Basil
October 8, 2010 1:02 PM Subscribe
Shared Plates: Keeping it Kosher (a slnyt magazine post)
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Previously, on Metafilter.
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Previously, on Metafilter.
I should not look at restaurant menus while hungry!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:22 PM on October 8, 2010
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:22 PM on October 8, 2010
Fascinating read. Thank you, zarq.
posted by pointystick at 1:41 PM on October 8, 2010
posted by pointystick at 1:41 PM on October 8, 2010
TPS, it looks really good, doesn't it? Makes me wanna take a trip to Bklyn.
posted by zarq at 1:55 PM on October 8, 2010
posted by zarq at 1:55 PM on October 8, 2010
TPS, it looks really good, doesn't it? Makes me wanna take a trip to Bklyn.
Whoa now, let's not get too crazy!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:57 PM on October 8, 2010
Whoa now, let's not get too crazy!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:57 PM on October 8, 2010
I'n not sure why the NYT thinks some restaurant in Brooklyn deserves such a massive number of column inches. Because it is kosher?
posted by Yakuman at 2:17 PM on October 8, 2010
posted by Yakuman at 2:17 PM on October 8, 2010
fwiw, zarq, the 'previously, on MeFi' link is Satmar vs. Hipsters, (and you know the difference!) This is Crown Heights, where it's Lubavitchers and the local Black community, as well as the recent transplants (mentioned in the article).
Previously on Metafilter, and possibly more relevant to the kind of culture clash we have here, would any of these.
posted by mhz at 2:17 PM on October 8, 2010
Previously on Metafilter, and possibly more relevant to the kind of culture clash we have here, would any of these.
posted by mhz at 2:17 PM on October 8, 2010
One night, she recalls, a young woman repeatedly kissed and nibbled on a male companion’s neck. When Perez asked her to stop, she responded by defiantly planting a kiss on the lips of another young woman in the group. Perez says she then forcefully escorted her to the back of the dining room, pointed to a picture of the Lubavitch spiritual leader that hangs there and admonished her: "You’re in their backyard. You have to respect their ways."
That seems just a bit much. I can see letting someone finish their meal and then asking them not to return. I can see asking them to leave and not charging them for a meal they couldn't finish. I could even see asking them to leave and still charging them. But forcefully escorting a customer around the restaurant and giving them a public dressing down? Fie on that.
If the place is going to be run that strictly, I hope there's a sign out front listing all of the rules: "no public displays of affection. no female singing. no opposite sex socializing except for matrimonial purposes. dress code as follows: " etc. There's nothing about the behavior expected of customers on the website.
posted by jedicus at 2:22 PM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
That seems just a bit much. I can see letting someone finish their meal and then asking them not to return. I can see asking them to leave and not charging them for a meal they couldn't finish. I could even see asking them to leave and still charging them. But forcefully escorting a customer around the restaurant and giving them a public dressing down? Fie on that.
If the place is going to be run that strictly, I hope there's a sign out front listing all of the rules: "no public displays of affection. no female singing. no opposite sex socializing except for matrimonial purposes. dress code as follows: " etc. There's nothing about the behavior expected of customers on the website.
posted by jedicus at 2:22 PM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
From the bottom of p. 5:
Brown, who is white, had long considered Crown Heights a secret that only she, among her friends, knew about, and she liked that. But Basil tells her that she is on borrowed time. “It’s a domino thing,” she says, acknowledging that the $1,600-a-month rent that she and two roommates pay for a spacious, light-filled two-bedroom apartment could go up with the arrival of too many people like them.
Thaaaat's right. Keep the neighborhood interesting enough so it's trendy, but shitty enough so that you can afford it. (And what an ironic ending phrase, there.)
posted by Madamina at 2:29 PM on October 8, 2010
Brown, who is white, had long considered Crown Heights a secret that only she, among her friends, knew about, and she liked that. But Basil tells her that she is on borrowed time. “It’s a domino thing,” she says, acknowledging that the $1,600-a-month rent that she and two roommates pay for a spacious, light-filled two-bedroom apartment could go up with the arrival of too many people like them.
Thaaaat's right. Keep the neighborhood interesting enough so it's trendy, but shitty enough so that you can afford it. (And what an ironic ending phrase, there.)
posted by Madamina at 2:29 PM on October 8, 2010
fwiw, zarq, the 'previously, on MeFi' link is Satmar vs. Hipsters, (and you know the difference!) This is Crown Heights, where it's Lubavitchers and the local Black community, as well as the recent transplants (mentioned in the article).
True! Although one might make also say that some of the people cycling in the previous post were commuters with no long-term ties to the area and could sorta compare to the recent transplants in this article. :)
This wasn't originally going to be a slnyt post. I wanted it to explain the situation in wider context. But what I wound up creating was boring and unnecessary. So this afternoon I re-read the article and decided to cut 90% of the links & 100% of the editorializing in the post. And lazily left the 'previously' in there without any context. Sorry.
posted by zarq at 2:50 PM on October 8, 2010
True! Although one might make also say that some of the people cycling in the previous post were commuters with no long-term ties to the area and could sorta compare to the recent transplants in this article. :)
This wasn't originally going to be a slnyt post. I wanted it to explain the situation in wider context. But what I wound up creating was boring and unnecessary. So this afternoon I re-read the article and decided to cut 90% of the links & 100% of the editorializing in the post. And lazily left the 'previously' in there without any context. Sorry.
posted by zarq at 2:50 PM on October 8, 2010
Wonderful article; skipped reading it about 10 times w/o suspecting the depths below that extremely appealing picture (you'd want straws available right on your tables if you had lots of customers with full beards, wouldn't you? Too bad it seems so hard to make an adult straw out of permanent materials which is as flexible as paper or plastic or you'd find a market there, I'm certain).
Check out the picture of the owner and his kid. That's what I would call a great dad. Is that an upward quirk of the lip I see in the ancestor on the mantelpiece? I'd have to think so.
Thanks, zarq.
posted by jamjam at 2:58 PM on October 8, 2010
Check out the picture of the owner and his kid. That's what I would call a great dad. Is that an upward quirk of the lip I see in the ancestor on the mantelpiece? I'd have to think so.
Thanks, zarq.
posted by jamjam at 2:58 PM on October 8, 2010
Is that an upward quirk of the lip I see in the ancestor on the mantelpiece? I'd have to think so.
I suppose it's possible that Menachem Mendel Schneerson was an ancestor of Danny Branover, but it's more likely the picture is there because of his status as the last Lubavitcher Rebbe. That picture is a well-known one.
posted by jedicus at 3:04 PM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
I suppose it's possible that Menachem Mendel Schneerson was an ancestor of Danny Branover, but it's more likely the picture is there because of his status as the last Lubavitcher Rebbe. That picture is a well-known one.
posted by jedicus at 3:04 PM on October 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
From your second link, jedicus:
No Jew falls outside the Rebbe's embrace. And the Rebbe falls within the embrace of most every Jew in Israel. His picture hangs in the windshields of cab drivers, behind the counters of street corner pubs and fast food stands; his visage is tucked in the corner of barber shop mirrors, selflessly gazing back at patrons as they vainly examine their newly coiffed hair. School children know that the Rebbe remembered their birthdays, and expectant mothers carry his picture with them to the hospital, to assure the welfare of their newborns and of themselves.
Sounds like an ancestor to me.
posted by jamjam at 3:19 PM on October 8, 2010
No Jew falls outside the Rebbe's embrace. And the Rebbe falls within the embrace of most every Jew in Israel. His picture hangs in the windshields of cab drivers, behind the counters of street corner pubs and fast food stands; his visage is tucked in the corner of barber shop mirrors, selflessly gazing back at patrons as they vainly examine their newly coiffed hair. School children know that the Rebbe remembered their birthdays, and expectant mothers carry his picture with them to the hospital, to assure the welfare of their newborns and of themselves.
Sounds like an ancestor to me.
posted by jamjam at 3:19 PM on October 8, 2010
Sounds like an ancestor to me.
Depends on how you look at it, and I assumed you were being literal earlier.
posted by jedicus at 3:31 PM on October 8, 2010
Depends on how you look at it, and I assumed you were being literal earlier.
posted by jedicus at 3:31 PM on October 8, 2010
fwiw, zarq, the 'previously, on MeFi' link is Satmar vs. Hipsters
What percentage of the US population knows what a "satmar" is?
posted by Yakuman at 3:54 PM on October 8, 2010
What percentage of the US population knows what a "satmar" is?
posted by Yakuman at 3:54 PM on October 8, 2010
Depends on how you look at it, and I assumed you were being literal earlier.
posted by jedicus
It does indeed depend on how you look at it, and upon how sensitive you may or may not be about outsiders looking in, apparently, about which I was not willing to make any assumptions as far as you are concerned, so I posted that to give you a chance to clarify matters for me, as you have now done to my satisfaction.
posted by jamjam at 4:45 PM on October 8, 2010
posted by jedicus
It does indeed depend on how you look at it, and upon how sensitive you may or may not be about outsiders looking in, apparently, about which I was not willing to make any assumptions as far as you are concerned, so I posted that to give you a chance to clarify matters for me, as you have now done to my satisfaction.
posted by jamjam at 4:45 PM on October 8, 2010
It does indeed depend on how you look at it, and upon how sensitive you may or may not be about outsiders looking in, apparently, about which I was not willing to make any assumptions as far as you are concerned, so I posted that to give you a chance to clarify matters for me, as you have now done to my satisfaction.
Uhh...you're welcome? I think?
posted by jedicus at 5:15 PM on October 8, 2010
Uhh...you're welcome? I think?
posted by jedicus at 5:15 PM on October 8, 2010
What percentage of the US population knows what a "satmar" is?
I'm guessing a very low one.
From 2006: The War for Hasidic Williamsburg. (The entire article is interesting. Page 3 gives a short history of the movement.)
posted by zarq at 5:25 AM on October 9, 2010
I'm guessing a very low one.
From 2006: The War for Hasidic Williamsburg. (The entire article is interesting. Page 3 gives a short history of the movement.)
posted by zarq at 5:25 AM on October 9, 2010
I'n not sure why the NYT thinks some restaurant in Brooklyn deserves such a massive number of column inches. Because it is kosher?
Frank Bruni is the Times former food critic.
There's a history of strife in Crown Heights, and of course, the Hasidim deliberately set themselves apart from modern, secular and Jewish religious society, which can make them a curiosity or at times even a spectacle. Their religious views and priorities may seem odd to outsiders, as well.
My take on this (and the reason I posted this article) is not that this restaurant is (reportedly) the first kosher wood oven pizza place in the city, nor that it's the first exclusively kosher wine bar in NYC. I find the culture clash interesting-- especially considering that the restaurant's Hasidic owner tried to create an environment that catered to both neighborhoods.
posted by zarq at 5:42 AM on October 9, 2010
Frank Bruni is the Times former food critic.
There's a history of strife in Crown Heights, and of course, the Hasidim deliberately set themselves apart from modern, secular and Jewish religious society, which can make them a curiosity or at times even a spectacle. Their religious views and priorities may seem odd to outsiders, as well.
My take on this (and the reason I posted this article) is not that this restaurant is (reportedly) the first kosher wood oven pizza place in the city, nor that it's the first exclusively kosher wine bar in NYC. I find the culture clash interesting-- especially considering that the restaurant's Hasidic owner tried to create an environment that catered to both neighborhoods.
posted by zarq at 5:42 AM on October 9, 2010
(Orthodox) Rabbi Harry Maryles weighs in. Unsurprisingly, he comes out against kashrus agencies overstepping their boundaries into moral areas.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 11:44 AM on October 11, 2010
posted by flibbertigibbet at 11:44 AM on October 11, 2010
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Hopefully the food is good.
posted by rosswald at 1:11 PM on October 8, 2010