H eadlines
Middle Eastern Eatery to Open in Queen Village
L OCA L
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
EVERYTHING ABOUT
Keshet Kitchen, a Middle
Eastern comfort food restau-
rant set to open in March in
South Philadelphia, is a burst
of exuberant color.

There’s the name, for starters:
“Keshet” is Hebrew for rainbow.

There are the eye-poppingly
bright dishes, the kind of yellows
and purples and oranges that
come with the territory of good
food from Israel and the region.

And then there’s the execu-
tive chef and owner, Sharon
Shvarzman, the son of Israeli
immigrants to Brighton Beach,
New York, who raised their son
in the restaurant business.

Shvarzman was deemed
sufficiently colorful to appear
on two Food Network televi-
sion programs in the past,
and now he’ll bring that same
sensibility to Keshet Kitchen in
Queen Village.

“Our goal is to completely
change what people’s idea is
of Middle Eastern food,”
Shvarzman said. “So yes, you
can have mac and cheese and
have it Middle Eastern-style.”
The key: harissa.

Shvarzman and his partner,
Abraham Bloom — also
of Brooklyn, also of Israeli
ancestry, also the son of food
industry professionals — moved
to Philadelphia from New York
last summer so that Bloom could
pursue a doctorate in physical
therapy. Though they quickly
came to love their adopted home,
and especially Queen Village,
moving during the pandemic
made it difficult for them to
meet other Jewish people.

Shvarzman dreamed of
opening his own restau-
rant for some time, inspired
by his parents’ long-gone
Mediterranean spot and his
grandparents — a baker and
a chef. Underwhelmed by
Philadelphia’s Middle Eastern
offerings, and determined to
create a little haimish feeling
in a time that can seem devoid
of such comforts, Shvarzman
and Bloom decided to give the
dream a shot. Thus, Keshet
Kitchen was born.

The pair teamed up with New
Jersey-based public relations
representative and consultant
Morissa Schwartz, a longtime
friend of Shvarzman’s, who he’ll
rely on heavily in the opening
months. At a time when foot
traffic is low, a strong social
media presence will be key for
the new restaurant.

The trio wants Keshet
Kitchen to become a social
magnet when indoor gather-
ings become a part of life
again, a fragrant way to bring
friends and family together
over Shvarzman’s take on
Middle Eastern food. There
will be staples like falafel
and shawarma, but there will
also be pine nut and olive
meatloaf and Shvarzman’s
Our goal is to completely change what
people’s idea is of Middle Eastern food.”
SHARON SHVARZMAN
Sharon Shvarzman, executive chef at Keshet Kitchen
Courtesy of Sharon Shvarzman
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FEBRUARY 11, 2021
 
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JEWISH EXPONENT
Israeli grandmother’s spin on
borscht. Shvarzman first made a
name for himself as a cook
when he appeared on the Food
Network’s “Worst Cooks in
America.” He swears that his
appearance on the show was
not a reflection of his skills as
a chef, but rather the result of
a friendship with one of the
show’s producers, who saw his
obvious talents for the screen.

He later competed in another
Food Network show, “The
Great Food Truck Race.”
“The show has done me
right,” Shvarzman said. “I
graduated Food Network
university.” The grand opening at 705
E. Passyunk Ave. is on March
1, and though it can’t be the
proper indoor dining experi-
ence that the trio wants to
provide just yet, their collective
excitement for Keshet Kitchen
will be hearty enough to subsist
on for the cold months to come.

In Shvarzman’s telling, it’ll be
the place Jews of all stripes to
forget about their differences
for a while.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re
a Cohen or a Liebowitz or a
Schwartzman or a Schwartz,”
Shvarzman declared. “We are
a family that all came from the
same Jews, our ancestors dealt
with the same hell that we are
all dealing with today.” l
jbernstein@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM