The Prime Grill is the premier kosher restaurant in New York. In 2000, Joey Allaham, a Syrian Jewish immigrant born to a family of butchers, saw a gap in the marketplace for a kosher steakhouse that could rival the best steakhouses in New York City. Opening in midtown Manhattan, Joey took a gamble that really paid off. Hiring Chef David Kolotkin early, the two pioneers of upscale kosher cuisine brought kosher dining to a higher level. With the publication of their first cookbook, we can now try to recreate some of their most popular recipes at home. I probably need to get started on my dry-aging room…
The cookbook shares the personal stories of Joey and Chef David and what motivated them to create The Prime Grill. There are pictures of the staff, kitchen and dining areas of the original Prime Grill restaurant space. The Prime Grill moved to a new location just this year and I love the way this book pays homage to its recent past even as the restaurant team looks to its future.
Everyone at Joy of Kosher are big fans of Chef David Kolotkin and loved watching him compete with Chef Kami from Prime KO at our Holiday Chef Wars a few years ago. We were lucky to be able to grab a few minutes with Chef David musing about the new cookbook and his experience at The Prime Grill.
Blinis
How would you describe your cooking philosophy?
To make kosher food taste non kosher. 🙂
How has your culinary style changed from working at a kosher restaurant?
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I like to cook American food with local seasonal ingredients. I believe in using simple, high quality ingredients and making them taste great, the only thing that changed when I moved to a kosher restaurant was the mindset. I still had a goal to make the best steak, not the best kosher steak.
Prime Grill Porcini Burgers
What do you find to be the greatest challenge?
I have been doing this so long I am numb to the challenges of kosher. The hardest part of my job is juggling the multiple location. It is also challenging when we have events on Shabbat where everything has to be prepared ahead of time and don’t get me started on opening up after Shabbat. We have to choose dishes that will sit well or can be prepared and cooked quickly.
Are all the recipes in the book available at the restaurant?
We opened the new location with most of the recipes from the book. Some of them were on the menu before, but many are new or altered. I have a smoked salmon fritter recipe in the book that I made at the old location, now I have a meat fryer so I have changed it to a beef bacon fritter.
Mustard and Garlic Confit Fillet
When you are not behind the stove, what do you like to eat?
I love junk. I love pizza and Chinese food. I don’t like fancy stuff, I think all this fusion food has just led to confusion. I like to know what I am eating.
What is your earliest memory of cooking?
In the book I talked about how I was churning my own ice cream in the garage when I was 12, but even before that I used to go to my friends house to bake cookies. My mom was a health nut and she never bought us things like that, so we would just make them.
When I was in 7th grade I switched schools and was able to choose classes, so I picked Home Ec, figured I would meet some nice girls and get to cook. I ended up getting sick for a couple of weeks and when I returned they were sewing, switched to word working after that. However, I did get to make one Chinese chicken dish that taught me about marinading. Like so many great finds in cooking it happened by accident. I prepared the dish with all the sauce and just before I was going to cook it, the bell rang, so I put it in the fridge and came back to cook it the next day. It was so good that I went home and tried making it for my Father, but it wasn’t quite the same. Only then did I realize that letting it sit overnight made all the difference.
Potato Cake with Sweet Shallot Jam and Thyme
Here are a few recipes from the book as a preview:
Corn and Honey Blinis Topped with Bowfin Caviar
Mustard and Garlic Confit Filet
Thank you for the giveaway this looks like a great cookbook!
This looks awesome!
I love cookbooks! Kosher ones are among my favorites, of course!
thanks for the chance
Looks so good! Always looking for new recipes!
This looks great!
Prime Grill FTW. Would love it.
some great recipes
There are so many recipes I can’t wait to try!
Thanks!
Sure, try regular onions, just may need to cook longer or a drop of sugar.
sounds great
I also think the potato cake looks like a great thing to try. They don’t sell shallots where I live- would regular onions work instead?
That potato cake looks so good!!
They all look delish!
I would love this cookbook. Thanks for the chance!
I think I will try the Filet on Friday. Sounds great!
Prime grill is one of my favorite places to eat- I am so excited to hear that they a cookbook for all their great recipes!
Wow! Would love to win.
I would love to win
Looks like an amazing book, would love to win!
Looks like a great book!
Prime Grill is the best! I would love to win this!
this cookbook sound yum. would really like to win and finally learn to make a good burger ! and many other fleishig dishes.
This is one cookbook I must have…would love to win it!
My mom would love this.
This cookbook looks like a winner !!! I collect cookbooks and cannot wait to add this book to my collection !!!
These recipes look and sound fantastic. I’d love to win this book.
I was raised in N.Y.I miss it so much it hurts. Live in Florida for 20 years, would love to come back some time
this book looks amazing
Looks amazing.
Would love to try some new recipes!
FYI, I made a variation of the burger with ground veal, sauteed chopped criminis and dried mushroom powder – I call it my poor man’s version, because porcinis are expensive and it was really good.
The food at the restaurant is delicious; looking forward to trying the recipes at home
Can’t wait to try these recipes
Wow i really want to try the porcini mushroom burger really badly!!!!!
Live in Texas and have only been to Prime Grill one time. Loved it and would love to have this book and these recipes.
Yummy
looks amazing!
That’s awesome! I wish I was close enough to visit that restaurant. But winning the cookbook would be almost as good.
This cookbook looks great!
The book should come with a demo/tasting too! 🙂
Wow! Wish I’d gotten a chance to eat at this stunning restaurant while I was in NY! These recipes look fab!
The Porcini Mushroom burgers sound wonderful!
Would love to win!!
this cookbook looks amazing!
I don’t live near the restaurant, so it would be great to be able to try out the recipes at home.
Yum! These recipes sound so good!