L ifestyle /C ulture
Philly Faces: Daniel Israel
P H I LLY FACES
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
IN 2015, DANIEL Israel was
working odd jobs and looking
for a direction. He knew just
one thing for certain: He
wanted to marry his girlfriend,
Amanda Ross.

But to get Ross’ father’s
approval, Israel needed to find
a path. And, one day, Israel’s
girlfriend asked him what he
wanted to do.

“Cook,” he said.

Six years later, Israel, now
32, is the owner of Deluxe
Catering, a kosher catering
company in Philadelphia. And
Amanda Ross is now Amanda
Israel. Going into another Rosh
Hashanah, Israel is booked
solid with orders, and recently,
several people in a local
Facebook group recommended
him to someone looking for a
High Holiday caterer.

How big are the High Holidays
for you at this point?
Secondary. I do it for the
community. Our business is
targeted toward weddings,
galas and fundraisers.

20 SEPTEMBER 2, 2021
But we do small events,
too. We do every size event.

Anything from one person to
10,000 people.

Which types of food does
your business specialize in?
I have a wide array of food
I make. Different ethnicities.

Japanese, Chinese, Mexican,
Italian, Thai. I’m just starting
to get into Ethiopian food. I
love learning new dishes.

Sometimes, people will
see something they like on
Pinterest or go to an event
where they had something
yummy, and that’s something
they really want to have at
their event. It’s important to
be flexible.

I just did a wedding last
Sunday, and they wanted an
Daniel Israel 
Indian station. We haven’t done
that for three years. But when
somebody has a certain taste, restaurant, Deux Cheminees.

we pull it from our repertoire. My father connected me to his
friend, Chef Fritz Blank.

What made you want to
I worked for him from age
become a chef?
15 to 18. He taught me 90% of
My father (Naftali Israel). what I know.

He was a chef in his younger
years. Then he got into How did your cooking career
contracting. But he has friends go from there?
who are chefs in the city.

My father got me into it, but
I learned at an upscale French was trying to get me out of it.

He said it’s not good pay. It’s
hard on your feet, knees and
back. It’s impossible to have a
family life.

I listened to him and kept
going to school.

I went to Temple (University)
and studied kinesiology. I didn’t
know what I wanted to do. I got
more curious about my roots,
took a trip to Israel and thought
maybe I should stay.

I came back home and my
mom connected me to her
friend who sold life insurance.

I worked at New York Life and
sold insurance for 5-6 years.

Then I met my wife.

hadn’t been in the industry in
seven years.

I wanted to be a kosher
supervisor. Someone who
supervises shipments of food
to the kitchen.

Ofelia (Cohen) with A
La Karte Catering (in Bala
Cynwyd) pointed me in the
direction of a rabbi who could
certify me. I started working
with her and Six Points Kosher
Catering (in King of Prussia).

From there I got a job
at Temple as head chef and
supervisor at Hillel. I was
running the only kosher deli
in Philadelphia. It’s called Cafe
613 now.

During the winter break, I
wanted to earn extra money.

So I worked at this sushi place,
Sushi Talk.

When I came back on
summer break, things were
slowing down. I made a deal
with the owner.

I said, “You don’t have to
pay me. I know you’re hurting.

In exchange, if somebody
Once you decided to follow needs me to do a catering job, I
your passion, how did you have permission to do it out of
build yourself up?
your kitchen.” He loved it.

I had to start from scratch. I
In the first month, I made
JEWISH EXPONENT
Michelle Camperson Photography
over $15,000. He had four years
left of his lease. I bailed him out
and have been there ever since:
7588 Haverford Ave.

I did everything myself
the first two years. Cooking,
cleaning, menu planning,
sales. I woke up at 6 (a.m.) and
got home at 11 (p.m.).

But when you do one event,
everybody at that event tastes
your food, and it changes
everything. Where is the business going
now? On Sunday, I did a wedding
in Barnesville. I never knew
that place existed before. I’m
getting jobs in Scranton and
the Poconos. It’s really grown.

Now, my main focus is
scaling the business without
reducing the quality of the food.

I’ll have to train other
people. I have a rule with
my chefs: When they make
something on their own, they
have to make it twice perfectly
before they can cook it without
me taste-testing it. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
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