Orlando—For more than 600 guests from all over the US and elsewhere, the first-ever Passover program at the magnificent Rosen Plaza Hotel was a huge success. For Zayde’s Kosher Catering, it was the best proof that it is poised to become the leading glatt kosher caterer in Central Florida and beyond. The numbers of what it took to produce this remarkable result tell the story: 25,000 kosher meals, 40 staff members, 15 mashgichim and 7 chefs. For Executive Chefs Michael McMullen and Chef Jorge Oliveira, the challenge was to create world-class gourmet meals prepared in accordance with the highest kashrus standards, under the strict rabbinical supervision of both the Rabbinical Council of Florida (RCF) and the Orthodox Union (OU), led by Rabbi Chesky Goldstein. The guests agreed that they exceeded all expectations as had the organizers of the program, Avi and Schneur Faskowitz of Majestic Retreats, experienced organizers of Passover programs for more than a decade.
Harris Rosen, the owner of the Rosen Plaza Hotel and six other hotels in the area bearing his name, left nothing to chance. He invested nearly $2 million in the kosher kitchen for the holiday, part of a $5 million year-round new kosher 5,000-square-ft. operation that goes by the name Zayde’s Kosher Catering, and made sure that celebrated Chef Jorge would come over from Hotel Rosen Shingle Creek to join Chef Michael and five other chefs to create the best in kosher dining over the Passover holiday. The new kosher facility includes completely separate meat and dairy kitchens, a pareve area, an impressive vegetable checking and cleaning area and numerous segregated preparation areas. The Rosen kosher kitchen can easily rank amongst the largest and best-supervised kosher kitchens. Rosen’s investment into kosher comes with the hope that Zayde’s will emerge as one of the nation’s premier catering facilities, certainly in Central Florida with its huge potential for visitors and convention participants at the nearby Orange County Convention Center, which connects to the Rosen Plaza with a bridge.
Schneur Faskowitz, who managed the Majestic program at Rosen while his brother Avi managed Majestic’s other widely acclaimed program in Ft. Lauderdale, was extremely complimentary about the Rosen staff. “They went out of their way to accommodate every nuance that we needed for a superb kosher experience,” he said. Rabbi Goldstein explained that the “koshering operation at the hotel was in itself a huge undertaking but the hotel staff had made it go seamlessly.” Chef Jorge and Chef Michael were already discussing what they would do to enhance the program next year, although for them, there will be plenty of kosher business during the year. Mr. Rosen frequently mingled with guests as he received many accolades about the service at the hotel, including the first-rate kosher program.
Malcolm Hoenlein, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and one of World Jewry’s leading spokesmen, delivered several major addresses during the Passover holiday that shed light on the state of world Jewry and particularly Israel’s standing in a hostile world. Mr. Hoenlein was joined by a group of other prominent scholars-in-residence including Menachem Lubinsky, a leading marketing expert and the recognized authority on the kosher food market. He is an outstanding Jewish leader who is currently leading the efforts to preserve and develop Har Hazeisim in Jerusalem. Other presentations were from Elisheva Wolner, LCSW, a recognized expert in treating children, adolescents and adults with eating disorders and other mental health issues, and Rabbi Ari Lamm, the Resident Scholar at the Jewish Center on the Upper West Side, who delivered several key lectures on the Yom Tov as well as leading Daf Yomi classes.
