Have you ever looked at all the small Jewish food businesses cropping up–bagels, babka ice cream sandwiches, and artisanal tahini–and wondered, where’s the matzah brei, though? This year, some young and talented matzah brei specialists in Manhattan began filling that void. Their pop-up stand is called Matzahbrei, and they’ve been serving their modern take on this classic Passover dish at food festivals throughout NYC all year long.
Their matzah brei is stuffed with mouthwatering vegetarian fillings, fried until its exterior is crisp and golden. They promote and enact a platform we can all get behind –“Make Matzah Great Again.”
The founders are inspired by their fond memories of matzah brei at Passover, and what matzah represents: “the romantic idea of Matzah being the Jewish lost bread, the cracker of liberty, the dough that never rose because the Israelites were running out of Egypt, out of slavery, towards freedom.”
They present three kinds of matzah brei, all of which can be made vegan upon request. The Monica is filled with mushrooms, spinach, gruyere, and dijon. The Yannis is filled with beets, roasted peppers, mint and tahini. Hungry yet?
You’ll find them this holiday season, sandwiched between holiday vendors in Manhattan’s Bryant Park Winter Village.
There’s more than one group in town honing in on your matzah experience. Look to The Matzah Project for an artisanal, small batch approach, with innovative flavors like buttercrunch matzah, cinnamon sugar matzah, and everything matzah.
With all this matzah brei talk, you might just want to make your own, with one of our recipes below:
Matzah Brei with Ramp Pesto (above)
Classic Matzah Brei
Southern Matzah Brei with Raspberry Jam
Main photo above by @Matzahbrei
