By Joshua Rosenstein, Assistant Editor, JTNews
On November 15, Miri Cohen and Ziva Shachaf will open their new café, Kinneret, at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island. Cohen and Shachaf are old friends who have dreamed of opening their own restaurant for years.
The past few months have seen great commotion at the JCC as Cohen and her husband Yal’e transformed the former Polack lounge into a café. Together with Shachaf and her sister, JCC member Irit Snyder, the Cohens built and painted walls, laid plumbing and electricity, assembled Ikea furniture, and cleaned ceaselessly. As of mid-November, they will be serving up fresh, homemade Israeli treats to all the homesick Israelis in the area.
"Our goal is to serve the Israeli and Jewish communities with authentic, Va’ad-certified kosher foods in a comfortable environment," said Yal’e. Café Kinneret will also offer specialty products imported from Israel that you can’t get anywhere else in town and take-out services.
"Miri is known far and wide for her bourekas," said Yal’e. "We’ll have homemade hummus, falafel, salads, sandwiches and espresso drinks as well. Our goal is for people to be able to swing by and pick up a complete dinner to take home, shop for Israeli specialty foods, or shmooze over homemade sandwiches and espresso drinks here in the café."
Yal’e, who is originally from Tel Aviv, used to own a falafel stand in the town of Givatayim, and his father owned one in Tel Aviv. Miri, who is Moroccan by heritage, has been passionate about cooking for as long as she can remember.
"We have always had large gatherings where she makes a wide variety of sumptious delights," said Yal’e. "Moroccan cooking lends itself to variety. A full spread of different kinds of salads and relishes is part of every meal."
The Cohens, together with friend and partner Shachaf, had looked at seven or eight different potential sites over the past few years in the Bellevue area, but each time found something not quite right. Finally, in the JCC, they found a location that met all of their desires.
The JCC is thrilled to have them.
"It’s really a nice fit in terms of the JCC’s ability to create a community-oriented environment," said JCC executive director Barry Sohn. "We want the J’ to be a place where people come to congregate and mingle. The addition of the new café will bolster that warm feeling. Besides, their food is great."
Cohen and Shachaf are not technically partners of the JCC, but their arrangement is more involved then a pure rental. They pay rent to the JCC, and they paid for the renovations, but not as much as they had originally planned on paying.
"At first we were going to do a much more significant remodeling, including putting in a full kitchen," said Yal’e. "The JCC told us that they wanted us to succeed, and therefore advised us to start a bit smaller."
For the time being, the café will use the center’s kosher kitchen.
"We did all of the renovations ourselves," Yal’e said, pointing out the rich maroon, olive and gold walls and the gleaming new pastry case. "We hope that along with serving the JCC members who come here anyway, eventually the café will draw a wider audience of Israelis and unaffiliated Jews that just want to enjoy authentic Israeli cooking in a nice environment."
Yal’e has big plans for the future. Eventually he hopes to have "Hebrew-aoke" and bring Israeli performers to the café. Meanwhile, Café Kinneret will be open from 7 a.m.6:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and by special arrangement. Grand opening is set for Nov. 15. Call 206-232-7115 for more information.