The second annual San Francisco Jewish Week kicked off Saturday night by bringing chefs and diners together to indulge in Jewish foods from across the Bay Area.
About 150 people ate and drank the offerings from 14 restaurants, chefs and wineries at A Taste of Jewish SF at the JCCSF. The week of gatherings is organized by Value Culture, a local Jewish nonprofit focused on producing community events.
Food appeared plentiful at the beginning of the night but quickly disappeared.
Ramni Levy, chef and owner of King Knish, who brought over 300 knishes to the event, saw his self-described “pillowy” pastries vanish in about 20 minutes. Levy, the son of a rabbi, served two varieties of knishes — wild mushroom and truffle salt, and potato and grilled onion — with a rosemary honey-mustard sauce. He told J. he wanted to “fill a void” in San Francisco’s food scene when he decided to sell knishes.
“In every culture there is a pauper’s food,” he said. “There are lumpia, there are steamed dumplings, there are empanadas, wontons, everything. So every culture has that kind of food, and this falls in the range of dumplings.”
Food writer Karen Solomon, who served a dish of tangy, vinegar-pickled green beans with sour celery and red bell pepper, spoke similarly of pickled products, describing them as a food meant to “maximize your means.”
“My family heritage is Eastern European, and so, you know, if you didn’t have preserved food, you didn’t eat,” said Solomon. She told J. that preserving food “has a long tradition of sustaining and nourishing” and discourages discarding any parts of food.
Other items at the event ran the gamut of Jewish cuisine. The restaurant Delfina served crispy potato latkes with housemade crème fraîche and pickled beets. Chef Daniella Bensimon, who specializes in North African, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern catering, brought a savory vegetarian tagine, a North African stew. Super Mensch whipped up sweet, gin-based cocktails and served thick, juicy pastrami sandwiches. Hummus Bodega laid out a spread of Middle Eastern classics, including hummus, babaganoush and Israeli tomato-cucumber salad. Hagafen Cellars, Hadju Wines and Covenant Winery all filled glasses for guests.
Gayle Lidman, JCCSF director of public programs and community engagement, led the crowd in a Havdalah ceremony — and then it was time for desserts. Braid Bakery and Iggy’s Place set out a spread of confections, including chocolate babka. SF Hometown Creamery scooped two types of ice cream: a dairy-free Thai coconut milk flavor with mango puree and sticky rice, as well as an “Ashke-phardic” charoset ice cream that consisted of a brown sugar base with cinnamon, apple, almonds, walnuts, ginger, cardamom, dates, dried apricots, plums and red wine.
Attendee Sarah Franz, who said she liked the tagine most of all, told J. why Jewish food brings her joy.
“It just means family and heart,” she said. “It’s like being together — good times, bad times, all of it — it’s all centered around food.”
S.F. Jewish Week continues through Saturday. Events include Jewish Heritage Night at the Golden State Valkyries game against the Chicago Sky on Wednesday, a “Robot Shabbat” on Friday and a formal “Blue and White Ball” for 21- to 45-year-olds on Saturday.