It is with the food that Greenblatt’s skills really shine. Warning: this is not a great choice for vegans.
By LINDA GRADSTEINUpdated: NOVEMBER 25, 2018 12:40Hatch(photo credit: Courtesy)
If you’ve always wanted to meet a mad scientist wearing a large black kippah who can wax eloquent about sausage casings, then make it a point to visit Hatch Brewpub in Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehuda market.Efraim Greenblatt, the American-born owner, loves innovation. He taught himself to make beer by reading more than 50 books, and designed the entire restaurant with help from designers. The menu is printed only on paper since it changes so often. All of the beer is brewed in-house and is offered in either 400 ml. size (NIS 28) or 620 ml.(NIS 41).Greenblatt also has fun with names. There is “Rye Me?,” which is described as a “surprisingly fruity malt forward beer.” Other alternatives are “The Stoutest,” an English stout, “Soppy Hour,” a sour beer that was not to my taste and “Persian Weiss,” a Bavarian wheat beer that was my favorite.There are also unique cocktails including Bees Knees (NIS 47) of Tanqueray gin, wildflower honey syrup, lemon juice, and ginger tincture and the Pumpershmekel with Wild Turkey rye, caraway tincture, and fernet. What looked most intriguing to me was the Fruit Frose (NIS 32) a “fruit slushy iced rose.”Greenblatt said that “ladies who lunch” often down two or three of these slushies without realizing the alcohol content, leaving them tipsy.All of the syrups and tinctures are made in house.Full disclosure: as I visited Hatch at lunchtime, I limited myself to beer rather than cocktails, but plan to try them next time.It is with the food that Greenblatt’s skills really shine. Warning: this is not a great choice for vegans.Greenblatt’s Fried Chili Mac n Cheese Ball (NIS 24) is a fried ball of pasta, and two kinds of cheese topped with a beef chili. While one of the cheeses is vegan, Greenblatt said, the other is actually made with meat. Even the one dessert on offer, a large chocolate chip cookie, was made with beef tallow.The menu is relatively short, but the food is incredibly good. My dining companion was my good friend Jonathan Livny, a wine critic and foodie who repeatedly tells me that kosher food can’t be good. Even he was exclaiming over Greenblatt’s food.For me, the standout dish was the appetizer of buffalo wings (12 pieces for NIS 32), which the menu describes as “spicy, sweet, crunchy goodness” and “upsettingly delicious.” The wings are served with ranch dressing, and it’s hard to believe they are kosher. I stole another look at Greenblatt’s black kippah just to make sure.Buffalo wings are one of those dishes that those of us who keep kosher thought we could never order again, but Hatch makes it look easy.There are three types of sausages and everything, except the sausage casings, is homemade. “The Bangkok” is Thai-inspired, with peanuts and a peanut glaze and packs a kick. The “Po Boy” is a garlic sausage with tartar sauce and fresh tomato salsa, and the “Breakfast Sausage” is a maple sausage with fried egg, shoestring potatoes, pickled hot pepper and is, the menu asserts, “super-goyish.”Hatch offers any two sausages in buns baked onsite and “funyons” a crunch onion snack on the side for NIS 52.There are also sandwiches on offer including a sloppy joe, and “corned beef hatch,” with corned beef that is cured at the restaurant and served with caraway cabbage and cheesy sauce (NIS 62.) I tried the Korean short rib sandwich (NIS 64), which was meltingly soft short ribs topped with kimchi and a ginger glaze. I ate slowly, hoping to make it last longer.The writer was a guest of the restaurant.Hatch Brewpub Kashrut Rabbanut Mehadrin Ha’Egoz 28 Jerusalem Phone: 02-656-3691.
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