JetBlue & EL AL Announce U.S. – Israel Interline Partnership

Hey guys, I just saw the following announcement online, and I was super thrilled! So, whatever your thoughts on JetBlue or EL AL, you can’t deny that this is extremely convenient, especially for those Americans who find that in order to get to Israel they had to fly to New York anyways. Now, it’s all in one built in cost, one ticket, one purchase, and you don’t have to transfer your baggage. I highlighted some key points below in italics.

Please comment below and let us know what your take is on this? Will you benefit from this agreement?
~Dani

JetBlue Airways, which has a great flight map throughout the American Northeast & West Coast, and Israel’s national airline, EL AL, announced today that they intend to sign an interline agreement, providing new and convenient connecting options for both EL AL and JetBlue customers wishing to travel between the U.S. and Israel. Beginning in September, customers will be able to purchase a single ticket for travel on flights of both carriers in one simple transaction, and enjoy seamless connecting service to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport from most JetBlue cities via New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

New York’s JFK Airport is EL AL’s leading gateway into the United States, with as many as three daily flights to/from Tel Aviv, and is also JetBlue’s main hub with service to 50+ cities across the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. JetBlue is the #1 domestic airline at JFK, carrying more travelers to this key global hub than any other airline.

Customers traveling on the two carriers will enjoy the convenience of purchasing and traveling on a single e-ticket. In addition, on the day of travel, customers will benefit from simplified one-stop, through check-in and easy connections at JFK Airport. Customers will receive boarding cards for both carriers’ flights upon check-in with either JetBlue or EL AL and their baggage will be checked to their final destination.

From: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jetblue-airways-and-el-al-israel-airlines-announce-interline-agreement-to-connect-customers-between-us-and-israel-99014739.html

Tags: boston, buffalo, burlington, chicago, denver, el al, Israel, jet blue, jewish travel to israel, los angeles, miami, New York, orlando, Puerto Rico, rochester, salt lake city, Seattle, syracuse, tel aviv, travel to israel, washington dc

9 Days Menus

As we know, eating meat is considered festive and therefore forbidden (without a siyum) during the 9 days. Thus, many meat restaurants have created special pareve (non meat or dairy) menus to stay open during the 9 Days. To learn more about why we don’t eat meat (or drink wine) during the Nine Days, click here. (Thank you to Great Kosher Restaurants for compiling this list)

Be aware that most of the links below will open PDF files.

(UPDATE: See the comments section below for more restaurants, please comment if you have restaurants to add)

NEW YORK

MANHATTAN

• Eden Wok- Nine Days Menu
• Eighteen Restaurant- Nine Days Menu
• Le Marais- Nine Days Menu
• Mike’s Bistro- Nine Days Menu
• Mr. Broadway- Nine Days Menu
• Talia’s Steakhouse- Nine Days Menu
• Wolf & Lamb- Nine Days Menu
• Chop Chop- Nine Days Menu

BROOKLYN

• Back to Nature- Nine Days Menu
• Carlos & Gabby’s will be closed during the 9 Days and will reopen on Wed., July 21st at 1pm
• China Glatt- Nine Days Special (Buy one sushi, get one free – Note they will be closed Sun, Mon & Tues of next week)
• Dougie’s BBQ- Open with pareve dishes
• Estihana- Open with a pareve menu
• Glatt A La Carte- Nine Days Menu
• M Restaurant- Nine Days Menu
• Orchedia- lunch buffet for $20 is available during the 9 Days

LONG ISLAND

• Chosen Island- Nine Days Menu

NEW ROCHELLE

• Eden Wok- Nine Days Menu

NEW JERSEY

• Fish of the C’s (Teaneck) – Nine Days Menu
• Fumio Sushi & Steakhouse (Livingston)- Nine Days Menu
• Smokey Joe’s BBQ (Teaneck)- will be open Sunday July 18th with a special 9 days menu. Smokey Joe’s will be closed Mon, July 12 through Thursday July 15.
• The Pasta Factory (Teaneck)(soon to be Nobo Wine & Grill)- Nine Days Menu
• The Reserve (Lakewood)- Nine Days Menu

PHILADELPHIA, PA

• Max & David’s will be open with plenty of fish and vegetarian options

MIAMI BEACH, FL

• Rare Steakhouse will be open for the Nine Days, featuring their full line of sushi as well as several daily fish specials

SKOKIE, IL

• Slice of Life has a Full Dairy, Fish and Vegetarian Menu available, with all Three Dining Rooms will Open for Seating to Accommodate Any Size Group

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA

• The Kitchen Table- Nine Days Lunch Menu | Dinner Menu

MONTREAL, QC

• El Morocco & Morty’s Steakhouse will be open during the Nine Days and feature an extensive Fish and Mock Seafood menu.
• Ernie & Ellie- Nine Days Menu

Tags: 9 days, 9 days ny, fast days, jewish nine 9 days, kosher 9 days menu, kosher travel, miami, Montreal, New York, nine days, nine days menu, nj, philly, tisha bav

Kosher Dunkin’ Donuts across the U.S.

As today is Donut Day, what better day to announce a comprehensive list (if we missed anything please let us know) of all the Kosher Dunkin’ Donuts in the U.S. Keep in mind that each chain may have varying levels of kosher supervision.

I am lucky enough that walking distance from my house, and right next to the train station is a Kosher Dunkin’ Donuts.

• 687 Amsterdam (W. 94th) New York, NY
• 51 East 34th Street, New York, NY
• 535 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY
• 1980 86th St, Brooklyn, NY
• 1691 East 16th Street, Brooklyn, NY
• 934 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, NY
• 1903 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, NY
• 1922 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
• 906 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
• 995 Manor Road, Staten Island, NY
• 120 E Sunrise Hwy, Valley Stream, NY
• 299 Burnside Avenue, Lawrence, NY
• 31 Franklin Avenue, Hewlett, NY
• 25170 Greenfield Road, Oak Park, MI
• 3132 West Devon Avenue, Chicago, IL
• 3900 West Dempster Street, Skokie, IL‎
• 186 Elmora Ave., Elizabeth, NJ
• 7 Broad St., Elizabeth, NJ
• 139 ½ Ferry St., Newark, NJ
• 920 Newark Ave, Elizabeth, NJ
• 350 Broad St., Newark, NJ
• 624 Bayway Ave., Elizabeth, NJ
• 275 Chestnut St., Newark, NJ
• 1406 Teaneck Ave., Teaneck, NJ
• 51-57 South Spring St., Elizabeth, NJ
• 433 N Broad ST, 2nd floor, Elizabeth, NJ
• 341 West 41st Street, Miami Beach, FL
• 5819 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA
• 2006 Viers Mill Rd, SIlver Spring, MD
• 7000 Reisterstown Rd., Baltimore, MD

Tags: dunkin' donuts, Kosher, kosher dd, kosher dunkin donuts, kosher travel

CHARITY: America Eats for Israel — 5/13/10 (Today)

America Eats for Israel is a Tzedakah (Charity) campaign where 10% of all proceedes will go directly to the Meir Panim organization, a soup kitchen in Israel.

Meir Panim was established to offer a realistic solution to the growing poverty crisis in Israel that affects over one and a half million people across the country. Meir Panim’s unwavering commitment to the people of Israel has helped bring lasting relief to the poor, encouragement for the less fortunate, new opportunities for struggling families, and hope for children-at-risk.

Meir Panim’s food and social service programs help to alleviate the harmful of poverty in the short-term and provide long-term, proactive solutions to assist needy Israelis to break out of the cycle of poverty and become active, self-sufficient members of Israeli society.

America Eats for Israel is a project run by High School Students to raise money for tzedakah.

By eating at any of the participating restaurants below TODAY, you will help the poor and hungry in Israel. 10% of your meal will go to Meir Panim.

Participating Restaurants:

New York
Washington Heights:

Golan Heights

Riverdale:

Ginger Grill

Flatbush:

Sasson Grill

Cafe 16

Pizza Time

New Jersey
Teaneck:

EJ’s

Chickie’s

Poppie’s

Mocca Bleu

Smokey Joe’s BBQ Steakhouse

ETC Steakhouse

Highland Park:

Park Place

Jerusalem Pizza

Springfield:

Bagel Supreme

Livingston:

Jerusalem Pizza

Super Duper Bagels

Please let us know if you took advantage of this. Please pass this along and click “Like” at the top of this page so you can share this post with your friends.

Tags: america eats for israel, charity, meir panim, poor, poor in israel, poverty, poverty in israel, tzedakah

Kosher on Campus: Cornell University

Students at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, whose undergraduate population of 13,000 is 20 percent Jewish, are lucky to have plenty of Kosher options right on campus.

The main kosher dining hall, 104West!, is run by Cornell Dining and supervised by the Orthodox Union. It is located on Cornell’s west campus, adjacent to the Cornell Center for Jewish Living. Because of its integration with Cornell Dining, students need not purchase a separate, more expensive Kosher plan: A meal at 104West! costs one meal swipe, just like every other all-you-can-eat dining hall. 104West!, which serves both dairy and meat meals, is open for lunch and dinner every day, and offers daily soup, salad bar, and deserts, in addition to whatever the hot option is that day. Students also have the option of ordering custom specialties from the grill, which include omelettes, quesadillas, and pad thai. 104West! provides catering services, allowing students to buy Kosher food for outside events—Pizza, deli, and even Shabbat meals!

For freshman who live on North Campus, which is approximately a 12 minute walk from 104West!, there exists a more conveniently located Kosher option. North Star, an all-you-can-eat facility in North Campus’ Appel Commons, features a kosher station supervised by a mashgiach. Besides for such classics as deli sandwiches, hot dogs, and matzoh ball soup, the station also provides fresh hot food, brought from the kosher kitchen at 104West!

When on the go, Cornellians have the option to pick up Kosher, prepackaged deli sandwiches from many restaurants and shops around campus. The Noyes convenience store offer kosher staples such as frozen pizza bagels, lox, deli meats, and more. And for those students adventurous enough to venture into Ithaca, the supermarket Wegmans’ maintains well-stocked kosher meat and dairy sections.

Tags: cornell university, ithaca, jewish cornell, kosher cornell, Kosher on Campus, kosher travel, ny, western ny

✈ Adirondacks Mountains, NY, Burlington & Stowe, VT

Contributed by: Aaron Steinberg | Last Date of Travel: August 2008

Kosher Info:

There was not a lot of Kosher food to be found in either of these destinations. Our plan was to camp out for two nights in the Adirondacks (upstate NY), then drive to Vermont and spend two nights in a resort hotel.

We packed most of our food with us from New York. We brought your normal camping food (burgers, bread, peanut butter, veggies, condiments, eggs, snacks, trail mix, and more) with us in a cooler and grocery bags. Kosher camping is so simple and fun, and I truly recommend it for anyone who is considering.

We lived pretty simply for those days, and our only treat was when we went to Lake Placid, NY (site of both the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics). This quiet town has a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop, and a Starbucks.

After two days of eating like this, we needed some sort of break. Driving into Vermont, we went to the one Kosher establishment we could find (aside from home hospitality in Chabad): Shaws Supermarket (570 Shelburne Rd. Burlington, VT 05401). What we found there was frozen delicacies like pizza and knishes. With our trusty sandwich maker, we were prepared to turn our 4-star hotel room into a gourmet kitchen.

The final Kosher treat of our trip was the Ben and Jerry’s Factory Tour. While the tour is more than it’s hyped up to be, there’s nothing like driving 8 hours to wait in a longer than usual line to buy some Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.

This trip reminded us that sometimes Kosher traveling isn’t about planning a trip around OU establishments, and is rather a challenge to go anywhere and make it work your own way.

Tourist Info:

We left New York, and drove about 8 hours north into the Adirondack Mountains. We headed straight to the campsite we had reserved, and rushed to setup our tent before night fell.

We spent the next day really enjoying Lake Placid which is really an amazing little town. It has the feel of a hippie college town with just a bit too much tourist influence. There is beautiful nature everywhere, with great lakes and places to bike/hike around. It also has some amazing Olympics-related experiences including a dry-run of an Olympic Bobsled track (a bit pricey), rifle shooting on the actual Bi-athlon range (totally worth the $10-$15), and bunch of other Olympic venues such as Ice Rinks, the Ski Jump and much more. We were actually able to check out a womens “Pro” hockey game for $6 while we were there.

After sleeping another night at the camp site, we drove a few miles north and caught a ferry across Lake Champlain over to Burlington, VT. The ferry ride was a fun 45 minutes or so, but it was a bit too cold to sit outside and really enjoy the ride. After arriving in Vermont, we headed over to the Kosher aisle of the Shaws.

For the final leg of our trip we drove to Stowe, VT (Ski country during the winter) and stayed at Stoweflake, which is an amazing resort spa. We just chilled out and enjoyed the beautiful room, wonderful grounds, and nice spa treatments.

We checked out some of the local sights which included some small unique stores in Stowe itself, and of course the Ben & Jerry’s Factory tour. Warning: If your goal in traveling to the Adirondacks/Vermont is to avoid Jews (as ours was) this will ruin everything – the place is packed with frum Jews of all flavors. It was still worth visiting, although the tour is pretty meager.

The drive back from Vermont through Massachussets to New York is beautiful, and the most amazing landscape I have ever driven through can be found in southern Vermont. This is definitely a great destination for people who can appreciate nature.

Tags: adirondacks, burlington, jewish travel, kosher travel, stowe, upstate NY, Vermont, vt

✈ New York, NY

Contributed by Rachael Abrams | Last Date of Travel: January 2010

As a native-Texan I’m used to average Kosher restaurants, a small close-knit Jewish community and the passion to travel outside of Dallas to see other cities. New York is probably my favorite city to visit, not just for it’s liveliness nor it’s real winter weather—because of the incredibly diverse array of Kosher food.

I just returned from a very quick visit. Three nights in the Big Apple felt like a week simply because of all the food I ate. I feel like the city consumed me… literally.

My tasty travels began with delicious Chinese food, something my native Dallas lacks. EstiHana is an Asian restaurant situated in a lovely area close to the renown Natural History Museum on the Upper West Side. The atmosphere was very nice with couples on (what looked like) first dates—I was glad I dressed up that evening. I ordered a steamed chicken dish and shared a bowl of udon noodle soup (with beef). There’s sushi on the menu and other delectable entrees to satisfy ones Asian food craving. Although I walked out with a dent in my pocket, the food was well worth the damage. I was able to take a subway close to where the restaurant was located, which is an easy and inexpensive option for travelers.

The next day, after a lot of walking allover the Upper East Side, I landed in Times Square where tourists and gigantic advertisements can be found. Right off of Broadway, I dined at Schnitzel Express for lunch, where I ate a delicious Oriental Schnitzel sandwich. It was so good that right before I left for Dallas, I grabbed one to-go for the plane ride. For fast-food atmosphere, the food is perfect for a quick lunch.

New York impresses me with each visit for it’s incredible kosher food everywhere. If you are Jewish, New York is the place to be. It’s even written on the buildings with names like “Schwartz” and “Greenberg” stamped on the outside of both small and large businesses. After Shabbat, I dined with some friends at Clubhouse Cafe (right off of Times Square), which is a trendy American restaurant where you’ll find soft lighting, sliders, wings and delicious hamburgers. This is the perfect New York restaurant if you are willing to spend a few bucks.

My experience in New York was quite flavorful with incredible restaurants for my picky palette. Just in case you visit in the winter—bring walking shoes, gloves, and a hat. If you forget, you can purchase some warm weather gear at a stand…just about anywhere.

You can read about my posts on YeahThatsKosher here: http://yeahthatskosher.com/author/Rabrams

—

Editor’s Note (from Dani Klein): for more info on New York, check out our post on NYC by clicking here.

Recommendation: for New Yorkers and tourists visiting NYC, we highly recommend using the Not For Tourists guidebooks and web resources: www.notfortourists.com/NewYork.aspx

Tags: estihana, jewish travel, kosher new york, kosher travel, Manhattan, natural history museum, New York, NFT, not for tourists, ny, nyc, schnitzel express, times square, tourist, upper east side

New York, NY >> Focus on Wolf & Lamb Steakhouse

Wolf & Lamb Steakhouse is a classy kosher meat restaurant in the Diamond District of Midtown Manhattan. They have delicious steaks, tantalizing burgers, and other unique dishes to make your mouth salivate.

Dani Klein from http://yeahthatskosher.com checks out kosher restaurants for Jewish Travel TV.

Look out for more videos at Jewish Travel TV: http://JewishTravelTV.com

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Tags: Jewish, jewish ny, jewish travel, Jewish Travel TV, kosher food, kosher meat ny, kosher ny, kosher restaurant, kosher travel, kosher tv, New York, new york city, ny, nyc, travel video, wolf & lamb, wolf and lamb