HAKADOSH BARBEQUE

FROM KOSHER TODAY (FEB. 19, 2013)

NEW YORK — Visitors to this year’s Kosher Food and Wine Experience at New York’s Chelsea Piers on February 4th would have been hard pressed to miss the centered display of Got Cholent? Inc. Owned by Chef Ari White, Got Cholent?, together with its subdivision Gemstone Catering, provides original and top-quality catering to shuls, parties and other events. Their main attraction, however, was the tribute to one of their newer ventures, a 4,700 lb. smoker nicknamed “Hakadosh Barbeque.” The portable Texas style wood burning BBQ rig is fashioned out of thick metals and provides one the most genuine barbeque experiences available on the (kosher) East Coast. “Most Orthodox New Yorkers tend to marinate their steak in some store bought sauce and call it ‘barbeque’,” scoffs pit boss Ari White. “But for something to really be barbequed, it needs to be wood-smoked, and there’s no way to fake that genuine, barbequed taste.”
Growing up in Texas, White has memories of his father and their Rabbi smoking 40 turkeys for 5 days straight to prepare for the holidays. “My grandfather was an avid smoker, and he passed this on to me and my father. When I moved from El Paso to New York, I knew the tri-state area would appreciate what real barbeque means — I just had to get them to taste it!” After buying Hakadosh Barbeque from a retiring smoker, White began holding “pop-up” smoker events, complete with a dining tent, bales of hay, and country music.

“At our first pop-up in Riverdale, we served more than 3,000 people in 4 afternoons, and had to turn away hundreds more. We had a similar smashing success in Westchester’s Lincoln Park.” Starting April 7, Hakadosh Barbeque will be making appearances in New York’s street fairs, providing an on-the-go, one-of-a-kind kosher barbeque experience. Armed with his rig and cords of top-quality wood, Ari White will also be competing in the Food Network’s upcoming challenge, Brisket King NYC. The first ever kosher smoker asked to join, White will be up against some of New York’s finest pit bosses such as John Brown and Mighty Quinn.

“There’s no one else doing this,” emphasizes Ari. “I’m making it my mission to liberate New York’s kosher community from the exile of great barbeque.” Hakadosh Barbeque is under the Rabbinical Supervision of the STAR-K. Find out more at www.gotcholent.com or www.Facebook.com/HakadoshBBQ.