The best knishes in Vancouver

JORDANA ROTHSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

That one looks cheesy." "That one looks like a baked apple." "Do three of those count as one of those?" "That one looks anemic." Is this a snatch of a conversation overheard in a bakery? A very strange hospital baby ward? No. These are just a few of the exclamations made by nine taste-testers as they walked into the Bulletin office last Wednesday afternoon and saw an array of different knishes, ready for them to sample.

Why, you might ask, would we encourage our readers to sit down and gorge themselves on such rich food in the middle of a hot summer day? The answer is simple: The knish, essentially dough surrounding a mashed filling, often potato, is a quintessential part of a Jewish diet. It's right up there with latkas and matzah balls. And so, in our endless quest to provide readers with the best of the best, we invited volunteers into our office to help us determine where the best potato knishes in the Lower Mainland can be acquired. Panelists were presented with eight different knishes, donated by eight different local bakeries and delis – Garden City, Kaplan's, Solly's, Sabra's, Omnitsky, Siegel's, Stage Door Deli and Anona Fine Foods.

The nine men and women were very serious about the task in front of them. They sat down at the table and began to examine each knish. Their job was to start by judging each by its appearance, marking on a scale of one to 10.

The large, traditionally shaped knishes were favored – ones that looked "just like bubbe's."

The judges were tough critics, and very hard to please – they even entered into a lengthy debate over which knishes could properly be considered as such. Mitch Freedman isolated two of the knishes, describing the boreka-shaped potato pastries as "Israeli style," not "Jewish style," like the other six samples. In reference to these rogue samples, Arthur Hollander queried, "These are knishes?" This prompted a larger debate, led by Mark Dwor, over whether or not something that did not resemble a traditional knish could rightly be included in the larger knish discussion. This philosophical dialogue was only broken up out of necessity – people's mouths had to be filled with the objects under dispute.

Next, the panelists, Rob Hector, Anita Ornstein, Dave Smith, Jennie Fouks, Pamela Hyland and Debbie Jacob, in addition to Dwor, Freedman and Hollander, were asked to judge the knishes on texture and taste. In preparation, Smith announced that he "wasn't worrying about diets today. It helps with the enjoyment." Good advice for all potential knish tasters.

Regarding texture, the panelists had several points to ponder about what makes a knish more enjoyable. People's main concerns were whether the dough was too oily and whether it had a sesame seed coating. Also, some noted that the filling seemed to be plain chunks of potato and some not even cooked through. Not too many points of contention here, but then it came to rating the taste.

While Freedman acknowledged that he was probably biased, because he remembered and loved the knishes that had been cooked at his bar mitzvah, that didn't keep him and Hector from heatedly defending their favorite knish (number two) when Dwor mistakenly described it as his least favorite (he actually meant number one, as the fans of the second knish were relieved to hear).

Equally strong were the criticisms of the less-favored knishes. While it seems unlikely fodder for friendship, criticizing these knishes forged instant bonds between individuals. As one woman, with her mouth full, complained that her knish was totally raw in the middle, from across the room, Jacob excitedly called out, "You're so right. That's exactly what I was just saying."

Instead of despairing over such awful discoveries, our panelists, clearly friendly folk, attempted to help out the knishes that they thought could use improvement. Fouks, who bakes her own knishes, offered this advice for one of her least favorite on the table:

"The potato could have a little more seasoning and be sautéed more."

Besides lacking spices, knishes lost taste points for being too dense or "too mushy inside," as Hylander put it. Others needed to be airier or needed to rid themselves of extra fillings, like cheese or carrots, that tasters felt added little to the overall enjoyment of the knish.

It was very easy for the panel to identify what was wrong with the knishes but it was more difficult for them to pin down exactly what made them great. People even had criticisms of their top choice of knish. Fouks, commenting on her favorite knish, wrote, "A bit oily, and could use more seasoning, but tasty."

In the end, it seemed to come down to "gut" impressions. As Ornstein put it, her top choice "looked and tasted as I felt it should." And there seemed to be quite a consensus on which knishes fit that bill. It was also fairly easy to determine the winners, even before the scores were added up, since there were no samples from these delis that were even left on the table. As Hector said, "There's not even a need to have a taste-test. You could just leave us in a room and see which [knishes] disappear." He may be right, but being sticklers for detail, we added up the scores anyways.

Tasters were asked to mark each knish on a scale of one to 10 in appearance, taste and texture, then give them an overall mark out of 30 and then rank them as first place, second place, third and so on. Kaplan's knishes received five number one rankings, and Sabra's received four. These two knishes were neck-and-neck in every grouping, even tying for first place in the texture category. Third place in overall ranking was Siegel's, followed closely by Stage Door Deli, though Stage Door beat Siegel's in the appearance contest. But, without a doubt, the day belonged to Kaplan's delicious knishes. Hector described them as "Just right," and Freedman exclaimed, "I'll take two dozen."

Jordana Rothstein is an English major at Princeton University who enjoys coming home for the summer.

The winners were... For appearance: 1. Kaplan's, 2. Sabra's, 3. Stage Door, 4. Siegel's. For texture: 1. Kaplan's (tie), 1. Sabra's (tie), 2. Siegel's, 3. Omnitsky. For taste: 1. Kaplan's, 2. Sabra's, 3. Siegel's, 4. Stage Door. Overall: 1. Kaplan's, 2. Sabra's, 3. Siegel's, 4. Stage Door.

The Bulletin thanks the taste-test sponsors: Kaplan's Star Deli, 5775 Oak St.; Sabra Bakery, 3844 Oak St.; Siegel's Bagels, 1883 Cornwall; Stage Door Deli, 136 East Broadway; Anona Fine Foods and Catering, 3610 Main St.; Omnitsky Delicatessen, 5866 Cambie St.; Solly's Bagelry, 189 East 28th St.; Garden City Bakery, 9100 Blundell Rd., Rmd.

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