The High Holidays are here. You need kosher food—either for the weeks ahead, or, really, year-round. Use this as your guide, and let me know your personal favorites, too.
For veggie fiends: Clover Food Lab
Clover Food Lab offers their first-ever Rosh Hashanah snack box this season. The box is certified kosher. Enjoy sweet potato and raisin kugel, “round” pita with honey marshmallow fluff and peanut butter (delicious), Moroccan carrot coin salad, potato leek soup a Waldorf salad and more for non-carnivores. They’re $65 and feed up to five people.
Order here.
For dietary specifications: Blacker’s Bakeshop
Blacker’s Bakeshop is beloved for a reason: It’s nut-free and dairy-free, plus, kosher pareve, with excellent customer service and even some egg-free options. Their Rosh Hashanah custom orders are closed, but you can still pop in for first-come, first-served challah in endless varieties, pies and tarts—plus a very cute Shabbat in a box for your favorite college student complete with candles and mini-challah.
Order here.
For the best breads: Rosenfeld’s
Rosenfeld’s has been doing something right for more than 45 years: This tight-squeeze Newton storefront sells ever-so-malty, sturdy kosher bagels with pareve cream cheese available on request, served with disposable utensils. Their challah is impossibly soft, too.
Order here.
For an urban classic: Milk Street Café
Milk Street Café is another long-lived legend, in the business for more than 40 years. When they opened in 1981, they were one of the very few kosher, vegetarian restaurants in the area. Still proudly kosher, this family-run icon offers a café menu for in-person visits but also specializes in a vast array of catering items; their variety is pretty astounding. If you’re feeding a crowd during the holidays (or any time), definitely browse their budget-stretcher section, with chicken and baked ziti, salads, breads and cookies feeding up to 15 people for under $240. Plus: The service just could not be nicer.
Order here.
For inventive sweets: Irislee Sweets
Feeling creative? Create a customized order from Irislee Sweets, a slightly below-the-radar kosher bakery in Newton, or go traditional with a honey or apple bundt cake.
Call directly with your request: 617-731-9800.
For lots of meats and more: Zayde’s Market
Look no further than Zayde’s in Canton, whose chipper service and big selection makes it a neighborhood favorite worth driving for. Order break fast for Yom Kippur by Sept. 30: turkey, roast and corned beef, salami, pastrami, bologna, lox and all the trimmings, rye, challah, coffee cake and wines too.
Order here.
And on the North Shore: Larry Levine’s Kosher Meats and Deli
Head to very old-school Larry Levine’s, which bills itself as the only kosher meat and deli business between Boston and Montreal, with an almost unlimited selection of High Holiday treats. When I called about the holidays, I was promised “whatever you need”—which sounds good to me. (I suggest phoning or ordering in person rather than trying to navigate online.) Deli platters with gargantuan sour pickles? Tzimmes? Kugel? Veal stew? Stuffed cabbage? It’s truly all here.
Call them: 978-535-6449.
For our Rhode Island friends: Ahava Catering
Ahava Catering offers a long Yom Kippur menu with a $100 pre-fast or break-fast serving up to four people: marsala or apricot chicken, chopped liver or gefilte fish, grilled veggies and more to start; with egg salad, tuna salad, bagels, bacon and cheddar quiche and lots more for later. Chef Freda Ronkin’s creations are always creative year-round, like brisket pizza and Philly cheesesteak.
Email Ahavacatering@gmail.com to order.
OK, and one non-kosher favorite: Mamaleh’s
If non-kosher is an option, everyone’s favorite Jewish deli, Mamaleh’s, has tons of options. Check out their extensive High Holiday menus (pre-order for Rosh Hashanah by Friday), with chopped chicken liver (my personal favorite, creamy and smooth), whitefish salad, honey-glazed chicken, noodle kugel and lots more.
Order here.
