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February 19, 2010
Upscale kosher for everyone
Maple Grill aims to serve stylish food in a cozy room.
OLGA LIVSHIN
Last week, a new kosher restaurant opened its doors in Vancouver. Maple Grill is renting the first floor of the Ohel Ya’akov Community Kollel on West Broadway. Rabbi Shmuel Yeshayahu, the Kollel’s outreach director, said that it is the first high-end kosher restaurant in the city.
Although there are several fine kosher delis and cafés already sprinkled around Vancouver, Maple Grill strives to add a hip dining experience to their variety. Targeting the urban Jewish crowd, the new restaurant draws on the ripe pool of patrons who are already familiar with the area and sympathetic to the Kollel – a unique outreach organization.
The Kollel welcomes hundreds of Jews who wish to learn their cultural heritage without submitting to a restrictive atmosphere. Under its mandate of inclusivity, the Kollel offers not only Hebrew and Torah classes but also business lectures, interest clubs, pub nights and singles parties.
“Among our customers, the majority are under 40; many are university students or young professionals, unaffiliated with the other synagogues,” said Yeshayahu. “They don’t place too much value on observing kashrut, but they enjoy eating out with friends in a trendy environment. They wouldn’t mind kosher food, if it was available in an interesting atmosphere of a modern restaurant.” Thus the idea of a swanky establishment grew in the minds of Kollel organizers.
The new restaurant aims to maintain such an atmosphere, where people can network with other professionals, invite friends of any religion or nation, and simply have fun while being exposed to the blend of flavorful cuisine and strictly kosher food preparations.
“When the Kollel first opened its doors in Vancouver about a decade ago,” Yeshayahu explained, “the common opinion was that the kosher community was too small to support a classy restaurant. As time progressed, our regular group of participants grew and developed. Last year, the Kollel’s board of directors decided that there are finally a sufficient number of Jews with high standards of living to justify opening an upscale restaurant. The entire community needed it.”
However, as a nonprofit organization, the Kollel can’t operate a for-profit eating establishment. So they started searching for suitable candidates who could run an independent business and, at the same time, share the Kollel’s vision of an innovative Jewish dining experience derived from traditional kosher roots.
After a round of interviews, the Kollel rented their downstairs space to a young couple, Gustavo and Elaine Godeghesi. Although passionate about kosher food and Jewish culture, neither Gustavo nor Elaine was born Jewish. Both have come to the Jewish tradition from the outside: Gustavo is from Brazil, Elaine is Canadian. Together as a young family, they are currently undergoing the lengthy process of conversion to Judaism and they maintain strict kashrut at home.
“We wanted to open a stylish kosher restaurant because there is a niche to be filled in Vancouver,” Gustavo Godeghesi said. “We feel like partners with the other kosher restaurants in the city; each one catering to a unique population segment.”
The restaurant’s full name is Maple Grill, the West Coast Kosher Kitchen. The young owners offer casual-elegant dining, enhanced by soft music and gourmet food, a fusion of Middle Eastern, European and Canadian cuisine. “We’re certified by B.C. Kosher,” Godeghesi said proudly.
Admitting his lack of prior experience running a restaurant, Godeghesi joked, “I’ve never had anything to do with a restaurant except eating in one, but I know how to run a business.” Complimenting his expertise, his wife, Elaine, has seven years of experience in the food industry and she worked as a manager of Cactus Club for two years before their daughter Isabella was born.
“We want to welcome everyone to our restaurant, not just Jewish people,” she said. To maintain the cosmopolitan ambience of the place, befitting this multicultural city, the Godeghesis insisted that the dining room shouldn’t contain any Judaic symbols. “We didn’t want any religious connotations in the setting,” Gustavo Godeghesi stressed, “only in the food preparation.”
The interior designer, Leor Froelich, working as volunteer, created the décor and it is both tasteful and universal. Large, stylized flowers adorn the wall beside the bar. Overhead, the chandeliers sparkle with multiple silver balls, shedding intimate, silky light. And both front windows are ornamented with the frosted glass maple trees – the restaurant’s emblem.
To attract a diverse crowd, the Godeghesis offer affordable prices and a wide variety of dishes. They also plan to invite Jewish musicians to perform on select Saturday nights. And, in tune with the times, they offer online reservations. They expect a full house most days: local office workers dropping in for a quick bite during lunch hours, entrepreneurs conducting business meetings, friends coming for a drink or a night on the town. The Kollel will rent the space for its Friday night dinners and holiday events. In adherence to Jewish tradition, the restaurant will be closed for Shabbat.
Visit maplegrill.com to view the menu and for hours of operation.
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She’s available for contract work. Contact her at [email protected].
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