This Morris Pizza is Slice of Kosher Life

ROCKAWAY, NJ — Sharon Strauzer devoured two slices of Carmel Kosher Pizza & Falafel’s classic cheese and tomato sauce and pizza with mushrooms.
The verdict?

“Wonderful!” she said.

After lunch, her husband, Marvin, surveyed the menu, trying to decide what he’d have for dinner the following night.

“I come through here on my way home,” he said, “and so tomorrow I think I’m going to try — well, I shouldn’t say this in front of my wife because she watches my diet — but tomorrow I think I’m probably going to have lasagna.”

The Strauzers were among dozens who attended the grand opening of Carmel Kosher Pizza & Falafel at 350 Route 46 in Boro Plaza on Sunday afternoon — and raved about its offerings.

It is Morris County’s first kosher pizzeria, said Rabbi Asher Herson, regional director of the Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey.

Yahav and Jenny Amrani of Rockaway Township are the pizzeria’s proprietors. The store will be under the kosher supervision of the Vaad of Metrowest, a rabbinical agency primarily serving Essex County, in cooperation with the Chabad Center of Northwest New Jersey.

“Keeping kosher is a profound spiritual experience which has been observed for thousands of years since the time of the Bible, although adhering to its tenets requires discipline — especially in areas without viable kosher establishments,” said Herson.

“The opening of this store is a tremendous breakthrough, which will allow kosher consumers to satisfy their dietary requirements,” he said.

“In addition, the larger community now will have an opportunity to experience culinary delights heretofore unavailable in Morris County.”

Italian, Middle Eastern

The establishment offers Italian, Middle Eastern, and vegetarian dishes. Besides pizza, there are several calzones, salads, soups, pastas, couscous, bourekas, fish, sandwiches and wraps. Desserts include cheesecake, chocolate cake and apple pie, with more offerings to come in the near future.

The Strauzers were thrilled to finally have a kosher dining establishment near Sparta, where they reside.

“When you want to eat kosher, there’s very little choice in the area,” Sharon Strauzer said. “You have to travel. Everything is a drive, or my husband had to bring it from where he works, near Teaneck in Bergen.”

“I’ve been working here at the Chabad Center seven years, and, from when I started here, it was always, ‘Rabbi, we need a kosher pizza store or kosher restaurant,’” Rabbi Mordechai Baumgarten said.

“It’s a huge thing for Jewish observance in northwest New Jersey, ” Baumgarten said as he dined with other patrons outside the new restaurant Sunday afternoon.

Rabbi David Rosenberg, the restaurant’s self-described “kosher cop,” said, “There’s no cooking nor baking done here unless I’m here.”

Kosherizing the place, which formerly also was a pizzeria, in preparation for the opening was a three-week process, Rosenberg said

Torching the ovens

“It meant burning the pizza ovens with charcoal. All of the ovens then got cranked up to the highest for an hour, hour and a half,” Rosenberg explained. “We took a torch and torched all of the counters that are stainless steel.”

A lot of cookware, such as sheet pans, were thrown out and replaced, he said.

Rosenberg said he inspects all ingredients to verify that what is used is kosher.

The end results received rave reviews Sunday.

“ So far everything was absolutely delicious,” said Chanit Nachum of Manhattan, who was delighted with the spinach, broccoli and mushroom pizzas.

“He’s eating even the spinach, which is amazing because normally he doesn’t eat it!” she said, referring to her 2-year-old son.

Nachum attended the grand opening with her husband, Ronen Nachum and their two boys, ages two and seven months.

Chanit Nachum said she liked that there was a generous serving of vegetables on the pizzas and the tomato sauce was tasty.

“Also, what I like is they have all these really great juices, from Israel,” she said, pointing to her mango drink.

“I also like that everything is homemade, made from scratch, which is great,” she said.

She said she plans to return soon.

When asked what she hopes to try next, Chanit Nachum immediately responded, “I think the calzones look amazing!”