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page 43

WAMIWEg

Choices are aplenty
for metro kosher
restaurant patrons.

Paul Kohn in the
La Difference dining room.

Alan Linker in the new Sperbers Gourmet Delights carryout.

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Where do the Detroit
Jewish community's
kosher restaurants stand
as they grow in number
and spread west?

Related stories: pages 39, 41

SHELLI DORFMAN
Staff Writer

E.

or a community histori-
cally lacking in kosher
dining spots, a new
casual restaurant/carry-
out opening this week brings the
total to a healthy six.
The current restaurants are La
Difference, Taste of Class, Sperbers
Gourmet Delights, Unique Kosher
Carry Out, Jerusalem Pizza and
New York Pizza World. La
Difference is the only fine-dining ,
restaurant.

"For a long time, we had a
grand total of one option — Sara's
Glatt Kosher in Oak Park," said
Rabbi Joseph Krupnik, kashrut
director for the Southfield-based
Va'ad Harabonim — Council of
Orthodox Rabbis of Greater
Detroit. 3,
"Places opened and closed,
opened and closed," Rabbi
Krupnik said, during his eight
years with the Va'ad. He said some
of the success of the current opera-
tors is their food-service back-
ground. A major change from the
past is that "now nearly all the

players involved have a
based in food," with experience in
the kitchen as well as reputations
in the community.
Paul Kohn of La Difference and
Alan Linker of Sperbers Gourmet
Delights already were kosher cater-
ers before entering the restaurant
business. Aryeh Sharon owned a
bakery in Israel before opening
Jerusalem Pizza in Southfield. And
Leo Mertz, owner of New York
Pizza World and Bagels Plus, once
owned Mertz's Bakery and Cafe
Katon, a kosher pizza restaurant.
Louis Stern once owned the

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