Wedding Menus
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
W Evolve
hen Jeff Kalinsky started at Betty the Caterer 27 years
Th e bride’s voice seems to have grown in recent years, by his
ago, there were certain truths about clients’ weddings,
observation. Whereas brides in their early 20s would typically
events and what they wanted to eat.

cede control of the menu creation process to their mothers, the
Weddings would likely be black tie; the meals were typically
brides he works with now are typically older, a little more self-
three-course and served at the table. Th e bride’s mother was the one
assured and taking on the task themselves.

who held the greatest decision making power of the fi nal menu.

Diffi cult as it may be to adjust to communal shift s, Kalinsky
Th at was just how it was.

said, that’s just the name of the game.

Quicker than you can whisk an empty dumpling platter back
“You have to keep up with what’s happening in the commu-
to the kitchen for a refi ll, client demands have changed, Kalinsky
nities,” he said. “If you can’t adapt to what your client wants,
said. From presentation
they’re going to fi nd it
to unique dietary needs,
somewhere else.”
the elements of a catered
Leslie Rosen can
wedding reception are in a
certainly sympathize with
new era.

that. “It’s not like it’s just
Her company — Leslie
a carving station with
Rosen Catering — wasn’t
corned beef and turkey
even kosher when she
anymore,” Kalinsky said.

began 46 years ago. She
Th e most obvious
was previously a teacher
changes in wedding menus
of young children, and it
and catering service that
wasn’t even until her son
Kalinsky and others have
was born that she began
noticed are fairly easy to
to decorate cakes for
guess. clients. In the early `90s,
Th e problem of dietary
Rabbi Marshall Maltzman
restrictions, from nut
at Temple Beth Hillel-
allergies to vegan diets to
Beth El in Wynnewood
gluten issues — alongside
proposed that she ditch
the occupational hazard of
A soup off ering from Betty the Caterer
Courtesy of Betty the Caterer her old model and become
kashrut, of course — has
a kosher caterer. In fact,
come to a position of much
Maltzman allowed her use
greater prominence for kosher caterers in recent years.

of the synagogue kitchen, and asked that she cater his daughter’s
Betty the Caterer, Kalinsky said, has “totally eliminated” the
wedding. presence of nuts in its in-house bakery, and the days of a beef-only
Th at is all a long way of saying: She’s no stranger to the big
slider bar are in the past. Today, alongside beef and chicken options,
change required of a kosher catering company in 2019. One of
vegetarian simcha-goers can expect to fi nd more in the way of
those changes is the somewhat shrunken scale of the meals she’s
portobello mushroom and black bean burgers. And pescatarians
asked to provide.

needn’t feel left out, Kalinsky said. Th ey do salmon, too.

“Today’s generation, they do not want these big, over-the-top
Th e biggest challenges in that arena have come in the form of
meals,” she said.

the gluten-free event, of which Kalinsky is relieved to have only
Rosen stresses that this trend could simply be an idiosyn-
done at a few bar and bat mitzvahs.

crasy of her own clientele. But by and large, she said, her wedding
“It’s not the easiest thing in the world to accomplish, but we did
clients have started to favor, in far greater numbers, casual, relaxed
it,” he said.

food to go along with a casual, relaxed setting. Th is actually plays
Another major shift in menu creation that he’s noticed:
to her strengths as a caterer, Rosen believes; hors d’oeuvres,
12 OCTOBER 24, 2019
SIMCHAS JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



HOT FOOT SHOESS
NAME: HOT FOOT; WIDTH: 21P9; DEPTH: 28P6; COLOR: BLACK PLUS ONE; AD NUMBER:
00086574 Made in Israel
In-Store Boutique
A typical off ering from Kosher Catering Philadelphia
Photo by Daniel Israel
unconventionally arranged in atypical serving surfaces (think
repurposed paper clip holders), are her specialty.

“It is very important to me, always, with anything I did, that
everything had to look as good as it tasted,” Rosen said. “People
eat with their eyes fi rst, and I always wanted it to be really creative,
whatever menu I did.”
Eye-catching as she tries to be, there are also little tricks to use.

Pigs in a blanket — or, in the parlance of kosher caterers, “minia-
ture hot dogs wrapped in puff pastry” — can be presented on a bed
of wheatgrass, for example. It’s not an ostentatious presentation,
but it’s the kind of creativity clients increasingly expect.

Th e “kosher world oft en moves a little bit slower than the
regular world” when it comes to these catering innovations, Rosen
said, but those gaps are closing.

Daniel Israel has owned his catering company, Kosher Catering
Philadelphia, for just three years. But even he’s seen marked
changes in that short period.

Th e Northeast Philadelphia native spent time working at the
now-closed Deux Chemineés when he was still in high school, and
worked as a mashgiach and chef for a few years. In his three years as
the head chef of his catering outfi t, he’s noticed that customers who
may have once shelled out for caterers to come in from Lakewood,
New Jersey and New York are going with more aff ordable options.

Additionally, for events where just a few of the guests keep kosher,
clients seem to increasingly opt for a few sealed kosher meals to be
arranged, rather than an entirely kosher event.

Changes or not, Israel still follows his true north.

“I’m in it to make good food,” he said. ❤
Justa Farm Shopping Center
1966 County Line Rd, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006
215-969-9626 • HOT-FOOT-BOUTIQUE.SHOPTIQUES.COM
NAME: THE WARWICK HOTEL RITTENHOUSE S; WIDTH: 21P9; DEPTH: 28P6; COLOR: BLACK
PLUS ONE; AD NUMBER: 00083468
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