Wednesday, November 19, 2008
By MAURA GRUNLUND
Staten Island Advance STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The first ever kosher sushi contest and a wealth of healthful foods were highlighted at Kosherfest 2008. The event was staged this year for the first time at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, N.J.
Simply Sushi, with restaurants in Cedarhurst, Long Island, and upstate Monticello, N.Y., was named the competition winner, beating out Glatt a la Carte of Brooklyn and Eden Wok of Manhattan and New Rochelle as well as Manhattan-based Milk 'N Honey.
More than 600 vendors were on hand to exhibit their kosher products to thousands of trade show visitors. Previous Kosherfests took place at the Jacob J. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.
For the competition, each restaurant prepared its own distinctive style of kosher sushi. In each case, the sushi makers were asked to incorporate a secret ingredient -- which turned out to be vegetarian caviar. Each entrant also submitted another sushi roll of their choice in the contest.
Simply Sushi's winning entry was a Kawasaki roll and a Black Dragon roll where vegetarian caviar -- as the secret ingredient -- was substituted for the black caviar usually found in kosher sushi.
ORGANIC SUSHI
Both organic and regular kosher sushi are on the menu at Simply Sushi restaurants and are available for both catering and in retail food stores. Shop-Rite and other supermarkets also carry Simply Sushi's regular kosher sushi, while Natural Gourmet, a high-end organic market in Cedarhurst, will begin selling the company's organic kosher sushi in about a month.
A premium is paid for organic kosher sushi ingredients, but it's well worth the cost; "quality is everything," said Chaim Goldman, a partner with Shmuel Ungar in Simply Sushi (www.simplysushi.com).
"It's exceptionally difficult to find kosher sushi products, and kosher organic is nearly impossible," Goldman said. "It's more expensive but it produces a superior product."
Kosher sushi started appearing in New York City restaurants about 10 years ago, and its popularity has "exploded" in the past five years, said Elan Kornblum, publisher of Great Kosher Restaurants magazine.
| 
