room, Abajo, on April 14 and April 15. Executive chef Matt Gandin has created a menu that infuses his Mexican style into classic Passover dishes, following the more liberal Sephardic traditions of incorporating kitniyot (rice and legumes). Dishes include jalapeño matzah balls in caldo de pollo, beef brisket in adobo, rock cod “gefilte” fish cakes with chipotle aioli, lamb barbacoa quesadillas, guacamole, salsa, achiote rice, black beans de olla, house-made tortillas and Cara-Cara orange-rose raspado with tequila whipped crema. Tickets are required and usually sell out quickly. 2020 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley.
Grossman’s Noshery & Bar has a Passover dinner available for takeout. The menu includes chopped liver and onions with matzah crackers, potato leek latkes with sour cream and applesauce, matzah ball soup, smoked and pickled fish board, sabich board, smoked meats board, sweet-and-sour braised brisket, slow-braised lamb shanks, chicken shawarma kebabs, pomegranate-molasses roasted carrots, latkes and horseradish cream and orange sesame macaroons. Preorder for takeout April 12-20. 308 Wilson St., Santa Rosa.
Jane the Bakery offers a Passover menu featuring a “fallen angel” chocolate soufflé filled with flourless chocolate mousse, a sponge cake made with matzah flour and marbled with cinnamon, a layered apple and walnut torte with dried apricots and matzah flour, a flourless torte with dark chocolate and brandy, matzah star cookies, almond macaroons, cherry bomb cookies and chocolate chew cookies. The holiday items are available at all of its locations in San Francisco and Tiburon from April 11-20.
One Market Restaurant is offering a three-course Passover meal. The menu includes matzah ball soup, smoked beef brisket with onion jus, asparagus, spring vegetables and flourless chocolate cake with mixed berries for dessert. Latkes with applesauce can added on for an additional charge, plus fish and vegetarian options are available. The restaurant will host a dedicated dinner for the first night of Passover on April 12, with the menu available for both lunch and dinner April 14-18 for dining in, pickup or delivery. 1 Market St., S.F.
Pizzeria Delfina has its traditional Stoll family matzah ball soup made with chicken-bone broth, veggies, shredded chicken, dill and its signature walnut-stuffed matzah balls. Frozen quarts are available for preorder April 4 with pickup from any location (Mission District, Pacific Heights, Burlingame or Palo Alto) on April 12. A 2019 J. article explains why the Stolls add nuts. This year, Delfina also features a la carte Passover dishes on its daily changing menu at the Mission location April 12-16. The dishes are inspired by la Cucina Ebraica (the foods of the Italian Jewish community) along with other modern takes on food from the diaspora. The options include a “seder plate” with lamb osso bucco and egg salad crostini, sardines in saor, piccolo bollito misto (tongue, brisket, capon with salsa verde and mostarda), capunti and lamb ragu with preserved egg, cream cheese francobolli with salmon caviar, wild nettle farfalle with kasha and mushrooms and cabbage involtini alla nonna. 3621 18th St., S.F.
Pomella and chef Aliza Grayevsky Somekh’s Bishulim SF catering service are teaming up again to host a community seder. The April 13 event will feature communal tables, a guided reading of the Haggadah and a multicourse, family-style meal. There will also be Pomella’s usual selection of Passover favorites available for preorder until April 7, for pickup April 11. The menu includes Cult Crackers gluten-free matzah, matzah ball soup (chicken or vegetarian), chopped liver, spicy Moroccan salmon, lamb meatball tagine, vegetarian stuffed artichoke bottoms, potato shallot kugel, spring salad, rainbow carrot salad, matzah brittle, chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons, a DIY pistachio pavlova kit, kosher wine from Covenant and an “everything but the plate” seder plate. 3770 Piedmont Ave., Unit B, Oakland.
Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen is offering two Passover options this year: a la carte catered items for Passover at home and “Seder at Saul’s,” a dinner at the restaurant complete with Haggadahs. The menu includes a seder-plate kit, housemade matzah, charoset with apples, nuts, dried fruit, honey and sweet wine, grated horseradish with red beet, egg roasted overnight with coffee, onions and spices, matzah ball soup, gefilte fish, chopped liver (both chicken and vegan options), brisket tsimmes, rockfish in turmeric, cumin and tomato chraime sauce, chicken with dukkah spices, mujadara and a selection of desserts that includes citrus almond cake, flourless chocolate cake, sweet matzah kugel, plain or chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons, chocolate marshmallow candy, fruit slices and chocolate jelly rings. Saul’s is accepting reservations and pickup for catered items April 11-20. 1475 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley.
Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen has its annual Passover menu that includes a full seder plate, apple, date, raisin and walnut charoset, chopped chicken liver and onions, matzah ball soup, brisket, herb-roasted chicken, potato kugel, sugar snap peas, petite peas, roasted carrots and caramelized pearl onions, dill pickles, coconut macaroons and chocolate- and caramel-covered matzah. Place orders at least two days in advance for pickup or delivery April 11-13. A limited Passover menu will be offered from April 14-20. Items are available at three S.F. locations and one in Oakland.