Category Archives: Kosher

Mar 10 2016
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Bagels, Bakeries, Kosher, Places to eat, Sandwiches, Sweets, Truly nut-free

Bagel Town: nut-free bagels (or so they say)

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Another trek—this time, to Long Island. And boy, was it an adventure.

Nut-free bagels are really tough to find. Good nut-free bagels are, as far as I know, impossible to find—that is, unless you’re willing to make your way to West Hempstead, where you’ll find Bagel Town: a nut-free, sesame-free, dairy-free, kosher bakery.

To my surprise, Bagel Town isn’t all that hard to reach from the city. My boyfriend and I took the LIRR to Hempstead, walked for 30 seconds, and got on a bus straight to Bagel Town. 40 minutes on the train, 15 on the bus—not too bad, really. Especially for a good bagel. Right?

I got an everything bagel with lox and dairy-free cream cheese, and it was surprisingly good. It was no Donut Pub bagel—that’s for sure. And it definitely blew the artisan bagels at Trader Joe’s out of the water. No complaints, really. (Actually, one complaint: dairy-free cream cheese. Not my thing.)

As I tend to when I’m eating somewhere so far from home, I ordered way too much: a cake pop, a rainbow cookie (one of those tricolor layer cake whatsits—not sure why they get to be called “cookies”), and two more bagels for the road (one everything, one plain).

I also got what I was told was a chocolate croissant (but which was neither chocolate nor croissant). I didn’t eat much of it, but that was just because each bite felt like a theft from my future self who’d undoubtedly want to reheat the thing at home. (It was an acute feeling. I’m not kidding. I wish I were.) Regardless, it was really tasty—even cold.

The cake pop was decent (honestly, it’s the only one I’ve ever had, so I have nothing to compare it to) and the untoasted bagels (which I couldn’t stop myself from picking at) were good, too. Things were going well, and I found myself wishing Bagel Town were nearby so I could stop by for breakfast—you know, like a normal person.

Now, the first words on their website are “nut-free,” and the same words are printed in big-ass font on their awning. There are signs inside that say the same, too. They seemed confident—and so was I. Until I bit into that rainbow cookie.

I spit it out (not because I knew I was allergic, but because it tasted like cough medicine), and immediately my mouth began to itch. I don’t need to describe the reaction—if you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably had a few—but suffice it to say it was wholly unpleasant.

Originally, I thought my reaction was probably to some sort of fruit in the jelly (I’ve had mild reactions to some unknown type of fruit once or twice before), but it didn’t feel like a fruit reaction, nor have I ever ended up with a lip the size of your typical NYC bagel because I’d eaten a goddamn berry.

[Edit: Since writing this, I’ve gone to the allergist, and it would appear that I am not allergic to any fruits. Instead, it seems like I have oral allergy syndrome—but OAS reactions generally aren’t systemic (and this reaction was), so I think I can safely say that whatever it was I reacted to wasn’t a fruit.]

When I got home, I did some Googling, and sure enough, I couldn’t find a single recipe for rainbow cookies that didn’t call for almond paste or extract. Huh. I can’t say for sure that there were almonds in the cookie—perhaps there was some sort of cross-contamination at play, or perhaps it was some sort of almond substitute that caused my reaction—but it certainly seems like there were.

I’ve still gone ahead and categorized Bagel Town as truly nut-free, because that’s how they categorize themselves. I’m not sure I trust them, given the cookie—but they’re still ostensibly a nut-free establishment. One that I don’t quite recommend.

Although there is a pharmacy next door.

…The things I do for bagels.

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Mar 09 2016
3 Comments
Brands, Kosher, Snacks, Truly nut-free

Who knew Utz was nut-free?

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Quick post, because I realize safe chips and popcorn aren’t all that hard to find. But I bought some Bachman popcorn today and noticed that the bag says they’re manufactured in a nut-free facility, so I did some research, and according to Utz’s website, a whole bunch of their products are nut-free as can be:

Peanuts and other nuts are one of the most common food allergies. All of Utz’s manufacturing facilities are both peanut and tree nut free. If there is a product that we distribute that could contain peanuts or tree nuts, you will always see a separate allergen statement on each package. Refined, bleached and deodorized oils (RBD) such as peanut oil, are not considered an allergen by the FDA. Below is a list of products to avoid if you have sensitivities to peanuts and other nuts.

Utz Gourmet Caramel Popcorn Clusters
Utz Pub Mix
Utz Poker Mix
Utz Chocolate Flavored Covered Special Pretzels
Utz Chocolate Flavored Covered Bite Size Pretzels
Utz Milk and White Chocolate Flavored Covered Special Pretzels
Utz Milk Chocolate Covered Special Pretzels
Utz Butterfinger® Flavored Covered Bite Size Pretzels

Everything else, though, should be totally fine (and well-labeled, according to their FAQ). So although most of their chips are sub-par, they’re certainly an allergy-friendly company.

(Utz brands include Bachman, Zappo, Dirty, and, of course, Utz. Zappo and Dirty do use peanut oil, but it’s a highly-refined, processed peanut oil that doesn’t have any peanut protein left in it, so it’s supposedly safe for the peanut-allergic. No tree nuts, though.)

Find their products literally almost everywhere chips are sold.

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Mar 08 2016
3 Comments
Bakeries, Kosher, Sweets, Truly nut-free

Butterflake Bake Shop

Butterflake's storefront

First things first: Butterflake is not in New York. It’s in Teaneck, New Jersey—about 15 minutes from the George Washington Bridge. But nut-free bakeries are hard to come by, so I decided do a quick post on this one anyway.

And Butterflake truly is nut-free. It says so very clearly on their website, and there’s even a sign behind the counter:

No nuts! Butter flake Bakery is committed to a nut free policy using no nuts or any nut products in the preparation of our baked goods. All attempts are made to secure nut free ingredients. Butterflake Bakery can not certify that all of the ingredients are processed in facilities that do not process nut products.

About as promising as these types of policies come, really. Some places go through the trouble of ensuring their vendors’ facilities are nut-free, too, but the vast majority don’t—which is a bummer, but whaddaya gonna do? Usually, one layer of nut-free-facility-ness is enough to sooth my nerves, so I’m fine with Butterflake. And I particularly like that they openly classified themselves as nut-free, both online and in-store. For some reason—liabilities, perhaps—a lot of similar places don’t.

Butterflake's 7" Shadow Cake

Anyway: Butterflake is a kosher bakery with a pretty wide array of stuff (cookies, cakes, brownies, rugelach, breads, donuts, bialys—the works). It’s tiny and cluttered, and the employees aren’t the friendliest people in the world, but it isn’t an unpleasant place. I mean, it’s filled with nut-free baked goods. How much can I really afford to complain about?

I found it incredibly difficult to choose between all of Butterflake’s options. First—as in, while still on the premises—I had an onion bialy, and it was all right, though certainly a little drier than I would’ve liked. I reheated a second at home, though, and it was worlds better than the first. That’s what I get for eating an untoasted bialy, I suppose.

I also brought home a 7″ Shadow Cake (two layers of vanilla cake and a layer of chocolate cake with both chocolate and vanilla frosting—exhale—pictured above), which was pretty decent, if a bit boring. And knowing I probably wouldn’t get a chance to come back any time soon, I also got a giant chocolate brownie, which was a bit too sweet for me, but which I did my best to take down nonetheless.

I don’t know whether I’ll ever end up back at Butterflake—it’s far away, and their food isn’t so good as to be worth the trouble of finding a ride—but I’m certainly glad I stopped by. There’s something about being able to walk into a bakery and choose anything, even if the products themselves aren’t anything special. (And the food wasn’t bad by any means—especially if you’re really into sugar.)

Find Butterflake at 448 Cedar Lane (again, that’s in Teaneck). They also have an online store, which just might be worth a try.

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Mar 03 2016
4 Comments
Brands, Kosher, Online vendors, Sweets, Truly nut-free

Green’s Bakery: A Babka Monopoly

Green's chocolate babka

I was never much of a fan of babka…until I tried Green’s Bakery. Holy shit.

Green’s is a Brooklyn-based kosher bakery that makes some pretty well-liked babka—and rugelach and hamantaschen and cookies and cakes, etc. On their website, they identify themselves as nut-free, but only on the pages for some products, so I called to clarify, and I was told more than once that they don’t use any nuts in their bakery, and that every product is nut-free. I also sent an email with a few more questions, and received the following reply:

We do not use or have any nuts in our facility…We dont know [if we use any ingredients that may have come into contact with nuts]. We buy our ingredients directly from the manufacturers. We are unsure if they have. We sell them for over 10 years to people with allergies and we have never received any complaints.

Not ideal, but not the end of the world—in my eyes, at least. I’ve gone ahead and categorized Green’s as “truly nut-free,” as a nut-free facility is enough for me, but I felt I should provide this bit of information so you can make your own informed decision.

(If I were to only eat at places that had no nuts in the kitchen and that thoroughly vetted all of their vendors, I’d—well, I’d have very few places to eat. But that’s just me. I’m comfortable pretty much anywhere that calls itself nut-free, that keeps nuts out of its kitchen, and/or that has a lot of experience dealing with the nut-allergic population.)

Green's chocolate rugelach

Onto the food, though: I ordered the chocolate babka and some vanilla rugelach off their website. Then, in a shocking turn of events, I got impatient…and went to Fairway…and bought one of each Green’s product they had in stock (one chocolate babka, one bag of chocolate rugelach). And as if that weren’t enough, I hate half the bag of rugelach on my train ride home. (Patience, apparently, is a virtue I have not exercised enough.)

The babka is incredible, with a nice, chewy texture and huge veins of high-quality chocolate throughout. It’s very moist, and I like it best cut into super-thick slices with a glass (or two!) of milk on the side. The rugelach are great too—they’re just dense enough, and both the vanilla and the chocolate are pleasantly sweet without bordering on overkill. And both the babka and the rugelach taste homemade, which is pretty impressive, given how much of this stuff Green’s churns out each day.

Seriously: Green’s is awesome. And it isn’t just me who thinks so. Check out their Yelp reviews. Or their Amazon reviews. Or this article from Serious Eats, which dubs Green’s babka the best traditional babka in NYC. Seriously. Places like Zabar’s, Dean & Deluca, Katz’s Deli, and Russ & Daughters unwrap this stuff and sell it as their own—usually without crediting Green’s. It’s good. Good enough for Green’s to have come into a babka monopoly.

And by some Jewish miracle, it’s all nut-free.

My mouth is watering. Here’s to hoping I have the patience to keep me away from Fairway until my delivery arrives.

Find Green’s at Fairway, Whole Foods, and apparently, everywhere else. (And, of course, their website, where they also sell all their other products.)

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Mar 02 2016
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Kosher, Online vendors, Sweets, Truly nut-free

The Cookie Dough Café

One of The Cookie Dough Café's nut-free cookie dough cups

[Edit: No longer nut-free. Oh well.]

Before you get your hopes up: The Cookie Dough Café isn’t actually a café. But before you get your hopes down: They’re a company that sells edible cookie dough by the pint (or single-serving cup).

Most of their pints, which come in a bunch of different flavors, have a “may contain” warning. But their 4-packs (pictured above—from their website) are, in fact, nut-free (and egg-free, and kosher). Unfortunately, their website doesn’t have much allergen information on it, but I did send them an email, to which I received the following response:

All of our single serve products with the turquoise lidding are manufactured in a nut-free facility.  This is also stated on the packaging.  The pints with the black lids are produced in a separate facility that is NOT nut-free.

The single-serving cups only come in one flavor (chocolate chip), which is a shame, because their naked dough—plain, without chocolate chips—is my favorite. (Somehow, I managed to find a few pints that didn’t have “may contain” warnings on them, even though the others did—so I bought one. Probably a bad idea, but it ended up being fine. Same deal for the cookies & cream dough, which is really, really good.)

Anyway, the cookie dough is pretty decent, though I’m not sure it’s worth the price when you could just as easily make your own eggless dough. Still, I think it’s a cool product, and I do appreciate the fact that I can eat it without, you know, dying.

Find it at Morton Williams, Key Food, and Westside Market, usually somewhere between the cut-and-bake cookie dough and the yogurt.

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Feb 27 2016
7 Comments
Brands, Kosher, Online vendors, Snacks, Technically not nut-free

Hampton Farms Peanuts

hamptonfarms

One thing that never, ever fails to confuse people is the fact that I’m not allergic to peanuts. Nearly every time I tell someone I’m allergic to tree nuts, I’ll end up getting an earful about how much it sucks that I’ll never be able to try a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a Reese’s Cup or a Butterfinger. (Cue the explanation that no-one really cares about: “Well, you see, peanuts aren’t really nuts; they’re legumes…”)

Point is, I can eat peanuts.

Theoretically.

There’s a problem, though. Products that contain or may contain peanuts? Fine. But try finding actual peanuts that don’t come with a “may contain” warning for every tree nut under the sun. Planters, which are everywhere, won’t work—and before you get all excited (like me) and think you’ve finally found a solution: generic brand peanuts are probably cross-contaminated, too. Sorry.

After a whole lot of searching, though, I’ve finally found a brand that works, and (as you may have guessed from the title of this post) it’s Hampton Farms. There are no “may contain” warnings on their bags, but the absence of such warnings guarantees approximately nothing, so I just took that information as a lead. Fortunately, when I emailed Hampton Farms, I received the following reply:

Our in shell peanuts and jarred peanut butters are produced in peanut only facilities. Our shelled peanuts are processed in several locations, some of which handle both peanut and tree nut products, so there is the possibility of cross contamination.

So I guess I have a lot of shelling to do. Bummer, but whatever. At least I’ve found some tree nut–free peanuts, right?

They come in a few flavors: salted, unsalted, raw, Cajun, and hickory smoked. I’ve tried salted and unsalted and, well, they’re definitely peanuts. (I’m not a huge fan of peanuts that’ve been salted in-shell. They always taste like the sea to me—perhaps because they’ve been salted via a salt water solution. But the unsalted peanuts are A-OK.)

I buy them at Fairway, C-Town, or Stop & Shop, but they’re all over, really, and you shouldn’t have much trouble finding them. For whatever reason, they’re usually in the produce section. Good luck.

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