I don’t know about you but when I hear the phrase “food blogger” my mind automatically conjures up images of recipe sites, where photogenic dishes call my name and beg me to make them. But in truth, all of us have days where we just don’t feel like cooking and there is nothing we want more than to go out and enjoy a restaurant meal, where the food is attractive, the service is solicitous and someone else is clearing the table and washing the dishes.
Elan Kornblum, founder of Great Kosher Restaurants certainly understands those sentiments.
What began as a full-color glossy magazine has expanded to include a full service website, offering worldwide kosher restaurant listings with descriptions, pricing information, menus, full-color pictures and many additional features including a blog with the latest and greatest in the kosher restaurant world. His latest venture: a Facebook group with over 14,000 members.
Kornblum is a self-described entrepreneur who got started in business while still an undergraduate, selling college planners to the Brooklyn College bookstore.
“The bookstore didn’t have any planners with the college information included,” Kornblum told Olam Yehudi. “I took a planner that I bought and I went around to the stores, selling ads to put in with the college calendar.”
The planners were a success, with Kornblum earning profits from the ads he sold. After graduation, he got a job with a media firm buying commercial time but eventually realized that his growth opportunities would be limited. He decided to go back to college planners, this time selling to schools all over New York.
A chance meeting with Morris Sender, publisher of a non-kosher restaurant magazine featuring Long Island eateries, almost turned into a new business venture for Kornblum. Sender had been hoping to work on a college directory and the two discussed going into business together when tragedy struck with a vengeance.
“9/11 happened right then and all the schools cut their budgets and things weren’t going well,” recalled Kornblum.
Kornblum decided to take Sender’s magazine idea and run with it, deciding that the kosher restaurant business needed a magazine of its own.
“I went around showing restaurants what it would look like,” said Kornblum. “It was hard work but perseverance paid off and our first issue, published in 2003, had over 80 restaurants.” Today, the magazine features over 200 restaurants and clocks in at 256 pages.
The Great Kosher Restaurants website started up one year later and was an instant hit.
“Thank G-d we have exploded on our online platform,” observed Kornblum. “We get 1.2 million hits a year and our newsletter goes out to 25,000 people once every two weeks.”
The kosher restaurant world has undergone dramatic changes in recent years.
“The palate of the consumer is more educated and sophisticated,” noted Kornblum. “Whether it is from watching Food Network or from social media, everyone thinks they are a critic and everyone has an opinion.”
Kosher restaurants have responded to those changes with an entirely new breed of talent.
“I definitely think that the chefs that are coming up now are much different than they were ten to fifteen years ago,” said Kornblum. “They are culinary trained, whether it’s at the Culinary Institute of America or the Center for Kosher Culinary Arts, they are getting lots of experience and learning new techniques there.”
Some kosher restaurant chefs wear more than just one hat, according to Kornblum, and are also restaurant owners, giving them carte blanche when it comes to creating a menu, as well as the ability to push the envelope and serve up truly innovative cuisine.
Kornblum noted that operating a successful restaurant is no easy feat.
“People think that if you can cook, you can open a restaurant, but it is a business where you have to manage people and deal with the health department,” said Kornblum. “There are a million things that can go wrong. The refrigerator or the air conditioner can break. A busboy doesn’t show up. It is a business where between Shabbos and holidays and the Nine Days you can be closed 100 days out of the year.”
Sushi continues to be a favorite in kosher restaurants.
“When a Jewish owner sees that he has a product with a nice markup, that doesn’t need a kitchen and can be served with either meat or dairy, as long as you have the space for it, and people love it, then it is here to stay,” said Kornblum.
New restaurants continue to proliferate at an almost dizzying pace.
“Whenever I send out my biweekly newsletter, there are six or seven new restaurants coming up,” said Kornblum. Among some of the most recent openings are “Bordeaux on Coney Island, a 200-seat restaurant with long bar and French cuisine; Izzy’s Smokehouse uses barbeque and smoking, a new trend that people are really appreciate – it has a strong flavor that is very different; and Bedford Home in Queens is another exciting place.”
The importance of letting chefs prepare their signature dishes cannot be overstated, according to Kornblum.
“These restaurants take pride in what they do. Don’t ask for substitutions. Let the chef do what he does best.”
Kornblum, a 38-year-old father of three who lives in Marine Park, says while people often brand him a restaurant critic, nothing could be further from the truth.
“People think that my job is all about fun but there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work,” said Kornblum. “In some ways I am a promoter, I’m in advertising and I often get called on as a psychologist. I am all about the info, telling people what a restaurant specializes in, what you can expect in terms of pricing. This is a labor of love and I appreciate the moments where you try something unbelievable.”
In discussing the Facebook group, Great Kosher Restaurant Foodies, Elan says, “People are very passionate on the group, sometimes a little too passionate. In some ways it has been taking over my life as I am moderating and making sure people stay in line. I have been trying to teach people how to conduct themselves online. If you have a bad experience, you don’t bash a restaurant. If you don’t speak up when you are at the restaurant, the restaurant has no idea that there is anything wrong. I think that with the group, people get the perspective of the restaurant owner more and realize that they are human and make mistakes. They want you to be happy and if you speak to them, they are more than happy to help.”
The best part of eating out with fellow foodies?
“Every dish that comes out, eight people take out their phones to take pictures of it,” said Kornblum.
A Great Kosher Restaurants app is on the horizon, which will be a miniaturized version of the website, with pictures, downloadable menus and the ability to place restaurant reservations.
What is on the menu at Chez Kornblum, where Kornblum typically eats two nights per week?
“We are pretty basic,” said Kornblum. “Cholent, chicken. Sometimes you just want a home-cooked meal.”