Community Magazine March 2014

Outdoing the Shaatra Elliot Chrem, who’s always been known as “the barbecue guy,” can say the same. He’s been a personal chef since 2005, catering to parties big and small, using his year as an assistant chef in a kosher restaurant as the basis for what he knows. “It was like boot camp!” he jokes. Elliot is continually browsing menus and watching other professionals, looking for what’s cutting-edge in the culinary world. Elliot is fully aware that clients expect restaurant-level cuisine. “There’s nothing you can get in a restaurant that I can’t recreate in your house,” he insists. His five-course meal – typically a soup in the fall and winter, followed by a salad, appetizer, entrée and dessert – is replete with surprises that delight and astonish guests. Elliot takes pride in the reception his meals receive and believes it his duty to be purveyor of a luxury experience. “The women of our community are very shaatra ,” he acknowledges. “They’re entertainers. I have to do it better than they can do it. Otherwise, there’s no reason to call me.” For once, it seems, the women of our community are happy to be outdone. “I didn’t have to lift a finger,” they say gleefully when asked about the experience of using either Raymond or Elliot. “You’re home – everything is homemade – but you feel like you’re in a restaurant.” And of course there’s that glorious feeling of being served. “It’s a more relaxed feel. The pressure is off you. You can just enjoy your guests.” Admittedly, this is a luxurious enterprise and you will spend accordingly – but no more than if you’d gone out to a five-star restaurant with your family. So if you’re in the mood to splurge, or just want to celebrate in a way that you never have before, consider having a private kosher chef take over your home, so you can enjoy being a guest without having to walk out the door. Pumpkin Ratatouille Arugula Beet Salad Brisket Slider Chef Elliot Chrem at work. GREAT PURIM GIFT IDEAS ADAR II 5774 MARCH 2014 57 Allen Edmonds Rockport Johnston & Murphy Mezlan Florsheim Steeple Gate Ecco Bostonian Alden Alfredo Clarks Mirage Zengara Giorgio Brutani Bacco Bucci Geox New Balance Borsalino Pesca – DaRoma Vicenza – Excelsa Alfonsino Travel Hat Box Over 1800 hats in stock in all crown & brim sizes 732-363-2319 362 Clifton Avenue Expert Fitting Since 1992 Aaron Y. Schreiber Sun: 11:00-6:00 Fri: Open 10:00 Mon-Thurs: 11:00-7:00