Smokin'! Wood Smoked BBQ, Kosher Certified by Rabbi Shelaim Furst

Smokin'!

We have decided to close for good at this location. Perhaps with new investment capital, we will seek a new location on Pico, but for now, Smokin'! is officially closed, and I've moved to another roll in my life.

We were under the kosher supervision of Rabbi Shelaim Furst of Beis Medrash Or Simcha, Valley Village's yeshivish synagogue. Before that, we had dual kashrus supervision with both Rabbi Furst and the RCC. We left on good terms with both of them, having decided to drop the RCC because of the added costs. Unfortunately, the decreased expense did not matter, in the long run, in keeping us in business.

Take-out, Sit-down, Catering

12514 Burbank Blvd.

Valley Village, CA 91607

Tel: 818-752-6866

email: craig@ganeden.com

(last modified 7/09/10)

Smokin'! We had mostly smoked food, but also began making home-made beef hot links (mildly smoked) and sweet Italian sausages (also beef, unsmoked). Hot Links are spicy, satisfyingly but not overly hot, comfortably within the range of most sausage lovers, but may be pushing the limits for people who absolutely do not do well with hot, peppery food- my daughters love them. Sweet Italian are moist and tasty, the latest batch just made Friday 5/21. For Mother's Day, we'll try to include some lighter food like grilled chicken breast and sauteed vegies.The menu below is active (prices may be incorrect, however, and not everything we have is listed), but I'll try to update it soon to get everything right. Ribs have come in all over the place in terms of weight. They were priced more expensive because they were far bigger, but then we got some small ones and dropped the price again. Right now, I've decided to sell them by the pound, with 2 sides. Most are on the heavy side now, and 3 might run over $30, but the last batch averaged over 1 lb per rib (raw weight), whereas some I've gotten have been less than 1/2 lb per rib (raw weight), justifying the need to sell by the pound. Most other things are more expensive now because we had previously pegged our prices too low to make any profit. We're giving 2 sides with the smoked meat, but want to cut down on waste that inevitably found its way into the garbage, so please choose something that you'll eat, or believe that you will. We hate wasting food here.

On a lighter note, our former employee, Ari Weiner, is just completing the curriculum at the Cordon Bleu, honing his culinary skills. He's shomer Shabbos and has his Servesafe credential, so I'm considering teaching him smoking technique and sausage making, then letting him run with it and try to make this a real restaurant rather than more of my hobby. Advantages might be more vegetarian and lighter foods, salads and the like, to complement the already existing heavy meat selections. If we can make the restaurant more appealing to a wider audience without quality suffering, and if we can actually get more customers in because of it, it will benefit everyone.

We have been thrilled to have more nonJewish customers coming in to explore our menu items. People from close to the neighborhood, Muslim hallal eaters from the Pakistani and Indonesian community, folks just passing on Burbank Blvd., people who have traveled from near and far. We're a kosher restaurant, but we truly appreciate the interest shown by people outside the Jewish community, even with the high price of the meat relative to nonkosher BBQ. Thanks! You're always welcome here! And thanks for the excellent Yelp.com reviews!

We'll be starting off being open Sunday through Thursday. However, in the future, we may be closed Mondays and/or Tuesdays (we've been open on those days, but with very disappointing sales), but will try to always be open Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Of course, we'll be available for catering anytime, except Shabbos and major Jewish holidays. Keep in mind that we do smoke and sell whole turkeys, by special order, and can smoke any kosher meat and poultry available. Also, we are happy to provide any sides in any quantities, from whole sweet potato pies or trays of corn pudding or cornbread, to whole chocolate cream pies or pecan pies for dessert, also by special order. And if you need ribs in bulk or whole briskets or lots of smoked chicken, don't hesitate to order those, too, at any point in time.

We decided not to keep the RCC, as of October 10,2009, when our contract expired. Even that small monthly savings is useful and necessary at this time. We had a good relationship with the RCC, but I daven with Rabbi Furst, and he has been with us since the inception of the restaurant, and there's probably no good reason to have 2 hashgachas. In the end, with no mashgiach temidi anyway, it remains a question of trust in my own ability to implement kashrus decisions, not really the trustworthiness of the hashgacha. Both the RCC and Rabbi Furst are trustworthy hashgachas with similar, but not necessarily identical shitas (Rabbi Furst, for instance, allows checking of leafy vegies for bugs, while RCC does not, thereby limiting our sources for such things), both require glatt meat and pas yisroel baked goods- in the past, we've gone with the most strict of the hashgachas on any question (for bugs and vegies, it has been RCC). It should be noted that by checking things like broccoli using Rav Heinemann's shita, we would again have the ability to provide broccoli salad, one of our most successful salads. We are going to try to procure a vegetable checking guide from Reuven Nathanson of the OU, so that we can be sure our checking is "mainstream", not just acceptable by Rabbi Furst and ourselves but also the majority of the world, assuming there are any differences in standards.

We are trying to figure out a way to offer delivery "over the hill". Our previous proposal had no takers. We welcome suggestions: tel: 818-752-6866, email: craig@ganeden.com

I'd like to do much more catering. I know that many people who want catering want full service on-site catering, and that's not necessarily something I'm currenly capable of doing. But I am capable of piling delicious food into steam table pans and delivering meat and sides for a pretty inexpensive kosher experience. At your next soiree, wouldn't it be great to provide a couple of juicy ribs, cole slaw and sweet potato pie for around $20 per person? Why do the stuffy, formal sit down thing at multiples of the prices we charge for drop-off catering of BBQ? Is the grilled chicken breast on a bed of lettuce really an improvement at twice the price? If you have 10 or 20 or 100 or 500 people, and know in advance, we can set you up with delicious informal fun food. Available for brissen, rehearsal dinners, vorts, sheva brachos, simchas beis hashoevas, world series or superbowl parties, family reunions, Shabbos dinners and lunches (smoked chicken works well), you name it. I'm please to do any traditional-style (but kosher) BBQ, not limited to the spicy Texas BBQ we typically serve at the restaurant, and can even prepare unsmoked roasts or chickens, if BBQ is not what you are looking for. Note that I typically smoke turkeys for use around Thanksgiving, but I can do it anytime- when fresh turkeys are unavailable, I can use frozen.

After having relocated to SoCal, and finding myself predictably out of work, and having nothing better to do with my time, I began a great love affair with BBQ. In 2005, seemingly every food publication was talking BBQ. I learned that BBQ is not grilling, but instead is "low and slow" roasting in the presence of wood smoke. Turns out I had never had real BBQ in my life, but rather sauced meat that people called BBQ. But with everyone talking about it, it must be compelling. So I began doing it, to see why everyone was talking about it, to see why it was compelling. It wasn't just the ambience of the BBQ restaurants, because as I learned, there is no ambience. BBQ was frequently served in dirty, smoky holes-in-the-wall, charming in their way, but devoid of the props (fine china, white tablecloth, great table service) that propel many of us to try new restaurants. Instead, it's all about the food- solid, masculine, smoky meat, with sides like you'd get at home from your grandma if she had grown up and learned to cook in the '30s or '40s, Settlement Cookbook style. I'm talking about macaroni and cheese (obviously not on my menu), cole slaw and potato salad, baked potatoes, various vegetable casseroles, etc. And of course, Barbecue is typically served on paper, with a minimum of fuss.

Surprising as it may be, we discovered that the Jewish community, especially the women, don't seem to respond kindly to paper. Consequently, we switched a while back to china/stoneware, inauthentic though it may be. More important to have customers. We tried to do some other comfort foods that we really enjoy, namely jook and pho. They didn't catch on, and they were time consuming and expensive to make, too expensive, that is, to have them go bad due to lack of sales. Problem is that only a few people tried them, though those people still request them.

Open Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday by appointment to pick up pre-ordered Shabbos take-out (order by Wednesday to be assured of having exactly what you want, since the smoking must take place Thursday), so please call or email at ganeden@ganeden.com on Sunday-Thursday. We will be happy to deliver catering anytime, aside from Shabbos and Jewish holidays.

Hours: Lunch, 11:00am-2:00 pm, Dinner, 4:30pm- 9:00pm

If you can, take-out is better than sit-down, due to only 32 seats in the restaurant, and ordering in advance is better than coming in and ordering.

Smoked BBQ Dinners

Smoked Turkey: ¼ lb. = $9.95, ½ lb. = $15.95 Not currently available!

Smoked turkey breast with Alabama white BBQ sauce, modified from Dr. BBQ's recipe. A favorite!

½ Smoked Chicken: $14.95

half a 3 lb chicken, dry rubbed and smoked, melt-in-the-mouth tender

Smoked Beef Back Ribs: $18.00/lb, with 2 sides, specify sloppy/saucy at time of order if you want

dry rubbed and smoked, juicy and delicious. Normally served dry , but may be ordered dipped in my sister's BBQ sauce recipe, when we have it in stock (we run out frequently)

Dinosaur Bone (long bone short ribs) Not currently available!

Boneless short ribs: $13.95 for quarter lb, $20.95 for half lb Currently on Special!

Frequently out of this one, as the prices keep increasing and it's no longer a good value. Still, we keep trying, hoping to get some especially meaty short ribs like we originially were able to source. Lately, not a lot of luck, at a price that makes them worthwhile

Smoked Brisket: ¼ lb. = $15.95, ½ lb. = $24.95

Dry rubbed and smoked, served dry (BBQ sauce available at the table), we start serving the flat (first cut) first, until it gets dry, then switch over to the point (second cut) which is fattier and remains juicy

Sampler, Combo Plate: $25.95 (1 small Rib, ¼ chicken, 3 oz. Brisket) Currently Available, not on posted menu!

Lamb Breast, $21.95 Not Currently Available!

Unfortunately, we rarely have takers for this, so we make it only occasionally

Smoked Beef Shanks: ¼ lb. = $12.95, ½ lb. = $19.95

Smoked "Pastrami Cut" (beef belly meat): ¼ lb. = $9.95 , ½ lb. = $15.95 Not Currently Available!

Grilled Menu

Grilled Boneless Rib- Eye Steak: 12 oz. = $23.95, 14 oz. = $27.95, 16 oz.= $29.95 (cut to order from boneless ribeye roasts) Not Currently Available!

Hamburger on Bun with cole slaw or beans $8.20, (Includes lettuce, pickles onion, tomatoes, and Thousand Island dressing.)

Hamburger on Bun with cole slaw or beans, 2 patties $9.95

Sausages, homemade, prices vary!

Sandwiches

Pulled Beef, topped with Cole Slaw $10.93

Pulled Chicken, topped with Cole Slaw $8.20

Italian Sausage (approx 1/4 lb. raw weight), sliced and served on Ciabatta with sauteed Peppers $8.95

Burgers, with fries, beans or cole slaw (just 1 side): 1 patty (1/4 lb raw weight) $8.20, 2 patties $9.95

Homemade Sausages

Smokin' homemade sausage on bun: 1/4 lb raw weight: $7.95, 1/3 lb raw weight: $9.95, 1/2 lb $12.95

Other sizes of sausage, prices depend upon raw weight of sausage: Sausages alone- $20/lb raw weight

Childrens' Menu (only 12 and under)

Hot Dog with Fries, Beans, or Cole Slaw $4.95

Hamburger on Bun with Fries, Beans, or Cole Slaw $8.20

Side Dishes (Your choice of 2 with dinner), but additional:

Corn on the Cob (seasonal, of course) $2.25

Fries $2.25

Cornbread (4 pieces) $2.25

Cucumber Tomato Salad $2.25

Coleslaw $2.25

Potato Salad- Mayo $2.25

Potato Salad- German Style (mustard) $2.25

Baked Beans $2.25

Corn Pudding $2.25 Not Currently Available!

Sweet Potato Pie $2.25

Other

Soups when available: small $4.95, large $9.95 Not Currently Available!

Individual pot pies, hopefully available soon Not Currently Available!

Individual pecan tarts $3.00 ea.

Beverages

Soda, Water $2.00

Snapple, Perrier $2.75

Pitcher of Ice Tea $2.75 Not Currently Available!

* Menu varies. All prices subject to change.