jThg Party's
Jeffrey Rosenberg
recalls his kosher
catering family.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Contributing Writer
the idea of turning the Holiday Manor into
a non-kosher facility, my father thought
about doing it himself, but the Vaad
[Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater
Detroit] talked him out of it.
B
orn into the catering business,
Jeffrey Rosenberg's very first
memory is of sleeping in the
office at his parents' business with his
grandmother, while his parents worked
parties at three different synagogues and
two other venues.
The son and grandson of kosher cater-
ers, Rosenberg, of Farmington Hills,
worked early on with members of his
family at Rosenberg Kosher Catering and
for the last three-and-a-half years at A&J
Kosher Catering with business partner
Chef Al Kovalenko.
As he leaves a lifelong career and a near-
ly 40-year post at Adat Shalom Synagogue
in Farmington Hills — his contract was
not renewed, and he was replaced recently
by Matt Prentice's Milk & Honey Detroit
Inc. — Rosenberg reminisces about
everything from family history to feeding
famous stomachs.
How did your grandmother, the late
Cecil Rosenberg, and your late parents,
Al and Sarah Rosenberg, get started?
My grandmother worked for the first
kosher caterer in Detroit as a cook. In
1946, she opened the family's first kosher
facility on Dexter with my father and
The Rosenberg family at the opening of current Adat Shalom in 1972: Howard,
Grandma Cecil, Al and Sarah, Jeffrey
his youngest brother, my Uncle Bob
Rosenberg. The address was 9925 Dexter;
now I play those numbers in the lottery.
From there they moved to Holiday
Manor on Wyoming. Joe Cornell held his
very first dance class in rented space in
that building and stayed until he moved
into his own studio.
Later my father leased the building to
Sammy Lieberman, who turned it into the
non-kosher, very successful Raleigh House
catering hall. When Sammy came up with
How did your family get involved in
synagogue catering?
When my father was at Holiday Manor,
he cooked there and took food to all dif-
ferent synagogues, like B'nai Moshe and
Shaarey Zedek when they were both in
Detroit. My mother owned a beauty and
nail salon, but left to join forces in the
kitchen with my father and grandmother.
For a short while, the family got out
of catering and my dad worked at a
non-kosher fine dining restaurant, but
he was called by [Congregation] B'nai
David, when it was in Southfield, and he
got back in the business, catering there
from 1968 to 1972. My brother, Howard,
and his wife, Susan, were in college then
at Wayne State and worked as head bar-
tenders there and later at Adat Shalom
where they were known for their spe-
cialty drink, the apricot sour.
My father came to Adat Shalom in
1972, when he was asked to be the caterer
in their new facility in Farmington Hills,
where the synagogue is today. I came
with him and had a roll that lasted for 39
years.
Someone New In The Kitchen
Adat Shalom welcomes kosher caterer Matt Prentice.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Contributing Writer
F
or Matt Prentice, recent Saturday
nights have been spent running
from party to party and back
again — with no end in sight.
But that's a good thing, Prentice said.
Since becoming the exclusive kosher
caterer at Adat Shalom Synagogue,
weekends have become filled with the
back-and-forth drive between there and
Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, where
he is longtime resident caterer. Prentice's
Milk & Honey Detroit Inc. was given a
five-year contract at Adat Shalom, effec-
tive Oct. 21.
Until Prentice came on board, Adat
Shalom's caterers since the synagogue
opened in Farmington Hills in 1972,
included members of the Rosenberg family.
30
December 15 2011
In a letter to Adat Shalom members,
President Julie Teicher and First Vice
President David Sherbin expressed the
synagogue's "great appreciation to the
Rosenberg family — the late Al and the
late Sarah Rosenberg and [their son]
Jeffrey Rosenberg — for dedication and
commitment to the congregation and to
[Jeffrey Rosenberg's business partner]
Al Kovalenko of A&J Kosher Catering for
the past four years of service
Milk & Honey, owned by the Matt
Prentice Restaurant Group, is based at
the Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield. Catering for Adat Shalom
will take place at the synagogue and will
be glatt kosher and supervised by the
Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater
Detroit (Vaad).
"We started there by gutting the
kitchen," Prentice said. "After that, things
went pretty smoothly. We've done seven
or eight parties already."
His menu choices will include both
dairy and meat. The synagogue's cater-
ing director will be Laura Stewart of the
Matt Prentice Restaurant Group.
"The synagogue is beautiful, with a
huge social hall that seats up to 1,000
people," Prentice said. "Because of that,
we can do what most others can't. I
hope to be doing more large community
events in addition to bar and bat mitz-
vahs and weddings."
Feeling very welcomed at the syna-
gogue, Prentice said he looks forward to
"developing lifelong relationships with
the families of Adat Shalom.
"At Temple Israel, I have had the honor
of catering weddings for young men and
women whose bar and bat mitzvahs I
have done he said. "I hope to do the
Matt Prentice
same at Adat Shalom. It is the ultimate
compliment to be asked to be part of the
most important day in a family's life. I
get to do that every weekend, and I don't
take that lightly." II