Tuesday, December 7, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $115

Nobody ever has to ask, “You’re not going to finish that?” at Clinton Street Baking Company and Restaurant. According to The Village Voice, “It’s a restaurant where the plates return to the kitchen completely clean.” Though he isn’t a doctor, chef/co-owner Neil Kleinberg would make any mamaleh proud by serving the kind of food that’s so delicious you have to unbutton your pants and say “Oy, vey!” before you’re done. Don’t believe us? Then come to Kleinberg’s Ultimate Hannukah Dinner.

It’s not that Kleinberg, a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn, is famous for his kreplach and knishes—mind you, he does know his way around a matzo ball, and more to the point of this event, he has a way with potato latkes. In fact, his cooking career has taken him to such culinary heights as La Colombe d’Or, Simon’s at Lincoln Center, and the Water Club, where he worked under Rick Moonen for four years. Kleinberg was chef of Café Destin, Gauguin, and Bridgewater’s. But in 1995 he left Manhattan to return to his Brooklyn roots and to fulfill a childhood dream—he was named chef of Lundy’s in Sheepshead Bay. During his three-year tenure at the Brooklyn landmark, he developed the recipes for Lundy’s: Reminiscences and Recipes from Brooklyn’s Legendary Restaurant. But the hectic pace of a commercial kitchen took its toll, and to decompress he became a culinary instructor for runaway teenagers at Ezekiel’s Cafe, a program run under the auspices of Covenant House.

In April 2001 Kleinberg was ready to open his own place with his wife DeDe Lahman—sorry, all you yentas out there who thought you knew someone who’d be perfect—and he modeled it after a restaurant he’d like to eat in himself. “A little Jewish deli, a little French, a little American takeout, but it’s the best of all those places” is how he’s described it. With “the best damn biscuit in NYC” (per The Village Voice), “the most luscious muffins around” (per Travel + Leisure), “killer pancakes” (per New York), and a new dinner service that ranges from seared foie gras with apples and bacon (treyf, oy!) to wild blueberry pancakes, Kleinberg’s cooking makes everyone kvell—and a few mamalehs jealous. Nu?