JEWISH
Cultural Revival
.
in Paris and Rome
BY K.L. SHEA
Special to the Jewish News
Looking for some good
KOSHER eats in Europe?
Try the Jewish quarters of Paris and Rome for starters. Pans offers
much more, and it is also advised to make sure any Italian restau-
rants are under rabbinic supervision before dining there.
Nonetheless, here are a few known Italian kosher eateries for travel-
ers:
• Bilk is a kosher take-out market.
• Da Lisa is near the railroad station.
• The Jewish Orphanage is a kosher lunch spot.
A
resurgence of
Jewish culture is
underway in the
ancient Jewish
quarters of Paris and Rome, an
anthropologist said during a recent
Cohn-Haddow lecture at Wayne
State University.
Clockwise
lest
A kosher bakery
in Rome's Jewish
ghetto attracts
many tourists.
A
This street corner
is adjacent to the
great Temple in
Rome's Jewish
Ghetto.
Rue des Rosiers,
in the Marais
neigh borhood,
is home to
many kosher
restaurants.
As expected, choices are much greater in Paris. The small Jewish
quarter of Paris is home to hundreds of kosher and Jewish-style restau-
rants. As Ben Frank said in his Travel Guide To Jewish Europe, "one
place to meet Jews (in Paris) is in restaurants and cafes."
"The traveler seeking kosher cuisine does not have to be wary about
finding it in Paris, where there may be more kosher facilities than in
New York, Chicago and Los Angeles combined," Frank writes.
Among the favorite kosher delicacies: French, Eastern Europe
and North African cuisine. The single most popular tourist attrac-
tion — Jo Goldenberg's — which has been around for more than
80 years, ironically is not kosher, but kosher style. It is a place to
be seen, as well as a place with a long, and not always nice, history.
Joelle Bahloul, an anthropologist from Indiana University who is
researching the Jewish quarters of Paris and Rome, pointed out that
Goldenberg's — victim of a 1982 terrorist attack — is still as popu-
lar as ever. It is the perfect spot for those who are not kosher and
enjoy Jewish-style:
• Pastrami
• Corned beef
• Pickled fleisch
• Borsch
• Schmaltz herring
• Pickled flanken
• Chopped liver
• Hungarian goulash
• Pojarski
Among the names
of other restaurants are
Kosher pizza, Le
Mazel-Tov, Mickey's
glatt kosher deli and
Yashalom, also glatt
kosher. There also is a
Chinese kosher restau-
rant called Le Lotus de
Nissan, which serves
up fried wonton, chop
suet', spring rolls, duck
and beef dishes. (This
place even delivers
right to travelers' hotel
rooms!)