Silver Crust, an Italian dairy kosher restaurant, opens in the Washington DC Jewish Community Center on Monday, Jan. 26.
The full-service eatery is owned by Josh Katz, who also owns Ben Yehuda Pizza in the Kemp Mill Shopping Center in Silver Spring. The kitchen is operated by Chef Ben Thorpe, the restaurant’s executive chef and general manager who previously owned and operated Cornerstone Bistro in Boise Idaho. Thorpe will use local and organic ingredients to create a menu of pizza, pasta, fish, salad, panini sandwiches and daily seasonal soups.
Besides a full menu, Silver Crust offers grab and go options.
Thorpe was trained in French and Italian cooking and Pacific Rim and Asian cuisines and plans to focus on modern Italian and Mediterranean recipes at Silver Crust.
Cooking is not all Thorpe studied. He also majored in religious studies and minored in Judaic studies.
“To me, kosher is not an excuse. We operate under kosher laws, and everything we do fits within those restrictions, but we like to use those restrictions to be innovative, and that’s something we’re really getting with Ben,” Katz said.
Silver Crust will be open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Fridays. All Silver Crust food and products will be prepared in accordance with Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington (Vaad). Silver Crust can be found at facebook.com/SilvercrustDC. – by Suzanne Pollak
@SuzannePollak
