February 20, 2025

Linking Northern and Central NJ, Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester and CT

KFWE 2025 Brings the Industry Together With Bold Wines, Unforgettable Bites

The Kosher Food & Wine Experience (KFWE) continued its new phase on Monday, Feb. 10. This year’s event was not open to the public and was the second year as such, even though the demand for tickets in the past has been through the roof.

It’s been a chaotic few cycles for one of the marquee events on the kosher calendar. KFWE was canceled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 version was held in the ballroom at the Hilton Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and had limited tickets available and a slightly scaled-down format. That left a real appetite for KFWE 2023, and the event returned to its usual home of Chelsea Piers in Manhattan to massive crowds last year.

However, it seems that the proprietors (Royal Wine Corp) wanted to bring the focus of the event back to the wines and the industry itself. They decided to return to the Hilton Meadowlands in 2024 and 2025 and allow only those in the trade itself (and the media) to attend. Who knows what the plan is for KFWE 2026, but the anticipation for the affair has likely already begun and the demand will surely be through the roof.

With that said, even those in the industry can’t drink on empty stomachs. So if you weren’t allowed in the door, here’s a rundown of some of the best bites from KFWE 2024.

  1. Gnocchi With Tomato Sauce: Tuscanini Italian Foods (Bayonne, New Jersey)

These gnocchi didn’t look like much, but they were actually quite good if you gave them a chance. I guess they were living up to their brand name as Tuscanini has been expanding more and more in recent years due to the popularity of the Italian kosher brand owned by Kayco.

Shani Seidman, chief marketing officer for Kayco said the gnocchi were “a great way to elevate your dinner game.” Sounds about right. Unless you plan on making your own gnocchi (nobody is going to stop you), these might be a great way to fool people into thinking they are in the presence of a great chef.

Gnocchi with tomato sauce

All Tuscanini products are made in Italy and say so on the packaging. It’s one way that the brand tries to indicate to their customers that the contents are of premium quality, a tough thing to find in the kosher world.

That quality has led to Tuscanini products being carried in many non-kosher supermarkets. Look for them on the shelves the next time you go.

  1. Tuna Filet: The Fisherman’s Plank (Toms River, New Jersey)

The most mysterious provider of food or beverage in the ballroom was clearly The Fisherman’s Plank. The fish was always stocked, there were three different types (tuna, salmon and turbot), and the plating was simple. But the result was roundly positive from the crowd.

All I can tell you about The Fisherman’s Plank is that it’s a WhatsApp business based out of Toms River. You can look through the profile and see any number of potential platters with prices that seem quite reasonable for the quality of fish they are providing.

I can’t say what made them join the food offerings of the show, but that’s mostly because they didn’t have a brand ambassador on hand to talk to. What I can tell you is that the fish was delicious and they’d like to hear from you at (973) 378-1311.

If you find anything out about the company, let me know?

  1. Chocolate Rugelach: Manischewitz (Newark, New Jersey)

The last thing I thought I’d be writing about are frozen rugelach. That’s right … frozen.

But let’s back up.

Manischewitz had a bunch of products on display (including a cart with their new line of hot dogs, which were better than expected) at KFWE. Yet somehow, the thing that people were talking about were these rugelach. They look and taste like a great pastry you might buy in any local bakery—well, I guess the size and shape might be a bit more consistent—and they were served warm to the crowd at KFWE.

Chocolate rugelach

The surprise came in that they weren’t some fancy brand, rather they were a new product that Manischewitz was putting out as part of their great rebranding effort. Not only that, but the fact that these warm, soft, chocolatey cookies were frozen 15 minutes ago? It was pretty impressive.

Apparently, popping a batch of these into your oven will cause your whole house to smell like a bakery in just 10 minutes. So I guess that’s a pretty great benefit to buying them. They should be available at most kosher supermarkets near you.

  1. Falafel in Pita: Ha’misada (Howell, New Jersey)

This booth harkened people back to the days of KFWE’s past as this was a formal restaurant booth like you would have seen five years ago. The big difference was that it was self-serve, something that would never work with the amount of patrons who used to attend this event in years past.

Falafel in pita

There was a full falafel station with the works. Freshly toasted pita, a fried falafel, Israeli salad, pickles, pink slaw, hummus, tehina and even some good old Israeli charif.

This came courtesy of Ha’misada, a family-owned Israeli family restaurant in Howell, just outside of Lakewood. As the event was split up into two rooms with the Israeli wines on one side, Ma’misada had the Israeli room all to themselves. In fact, representation of Israeli food was the whole reason they were there.

“They wanted to have some Israeli food to go along with the wine,” said Motty Tessler of Ha’misada. “We were happy to say yes and we are happy to bring really authentic Israeli food to the Lakewood area today and for the past three years.”

  1. Asian Chicken Skewer: West Wing (Woodmere, New York)

Unless you live in the Five Towns, you might be confused to see the name “West Wing” in this space. Yes, their space burned down some time ago. But if you thought that was going to stop them, you were wrong.

“We were doing catering even before we opened the original location in the Five Towns,” said Mimi Levy, manager of everything West Wing. “After the fire, we put effort into increasing the catering branch of our business and we thought KFWE would be a good place to show that to everybody.”

Asian chicken skewers

West Wing brought a plethora of different items, but the highlight for me was the Asian Chicken Skewer. The simple chunks of dark meat chicken were marinated in a hoisin ginger sauce that really made for a nice kick.

If you’re looking to find West Wing, you’re in luck. Their new location in Flatbush should be open shortly and they plan on reopening in the Five Towns later in 2025.


Nati Burnside is a freelance writer living in Fair Lawn and is a man of many interests. He can be reached at [email protected].

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