Chanukah has many festive foods and symbols that lend themselves to creative interpretation for party fare. If you are hosting a gathering and don’t have the time or know-how to spend hours preparing, let the experts do it for you. We are fortunate to have many excellent sources for kosher catering, and the options for Chanukah get more innovative every year.
Cedar Market, 646 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, makes platters in several holiday themes. Sushi menorahs look good enough to light, or try sushi doughnuts made with your choice of ingredients – they even have a hole in the middle like their bakery cousins. Get a holiday look for your fruit platter. You can’t spin a fruit dreidel, but it makes a lovely, edible centerpiece. The bakery has many flavors of doughnuts, plus menorah and dreidel shaped cookies. To view more platter ideas, visit http://thecedarmarket.com/platters.
Butterflake Bakery, 448 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, is one of the only places in the county that fries doughnuts on the premises. The team will be working day and night to make doughnuts of many sizes and flavors for Chanukah. Go beyond familiar flavors to explore fillings such as caramel, cookies and cream, smores, cotton candy, strawberry shortcake. Or try savory options like pizza flavor. Really get the party started with drunken doughnuts: bourbon/caramel or single malt/chocolate. Butterflake will have already assembled holiday-themed assorted cookie platters on hand to grab and go. If you want a real showstopper, get a gingerbread house in the shape of Jerusalem that can be filled with cookies and jelly doughnuts. And for Shabbat, Butterflake’s piece de resistance is jelly doughnut challah. View the holiday menu and order online: http://www.butterflake.com/holiday_menu/upcoming-holiday-menu-order.html.
Ma’adan, 446 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, has a long tradition of catering parties and lifecycle events. Plan a fleishig event with Ma’adan’s top-quality sliced meats and sandwiches, or make it dairy with fresh sliced nova, casseroles and cheeses. And Ma’adan will be making thousands of latkes as they do every Chanukah. Order online at https://www.maadan.com.
Grand and Essex, 89 New Bridge Road, Bergenfield is amping up its catering menu for Chanukah. Smoked brisket sliders and skewered beef and chicken are new additions to the meat menu. For a dairy party, choose platters of falafel or cheese blintzes. Grand and Essex fries all its latkes in-house. Choose potato, sweet potato or veggie latkes. Gluten-free latkes are also available. Make fresh latkes without all the work – Grand and Essex has latke batter that you can pour and fry yourself. Director of Culinary Operations, Yitzy Elbaum, said there will be a “crazy” variety of doughnuts; some flavors are still in the testing stage. The most popular new flavor is dulce de leche. The bakery will have assortments of pareve cookies, in many sizes and shapes, and pareve cakes in the shape of a menorah or dreidel. Order online at https://www.grandandessex.com.
Other noteworthy offerings: Glatt Express, 1400 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck has a fried chicken and latke special. Zadies Bake Shop, 19-09 Fair Lawn Avenue, Fair Lawn, will have platters of blue and white Chanukah cookies, and will cut up any of your year round favorites on platters. Menagerie, 41 East Palisade Avenue Englewood, will have hand-made latkes along with dairy and fleishig platters.
Last but not least, the well-coordinated hostess will want to go to Coco Jolie, 12 North Dean Street, Englewood, to order platters of chocolates made to match the party’s décor.
By Bracha Schwartz
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