Changing the landscape of Kosher dining

For people who keep kosher, New York is rivaled only by Jerusalem as one of the great epicenters of kosher cuisine. My father, who grew up in New York, often talks about how the kosher restaurant scene evolved into what it is today.
Originally the restaurants served simple but delectable food like deli sandwiches and knishes. Then a restaurant called La Différence opened up in the city and forever altered the kosher landscape of New York. La Différence, which was a fancy French-style restaurant, was a game changer in that it was the first kosher restaurant to offer what was considered fine dining. In the wake of its success other kosher restaurants began to follow suit. And as I sat sampling the menu at Pardes Restaurant in Brooklyn, I had the same sense of excitement my father had when he went to La Différence knowing that I was eating in a restaurant that would change the landscape of kosher dining.
The first thing that sets Pardes apart from all other kosher restaurants is the location. Nestled in amongst the trendy grittiness of the Boerum Hill neighborhood, Pardes is the only kosher restaurant in the area making it a destination eatery well worth the trip to the fashionable side of Atlantic Avenue. It’s a small and intimate location with a window from the dining area to the kitchen that lets you watch owner and head chef Moshe Wendel work with his highly skilled team of sous chefs and chef de parties, creating food that stands out as some of the best kosher fare in all of New York. In the seven courses I sampled at Pardes, Chef Wendel brought me around the world applying his personal style of French cooking to a number of dishes that ran the culinary gamut.
He began with a Bronzino Ceviche with Jerusalem artichokes, walnuts and bergamot. This was also served with a walnut and potato blini. The light fattiness of the fish was perfectly complimented by the ceviche’s accompanying ingredients and was dressed with a mildly creamy dressing going perfectly with the sweetness of the blinis. Several equally amazing courses later I was served a Napoli style beef cheek pizza with 24 hour roasted tomato and fresh basil.
The crunch of the crust, mixed with the mild acidity of the tomato, the earthiness of the basil and the salty flavor of the cheek meat come together to create a magnificent flavor combination. What I loved most about the beef cheek pizza is Chef Wendel’s creativity in so perfectly applying an ingredient like cheek meat, which most consumers would never otherwise try. This creativity was further affirmed by Chef Wendel’s choice to add goat to his menu. The Goat which is served both as a chop and as a crispy goat daube (a goat stew) stripped away unpleasant memories of past experiences eating this strong gamey meat. Pardes goat chop is cooked with a wonderful crust and served with caramelized carrot and prunes steeped in an Earl Grey tea. The sweetness of the carrot and prunes cut through the gameness and help to strengthen the savory richness of the meat. The Doube, which after being stewed and fried in its own collagen, is crispy, tender and delectably melts in the mouth. Easily it was the best goat I have ever eaten.
Less then a week after reviewing Pardes my father came into town. He always delights at going to high-end restaurants to eat the kind of food he can’t get back home in Chicago. When he asked where I thought we should go it wasn’t even a question in my mind that I needed to go back to Pardes.
From his creativity with ingredients to his deft use of complimenting flavors, Chef Wendel has created a restaurant whose growing success will shape the future of kosher dining. Thus far I have sampled almost a third of Pardes’s menu and I cannot wait to try the rest.

Zechariah Mehler is a widely published food writer and expert in social marketing. Follow him on Twitter @thekoshercritic