The Russian Are Coming - Kosher Style

For the past 10 years, Steve Klipach has run the popular Russian restaurant Palace Royal in NE Philadelphia. The upscale eatery was a gathering place for Philly's large immigrant community and hosted many a wedding and bar mitzvah celebration.


Then, about three years ago, Klipach started studying Judaism with Rabbi Boruch Shlain, a member of the Russian Kollel (a fulltime Torah study program for married men) at Congregation Beth Solomon in the Far Northeast. The learning changed his life.


"I could no longer serve nonkosher food," said Klipach.


So a month ago, the men from the Kollel and other friends of Klipach's from Congregation Beth Solomon kashered the Palace Royal, and the restaurant reopened under the supervision of the Orthodox Vaad of Philadelphia. 


Klipach dismissed any thought that he might lose business now that he is closed from Friday afternoon until after sundown Saturday night. "Hashem will help us," he told me, adding that people are very happy to have another fine-dining option in Philadelphia.


And he is right.


Klipach pointed out that the food is not strictly Russian, but is European-style. "It is very fancy," he says proudly. And most nights, he has live music - a first for a Philadelphia kosher restaurant.


I  have not been to the Palace Royal myself, but my husband and son ate there Sunday night as part of a male bonding day. They both had the 10-oz T-bone steak, which my husband insists was larger than 10 ounces. The steak was cooked just the way he liked it (medium), and he had the grilled vegetables as a side dish. My son had the basmati rice. The bill came to $42 for the pair - a lot less than we paid for a steak dinner in NY.


The Palace Royal also has a lunch special for $13, which includes soup, salad and a choice of entrees (not the steak though). They open at noon and stay open until 10 most nights, until midnight on Sunday and after Shabbat, when he is currently opening at 8.


The Palace Royal is a welcome addition to the Philadelphia kosher dining scene.

Kosher Super Bowl Sunday

I will have to miss the Super Bowl this year. A good friend and neighbor with no sports consciousness has scheduled her daughter's wedding for tomorrow evening. So I won't heading heading to the Expresso Cafe and Sushi on Castor Ave. and enjoying a great dinner while I watch the game on Sharon's wide-screen TV. Instead, I'll be schlepping to Lakewood for another boring chicken dinner and checking the game every 5 minutes on my Blackberry -- as the sister of a New Orleans residents, I'm pulling for the Saints.

I really regret this. The Expresso Cafe is my favorite spot in Philadelphia. It is always clean, the food is fresh and Sharon Abergel, who owns the place with his wife Liat, is a welcoming host. The only problem I ever have is sometimes they run out of my favorite dish -- Portabella Mushrooms with Mozzarella. Express Cafe is all dairy, but they have such a wide variety of offerings that even my kids like it here. The vegetable soup is a favorite with everyone. The salads are so large I usually end up taking the extras home.

I recently scheduled a business meeting at the cafe, and my guest emailed me the next day to say he was still thinking of the portobella mushrooms. When the mushrooms are not available, I also love the Carpacho -- eggplants, feta cheese and pesto in filo dough.

The cafe is also the only place in town where you can get a late breakfast. I've met my girlfriends there on a Sunday morning for bagels, lox, omelets and my favorite, shakshuka - a spicey Israeli omelet with peppers and tomatoes. If Sharon would open at 8 on Sunday morning so we could have a regular breakfast, we would be thrilled.

But, as someone reminded me, the guy has to sleep. Unlike every other kosher place on Castor Ave., the cafe is open until 10:30 every night but Friday. He also opens after Shabbat and stays open until 11. Even Starbucks doesn't keep those hours.

So that's what I'll be missing tomorrow night in the boondocks of Lakewood.