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Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights?
By
Laren Spirer
Published Apr 23, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Laren Spirer
Published Apr 23, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Because there are so many ways to celebrate, we can hardly decide what to do! If you're sick and tired of the same old "sinker" matzo balls and dried-out brisket that you've had every year since you were six, convince the family to come join you for one of the Passover menus being offered throughout the city. New York Magazine rounds up a few, including Coco Pazzo, where chef Mark Strausman is preparing a Roman-Jewish menu for $90. It "starts with Tuscan chicken-liver pâté on matzo and segues into 'my mother’s brisket.'" If Italian's not your style, try Aix for a French seder. Their passover menu, $85, features a duck consomme to accompany the mazto balls and a foie gras charoset with lavender honey. For a modern Mexican seder, try Zscalo. Their matzo ball soup is laced with corn, cilantro and jalapenos, and their "Tacos de Brisket" are braised brisket tacos with matzo tortillas and chipotle-avocado salsa. You won't find that at granny's seder.
If you can't convince them to eat out, try some of the more non-traditional non-traditional Passover recipes featured in the Daily News including mango-date charoset and, in lieu of matzo balls, porcini chicken balls. Epicurious also gives us Rosa Mexicano's recipe for tropical charoset. We're not sure how that one will fly at Gothamist's seder table.
Beyond the seder, there's a whole week of matzo-filled fun, including one of our favorites, matzo brei. Whether you like it sweet or savory, New York Magazine rounds up places to find it and the Daily News gives us the recipe for the Stage Deli's matzo brei with corned beef.
Gothamist's absolute favorite way to celebrate Passover is a trip to Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse on the Lower East Side (photo, top). Although it's not the most by-the-book (or haggadah, as it were) religious service, it's a hell of a lot of fun. Between the chopped chicken liver prepared tableside, complete with a healthy dose of schmaltz (both in the form of rendered chicken fat and Stan, the Maitre d'), and the steaks, which are so big they droop over the edge of the plate, you'll need the bottles of vodka that they serve in blocks of ice just to cut through your clogged arteries.
Coco Pazzo, 23 East 74th St., between 5th and Madison Avenues, 212-794-0205
Aix, 2398 Broadway at 88th Street, 212-874-7400
Zscalo Restaurant, 174 East 82nd Street, 212-717-7772
Sammy's Roumanian, 157 Chrystie Street between Delancey and Rivington, 212-673-0330
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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