After 17 years at the helm of Nava café in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, Susy Siegel has retired from the food business. Customers who crowd around the institution in the atrium of the JCC will choose from a different array of offerings, as Ricci Leigh Smith is now operating the restaurant, renamed The Perfect Bite.
The handover took place at the end of June. For the summer, the café is in a transitional stage, as Smith and her team gradually replace the former operation with The Perfect Bite’s menu, systems and style. An official launch is planned for Sept. 8.
Smith brings considerable experience in both catering and institutional food service. The Perfect Bite spent the past seven years running the lunch program at Vancouver Talmud Torah. Although many families connected with the school are familiar with the company, Smith said the wider Jewish community may know less about her and her culinary creations.
“That’s part of the reason why we wanted to be at the JCC,” Smith said. “To kind of just get a bigger audience and make our food more accessible to everyone.”
Customers can expect a menu that features power bowls, Buddha bowls, Mediterranean grilled vegetables and a range of salads. Baked goods will include sweet and savoury croissants, seasonal scones, oversized cookies and cottage cheese muffins. Among the planned sandwiches are tomato and mozzarella with pumpkin-seed pesto aioli, tuna with wasabi mayonnaise, and croissants filled with egg salad or tuna salad. Breakfast sandwiches will be on the menu, as will traditional Jewish party sandwiches. (“They’re usually white or brown bread with the crusts cut off, and you’ve got tuna and egg, or salmon,” explained Smith).
The Perfect Bite’s catering operation will continue to serve larger events, while the café will allow customers to buy individual portions or small quantities. One of the most significant additions will be a larger selection of ready-made meals. The Perfect Bite has long offered a take-and-bake line through its website, but the JCC location will make the meals more convenient.
“People that are busy, they can come and pick up something out of the freezer, put it in the oven, and have a nice homemade meal within 45 minutes,” said Smith.
The café, which is under BC Kosher supervision, as was Nava, will be primarily dairy, though some meat products will eventually be available. The take-and-bake section will function more like a grocery store, with separate dairy, meat and pareve offerings.
Beginning in September, Smith expects the café to be open longer hours, with Monday to Friday service from 8 am to 6 pm, as well as Sundays during the JCC’s operating hours. Longer evening hours may be added if demand warrants. The Perfect Bite will also operate concessions for events at the Rothstein Theatre.
Born in South Africa, Smith moved to Vancouver when she was 6. Her interest in cooking was fostered by her mother and an aunt who operates a catering company in Arizona. “I always loved cooking,” she said.
Smith studied at Vancouver Community College and was recruited by Culinary Team Canada while still in school. She spent three years traveling internationally and participating in competitions, including the Culinary Olympics. She later apprenticed in fine-dining restaurants and worked at the Four Seasons Hotel and Le Crocodile before establishing The Perfect Bite in 2010. “I just knew I always wanted to do catering,” she said.
Smith attended Vancouver Talmud Torah, her children go there and her sister teaches there. She remains closely connected with the families and students she served when operating the school’s lunch program. (VTT’s food service is now being delivered by the company Aramark, with local chef Marat Dreyshner leading the school meal program.)
Emily Greenberg, VTT’s chief executive officer and head of school, thanked Smith for her years of service and congratulated her on the new enterprise.
“VTT has been incredibly fortunate to have Ricci Smith and The Perfect Bite as part of our school community for the last seven years,” Greenberg told the Independent. “Beyond providing delicious hot lunches for our students, Ricci catered our major events with immense pride and care. While we will miss having her in-house as we launch our universal lunch program, we are thrilled to see her business continue to thrive in her new location at the JCC.”
Smith has long hoped to move the Perfect Bite into the JCC. When she learned that VTT would be changing its food-service arrangements, her first call was to Siegel.
“Our goal was always to want to be at the JCC because it is a part of the community,” said Smith, who is also looking ahead to the JCC’s redevelopment.
“This is a time of immense change,” she said. “Very excited to be a part of all of that.”
Her central goal is straightforward: “Making great food accessible to the kosher community.”
* * *
For Susy Siegel, the June 30 turnover date was bittersweet. She is willing to use the word “retired,” but only with a qualification. “From catering, yes,” she said. “I’ll find something else to do.”
Siegel took over Nava in 2009 from Harvey Sandler, who made aliyah and became a successful restaurateur in Jerusalem. By then, she was already an experienced caterer.
Before acquiring the café, she operated Susy Siegel Catering Services, preparing food at home or using synagogue kitchens. Taking over Nava gave her a permanent base and allowed her business to operate from the community centre.
Nava functioned as a gathering place where staff, students, community leaders and visitors crossed paths over coffee and meals.
“It’s a very active community centre,” said Siegel. “The kids from King David came every single day. We got to know them. We got to know what they like, what they don’t like.”
Siegel and her staff also served the agencies operating in the building. She describes those relationships as warm and mutually supportive. “They were always very generous, very kind,” she said. “It was just an amazing experience.”
Her final day brought conflicting emotions. After more than three decades in a demanding business, she was ready to leave behind the long hours and physical strain. At the same time, she was saying goodbye to the people, routines and workplace that had been so central to her life.
“Mixed feelings,” she acknowledged, before adding: “Sad.”
She quickly rebounded: “I was happy to retire. Thirty-two years doing the same thing is hard. You know, I’m not getting younger.”
The farewell also left her with a sense of completion.
“I served the community as best as I could,” she said. “They definitely reciprocated with their love and their good wishes, so it was emotional. It was nice.”
Siegel was born and raised in Mexico City. At 19, she moved to Israel, where she began nursing studies. After three years, she and her then-husband relocated to Pittsburgh, where she graduated as a registered nurse from the University of Pittsburgh.
The family later moved to Victoria, where Siegel worked in nursing, including at a hospice, and also became involved in Jewish education. She taught in Hebrew schools and served as principal at Temple Emanu-El while the rabbi was on sabbatical.
After having three children, the 12-hour shifts associated with nursing seemed incompatible with family life. While catering appeared to offer a manageable alternative, she discovered it often meant 14- or 16-hour days. It didn’t work out the way she had planned, she acknowledged. However, each of her three kids eventually worked alongside her in the food business.
The family moved from Victoria to Vancouver around 1990, and Siegel’s catering career developed here. Although leaving the business, she is not withdrawing from the community.
Siegel has volunteered with the chevra kadisha (burial society) for more than 15 years. She is also active with Bitachon, the Jewish community safety initiative that launched after Oct. 7, 2023. When she heard volunteers were needed, she said, participating seemed instinctive.
“It just seemed natural,” she said. “I didn’t even think about it.”
Siegel is considering training as an end-of-life doula, which would connect her nursing background with her involvement in the chevra kadisha. She expects to begin a course, perhaps in September, after giving herself some time to rest.