FOR most Jews, Passover is not only a symbolic remembrance of the their exodus from Egypt accompanied by four glasses of wine and a weeklong carb-freeze, but also a return to traditional foods of the old country: chopped liver, matzo ball soup and braised brisket.
This year, though, the seder is going south of the border: Chefs at three of the city’s best Mexican restaurants – Toloache, Dos Caminos and Rosa Mexicano – are simmering pots of jalapeno-infused chicken broth, braising brisket with chipotles and roasting chicken livers with ancho chiles.
For Meghan Young, chef at Dos Caminos Soho, a chili-infused Passover menu was a no-brainer. “We do special menus on holidays like Christmas, so why not add Passover?” she says. “There’s a large community of Orthodox Jews in Mexico City and Guadalajara, and New York has a large Jewish population too, so it makes sense. Despite the [ingredient] limitations, this is a holiday where a lot of eating goes on.”
Young’s menu twists traditional dishes into a Mexican framework: Wild mushroom matzo ball soup is infused with Cascabel chiles, epazote and oyster mushrooms ($8); sopes (thick tortillas) are made from matzo meal and topped with spicy chicken liver paté; and brisket is braised in ancho chiles and served with sweet potato kugel and braised leeks ($21).
“It’s not quite your Bubby’s cooking, but I still do it like they do in Jewish home,” she says.
And she should know. Prior to taking the job at Dos Caminos, Young was the “shiksa chef” at Park East Grill, a Glatt kosher restaurant (now closed) on the Upper East Side.
While this is Dos Caminos’ first year on the Mexican Passover conga line, Rosa Mexicano has been celebrating Passover for the past seven years, thanks to Lila Lomeli, a Lithuanian Jew born in Mexico who co-wrote the first Rosa Mexicano cookbook.
“It was her influence that led to the Passover specials, and some of the recipes were inspired by her family seder,” explains chef Joe Quintana of Rosa Mexicano Lincoln Center. “The menu has evolved over the years, but we still serve her tropical haroset and her matzo ball soup. It was one of her original recipes.”
Over at Toloache in the Theater District, chef Julian Medina rolls tortillas from matzo “masa,” not only as a nod to the expansive Jewish population in his birthplace of Mexico City, but to honor his conversion to Judaism after marrying his wife, Annie. Like any mensch, soon after the wedding, he got into the kitchen and learned a thing or two about traditional Jewish cooking. “I always help my mother-in-law with the cooking, and I thought it would be nice to celebrate the holiday at the restaurant, too,” says Medina.
“It’s been very popular. I think people get bored just eating matzo after three nights.”
He also (wisely) realized people might be bored with drinking Manischewitz.
This year he’s featuring a variety of kosher wines and kosher tequila, which he’ll use to make prickly pear, lime and agave margaritas ($10 each).
Once you substitute the four cups of wine with four shots of tequila, you’ll be parting the Red Sea for unorthodox seders to come.
A Taste of What’s Cookin’ – Kosher Caliente Style:
Dos Caminos, April 8-11
825 Third Ave., at 50th St.; 212-336-5400; 373 Park Ave. South, between 26th and 27th streets; 212-294-1000; 475 W. Broadway, at Houston St.; 212-277-4300
Wild mushroom matzo ball soup with Cascabel chiles, epazote and oyster mushrooms ($8)
Chicken liver sopes with spicy chipotle chicken liver paté, matzo sope and watercress ($10)
Ancho braised brisket with sweet potato kugel and braised leeks ($21)
Toloache, April 8-15
251 W. 50th St., between Eighth Avenue and Broadway; 212-581-1818
Matzo ball soup with epazote and jalapeÑo-scented chicken consommé ($10)
Matzo Tostadas “Yucatan” filled with smoked white fish and horseradish ($12)
Tacos de Brisket with chipotle salsa ($13)
Rosa Mexicano, April 8-15
9 E. 18th St., between Fifth Avenue and Broadway; 212-533-3350; 1063 First Ave., at 58th St.; 212-753-7407; 61 Columbus Ave., at 61st St.; 212-977-7700
Tropical haroset with pears, apples, bananas, dates, almonds, cinnamon and sweet wine ($7)
Caldo de Pollo con Bolitas (Mexican matzo ball soup) made from roasted jalapeÑo chicken broth with cilantro matzo balls, carrots and black garbanzo beans ($8.50)
Higadito de Pollo para tacos with chipotle chopped liver with egg, tempura scallions, chicken chicharrones and tomatillo-avocado sauce, served with warm corn tortillas to make your own tacos ($11)
Robalo Relleno: baked stuffed sea bass with zucchinis and roasted pecans, served with pureéd pumpkin and prunes and spinach-potato kugel “izmir style” ($24)
Pastel de Dátil: warm pecan, date and bittersweet chocolate flourless cake, served with piloncillo butter sauce and orange whipped créme fraiche ($9)
Rosa Mexicano Union Square will also hold a Mexican Passover cooking class next Saturday at 10 a.m. – $35 per person, including tax and tip. For reservations call 212-397-0666, ext. 27