Who has the best kosher baked goods? Where can you slurp delicious kosher ice cream? If these questions plague you, seek no more: Evan Crane and Jonathan Shapiro run Facebook’s Kosher Boston, where diners swap tips, share recommendations and hot tips on food trucks (The Wandering Que is a favorite) and sometimes engage in friendly debate. The busy community offers tips, suggestions and resources for the kosher and kosher-curious throughout the Greater Boston area. Here’s what to know about the site.
It was born from necessity. Shapiro first started the page as a side hobby to help more friends learn about kosher dining options, since many of their pals knew about Rami’s in Brookline and that was about it. “I was telling people: You can get kosher chicken at Trader Joe’s! It blew people’s minds,” he says. Crane, meanwhile, felt similarly. He was busy building a resource for his Cambridge neighbors through a Google spreadsheet. The two connected to join forces roughly two years ago, and the rest is history.
There’s still a spreadsheet! (Plus a Google map.) Browse for a scannable list of options, with certification status and helpful tips.
Neither grew up Orthodox, but sharing kosher knowledge is important to both. “I’m guessing well over half of the people in the Kosher Boston Facebook group are not strictly kosher. There’s not such a huge, strictly kosher community in the Boston area, but there are a lot of people who are interested in it, whether because of what’s going on now in Israel or more generally people are interested in supporting kosher businesses and just being in the know,” Crane says.
There are about 3,200 members, but it’s an open group: You can still browse for info even if you don’t join (but you should!).
They think Boston has a robust kosher scene. “I give a lot of credit to the KVH [certification agency], which has put forth a massive effort to kosherize a lot of retail outlets, such as Costco and BJ’s. That alone makes a massive difference,” Shapiro says.
They do have favorite restaurants, of course. “I’m a huge fan of Lehrhaus,” says Crane. “For a long time, we didn’t have a place here where I felt comfortable taking non-Jewish colleagues. It’s also a 15-minute walk from where I live, which is really nice.” He’s also a fan of Veggie Crust, whose Brookline location serves an eclectic mix of pizza, curries and pasta. Shapiro loves Brookline’s Pure Cold Press: “It really matches the New York vibrancy, it’s trendy and it’s clean,” he says. Another favorite? Kosher Wok, also in Brookline. “The lunch specials are sick,” he says.
Some supermarkets have great kosher options: The Old Connecticut Path location of Framingham’s Stop ‘n Shop has a fabulous kosher aisle, they say; the Star Market in Chestnut Hill is also well-stocked. Trader Joe’s also gets high marks: “They have kosher chicken and a lot of different breads available that are kosher, some of which are under KVH, which is great,” says Crane. “If I need to go shopping for Shabbat and I need chicken and challah, they have all the things. And The Butcherie has really upped their game in the past three or four years with takeout options.”
They have other jobs. Crane works on the business side of a mid-sized pharma company when he’s not engaging on Facebook; Shapiro runs a recruiting company. But you can always find them at Kosher Boston, or eating their way through town.
