May 31, 2004 at 9:01:23p.m.

Those fine folks at Abagails sent us the following email today:

The Green Tea Lounge, upstairs at Abigael’s, has finally opened! This Asian Fusion lounge serves specialties such as, Sizzling Duck & Shiitake Salad, Miso Glazed Sea Bass, Grilled Korean Short Ribs, Vietnamese Chicken and a Sushi Bar!

We’ve added some terrific new menu items to the Abigael’s menu,too.

In fact, the menu looks totally awesome. Check it out at www.abigaels.com/greentea.html. The Asian fusion meals look really, really good.

(RJR)

May 28, 2004 at 6:38:16p.m.

Greetings from sunny, hot and humid Austin, Texas! UTJ cyber rebbe, Alex Herrera and his wife Andrea, are celebrating their younger son’s bar mitzvah (IY”H) this coming Monday. We flew in this morning on the very early flight(image my shock when I had to stand on a long line at the airport at 5:00AM!), and now we are basking in the glow of a long Texas afternoon.

On our way in from the airport, we stopped at a local H E B store. This particular store has a store within the store- The Kosher Store (brilliant name- it says it all!). We were here a few years back when the Kosher Store was just about to open. It is good to see that the store has prospered over the years. Inside the Kosher Store is a small sit-down restaurant. It is a place where kosher food meets Southern style and California style (pastrami and alfalfa on sourdough!!) The prices are very fair, and the sandwiches are super. We had the “Reuben sandwhich” sans bread: one half pound of hot pastrami and sauerkraut served with thousand island dressing. Taam Gan Eyden- and all for under $8.00!

The store itself stocks an amazing array of goods, some of it stuff that has yet to make its way to New York! Many of the items reflect a West Coast sensibility much more than an East Coast one. All in all, a wonderful oasis.

A hearty mazal tov to my co-blogger, Deborah Wenger, who is in Atlanta this weekend for her son’s wedding: b’shaah tova u’mutzlachat!

Shabbat shalom from Austin. More to follow…

(RJR)

May 25, 2004 at 9:33:46a.m.

Those fine folks at Eden Foods, Inc. have done it again. Famous for organic and healthy foods, Eden is now in the healthy snack market, too!

Look for the colorful, resealable four ounce bags of: Dried Montmorency Cherries, Organic Tamari Almonds, Orangic Pumpkin Seeds, Organic Spicy Pumpkin Seeds, All Mixed Up (nuts and dried fruit) and All Mixed Up Two (dried nuts, seeds and dried fruit). We generally do not like pumpkin seeds, but we totally liked the spicy pumpkin seeds. And the dried cherries really grow on you!

Eden Foods is certified by the OK. These snack foods are pareve. Eden Foods’s phone number is 888-424- EDEN.

(RJR)

May 21, 2004 at 10:22:08a.m.

The only thing more confusing than airfares, is the cost of Coca Cola. Here in the Metro NYC area, prices for a two liter bottle range from 79 cents (usually with the store’s club card or shopper’s card) to a high of $1.59 in delis, convenience stores, and gas stations. Most of the time, however, you can find Coke on sale for 99 cents somewhere around town. Sometimes it seems as if Coke has the stores on a rotation basis, shifting prices from store to store weekly.

Lately, around here, all that has changed. Suddenly there are no 2 liter bottles- only one and a half liter bottles. And the price? $1.29 in almost every store.

That is a huge increase; it is way out of line. We were pleased, therefore, to see in one store that we visited twice this week, the supply of coke remained untouched. In fact, the store manager told me that sales of Coke were way below normal.

This morning, we saw a lady holding a bottle in her hand. She had a really pensive look on her face. As I passed her, I said, “Look carefully, it is a one and half liter bottle, not a two liter.” The woman looked at me and said, “Oh my, thank you. I knew something was wrong.” Then, when we commented on the price, she put the bottle back on the shelf and walked away.

Could this be another famous Coke blunder? A few years ago, Coke put out KP soda in the same size bottles. The company ended up publically apologizing to the community via the Anglo Jewish media after people complained bitterly and bought other brands.

Let’s hope people send Coke a strong message once again.

(RJR)

May 20, 2004 at 11:03:59a.m.

If you are like us, we often sit and make mental wish lists of foods we wish were kosher. Let’s face it, it is hard to walk the aisles of Costco or some other food emporium and not gaze in wonder at all the tarfus there. And then the wonderings set in- I wish such and such were kosher.

How about pepperoni? How come here in the metro NYC area, there is no kosher pepperoni that we know of?

How about good tasting kosher pizza? What ever happened to mozzarella cheese on a pizza pie?

How about sausages? Our butcher used to make the best Italian style sausages. You could get it made out of chicken or veal or beef. You could get it sweet or sharp. Alas, the butcher is no more. And we can’t find real Italian style kosher sausage any more.

How about Jambalaya? No one sells a ready made kosher jambalaya. Or for that matter, a filet gumbo. Or even a good kosher fish chowder. Least not, not in these parts.

Down in Philly, Pat’s Steaks was an institution. How come there is no kosher version?

We’ve never seen a kosher corn fritter. Not anywhere.

Or a kosher Po’ Boy.

And on and on and on. What’s on your list?

(RJR)