We surmise from the question that it comes from someone unfamiliar with kosher
restaurants, and perhaps with "Jewish" food in general. For that individual, the
process would be identical to the experience of visiting any other ethnic restaurant
with which he may be unfamiliar, and might go something like this:
-- Enter the establishment. If it's a walk-in, working-class establishment, look around,
decide where you'd like to sit, and do so. If it's a high-class joint, smile and greet the
greeter, and give your name if you have a reservation.
-- Read the menu. The restaurant may be located in an enclave where the ethnic
population is so dense that its business rests almost exclusively on the Jewish
market. Their menu may be no more than a list of titles, naming dishes that the
typical customer will know very well, and conceivably printed in a foreign script.
This is everything you're worried about. It's obviously your worst nightmare, and
the odds of walking into a situation like this are nearly zero. Besides, if you did, you
certainly would not be there alone ... you'd be there with a buddy who could walk you
through it.
It's much more likely that the restaurant caters to the general public, including non-
as well as Jewish, offering its Jewish clientele kosher versions of dishes that are
popular in the local world at large but which they can't walk in and order anywhere
else. The menu is in English, and each item on it ... especially the ones with a Jewish
traditional title ... is accompanied by a brief description of what's in it and what it's
all about.
If your choice isn't immediately obvious, or you can't narrow it down to less than two
or three, or you see an item that especially intrigues you because you have no clue
as to what it's talking about, then help is never more than a table away in a kosher
Jewish restaurant. Ask the customer at the next table, or ask anybody who works there,
and you will have more help than you can handle.
Finally, you don't want to embarass yourself by trying to order something that's
not kosher, or by accidentally revealing the fact that you don't uderstand kosher
altogether. Right ?
You do not have a problem! First of all, there are plenty of Jews who don't
understand kosher altogether either. In the current situation, it is not a liability.
It's an asset, and you should use it that way. Try to come off as something you're
not, and you will fail and embarass yourself. Go in proudly and unabashedly as
a person who has no idea what kosher means but expects a great meal, and
the treatment you get will fall somewhere between celebrity and royalty. The
only things you really should know about "kosher" before you go in are these:
-- Some meats will not be available. Those that are offered will be in the group of
beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, or bison ... maybe not all of these, but for sure no others.
In particular, no pork products will be available. But you knew that.
-- Your choices of 'seafood' will be similarly limited. Perhaps the best way to describe
it is to say that any fish available will be a fish that looks like a fish; they won't include
anything with shells or claws.
-- If your order centers around a meat item, then you shouldn't expect to also have
something that involves milk ... cheese, cream in your coffee, etc. Conversely, if your
order centers around an item that contains milk, then you should expect to conclude
your meal without meat. Depending on the individual restaurant, it's possible that
meat items and milk items might not even be available in the same seating area,
or in the same room.
In your question, you asked what I would order. Personally, in the place where
my son works the counter, I would order either the Italian beef sandwich or
the barbecued rib-eye with steamed vegetables. This is the one decision that
nobody can help you with. Today's Jews come from nearly 140 different countries,
and have brought with them the cuisine and flavor of every one. There are plenty
of Jews for whom the flavor and 'style' in which other Jews cook and eat is unpleasant.
All we can recommend is: Read the menu, ask for suggestions, and enjoy.
If you mean Chapel Hill, there are no kosher restaurants there. There is a kosher cafeteria at Duke, and a kosher restaurant in Wilmington.
A kosher restaurant is laid out the same way as a non-kosher restaurant. The key difference (aside from being kosher) is that kosher restaurants serve either meat OR dairy, never both.
There are several kosher resaurants in Pasedena, CA. The closest five are "Doggie Kosher", "Cafe O Hookah Lounge & Restaurant", "Got Kosher?", "Shilo's Kosher Restaurant", and "Golan Kosher Restaurant".
It's an Italian restaurant that observes ALL kosher dietary laws.
if you mean Chapel Hill, the answer is "none". There is a kosher restaurant in Wilmington, and a kosher dining hall in Durham, but nothing in Chapel Hill.
That is an accepted practice for a kosher restaurant. Normally, the restaurant is 'owned' by a gentile employee over Shabbat and the takings for that day go toward their salary.
There is no prohibition against eating in a restaurant during Shabbat. Shabbat and kashrut observant Jews would require that the restaurant be kosher. To get around the issue of not being able to handle money during Shabbat, kosher restaurants will pre-sell meals. Additionally, the restaurant would have to be within walking distance.
Fine and schapiro
I live near a kosher deli that's open on Saturday and closed on Sunday. I don't know about selling and buying back, but you can call the restaurant to ask about it. __________ That is an accepted practice for a kosher restaurant. Normally, the restaurant is 'owned' by a gentile employee over Shabbat and the takings for that day go toward their salary.
When I am hungry
In order to make kosher gourmet bread, all of the ingredients would have to be certified kosher and the bread itself must be prepared in a kosher kitchen following the laws of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws).
Most kosher restaurants are delicatessens. Yours could be the Xenu Deli.