You'll love these North Jersey Rosh Hashana foods even if you're not Jewish

You don't have to be Jewish to love the food we Jews eat on the Jewish New Year. You just have to have a sweet tooth and like a little schmaltz.

And who doesn't? We humans, no matter our religion, ethnicity or race, are hard-wired to favor fatty and sweet eats. The reason? High-fat, high-calorie foods are an efficient source of energy, and the machines we live in, namely our bodies, need energy for survival (though, alas, not as much as many of us ingest).

And this holiday is an excellent time for some of that delicious, body-pleasing fat and sweet (with greater emphasis on sweet).

Rosh Hashanah begins this year on September 15. What eats will be on many holiday tables? Challah, chopped liver, chicken soup, brisket, honey and honey cake — food that not only tastes good but makes you feel good, said Jonny Shore, owner of Ma'adan, a 40-year-old Kosher store in Teaneck.

On Rosh Hashanah, Shore said, "you want to eat food that brings comfort."

Natalie Lee, chef and owner of Mikki & Al's Noshery in Montclair, said, "Rosh Hashanah food is pure comfort. It takes you back to the olden days when mom — not to sound sexist — stayed home and cooked meals and the whole family sat down and had dinner. Rosh Hashanah is a reset of tradition."

The following are among the traditional Rosh Hashanah foods — plus, if you'd rather let someone else do the cooking, where to get them in North Jersey. You might want to pick up some yourself, even if you're not Jewish. After all, Jewish or not Jewish, we're all hard wired to like the foods of Rosh Hashanah.

Round Challah

My father would drive from our home in Queens to Borough Park, Brooklyn, to get fresh-baked challah for the holiday. Thank goodness you don't have to. There are a number of bakeries in the region that crank out the slightly-sweet, eggy, brioche-like bread for Rosh Hashanah, but unlike traditional challah, it's not long and braided but round. Why round? Among the explanations you'll find are that the roundness symbolizes the cyclical nature of life and is the shape of a crown, for crowning God.

"We make thousands and thousands of them for the holiday," said Samantha Rose, a manager at Zadies Bake Shop in Fair Lawn. And the shop makes them in 10 different flavors, including raisin, cinnamon crumb, poppy seed and garlic and onion.

You can also get round challahs at Liv Breads Artisan Bakery and Coffee Bar, an award-winning bakery in Millburn, La Tabatiere, a jewel box French bakery in Closter, and at the Swiss Chalet in Morristown. It has been making round challahs for at least three decades — in three flavors: poppy seed. raisin and plain. "You can get a one-pound or a two pound loaf," said Christina, a manager who chose not give her last name. "They're amazing."

Looking for something different? Butterflake, a kosher and nut- and sesame-free bakery in Teaneck, offers a variety of challahs including chocolate-filled and a challah in the shape of an open Torah. But for a true showstopper, the bakery makes a round challah covered in gold. You must order it ahead of time. The cost: $49.99.

Chicken Soup

A Friday night staple in my parents' house, chicken soup, dubbed Jewish penicillin for its supposed restorative powers, somehow manages to insert itself into nearly every Jewish holiday. Count Rosh Hashanah among them.

"It's very popular for Rosh Hashanah," said Avi Friede, owner of The Kosher Nosh, a near half-century-old kosher deli in Glen Rock. Especially matzo ball soup. In fact, The Kosher Nosh not only sells soup with matzo balls but just the matzo balls, for those who'd rather make the broth themselves. "We make everything from scratch," Friede said.

Ma'adan, which claims to be the first kosher store in Teaneck, sells matzo ball soup too. But its broth is cooked without chicken meat; it is made with chicken bones. The bones' nutrients slowly leach out as they are cooked in a 90-gallon pot overnight, producing a viscous, rich, gold-colored liquid.

"It's absolutely delicious," said owner Shore. Get it with housemade noodles or matzo balls, "the best, fluffiest and firm matzo balls," said Shore.

Marc Silverberg, owner and chef of Marc's Cheesecake, a bakery and ice cream shop in Glen Rock, uses his grandmother Gussie's recipe for the matzo ball soup he offers. "It's the best I've ever had," he said. The matzo balls, he said, are "floaters, not sinkers." In other words, they're as light as a feather and a great sponge for the heady liquid they float in.

Mikki & Al's Noshery in Glen Rock too offers homemade chicken soup, filled with chunks of chicken and carrots, celery and onions, plus a bit of parsnip. "People love it," said Lee.

Chopped Chicken Liver

Here's where the schmaltz comes in. Schmaltz, literally rendered chicken fat, is being used loosely here, simply as fat, aka, the stuff that makes things taste so good, in addition to sugar, of course.

Lee of Mikki & Al's blends some schmaltz, the real thing, into her popular chicken chopped liver, to make it even more lush, luscious and delicious. "It's not your ShopRite chopped chicken liver," she said. No, her schmaltzy appetizer has bits of liver in it and, of course, rendered poultry fat.

"Schmaltz has a stigma," Lee acknowledged, "but it's just like butter. As far as I'm concerned, it's liquid gold." Liquid gold that you can spread on a slice of challah. Where can you get it? At kosher butchers apparently, if you're lucky, or well-stocked grocery stores. If all else fails, try Amazon ($40 for 14 ounces).

Want your chicken liver schmaltz-free? Head on over to The Kosher Nosh. Friede, the deli's owner, expects to sell 300 pounds of it this holiday season.

Brisket

Brisket starts out as a tough cut of meat — think of it as the shoulder of the cow. But you wouldn't know it when you bite into it, if it is cooked well, meaning, for a long time on low heat.

Ma'adan certainly takes its time with its brisket. "We've made it the same way for 40 years," owner Shore said. "There are no chemicals, no additives, it tastes like you made it at home. I tell everyone it's okay if you tell them you made it. And the best part, you don't have to clean any roasting pan." The shop expects to sell 400 pounds of brisket for the holiday.

Eppes Essen, a 67-year-old, Jewish-style deli in Livingston "sells tons of brisket" for Rosh Hashanah, said an employee, who preferred not to give his name. "We sell it by the pound." You can ask for it lean, extra lean, fatty. It's your call. Order how much you'd like over the phone — or stop in. If you do, take home some kasha varnishkes, buckwheat groats and noodles tossed with onions, a quintessential Jewish dish.

"Brisket is almost like lasagna," said Lee of Mikki & Al's Noshery. "It tastes even better the next day." And, what's more, whatever your guests don't eat, you can freeze. "It freezes phenomenally well," she said. "I can't tell you how many people call two weeks, three weeks, one month after purchasing it, to say 'I'm enjoying your brisket —once again'."

Honey Cake

What would Rosh Hashanah be without honey cake? Certainly not as sweet, and that, my friend, is a shonda. (That's Yiddish for shame.) What better way to start the new year than with a thick slice of moist, tender and — yes! — sweet honey cake. Honey, by the way, plays another important role in the Rosh Hashanah meal. Often, apple slices or a piece of challah are dipped into a bowl of honey and devoured; the honey symbolizes a sweet year. Some of us find it hard to stop at one or two slices.

You can get your honey cake at the Swiss Chalet Bakery in Morristown, which has been using the same recipe since its founding, Zadies Bake Shop in Fair Lawn (the cakes are baked in four-inch tins, a holdover from COVID days when most of us weren't entertaining); Butterflake in Teaneck; and Liv's in Millburn (Liv's ships its honey cake all over the nation via Goldbelly).

Here's to a Happy and Sweet New Year!

Where the stores are:

Butterflake Bakeshop, 448 Cedar Lane, Teaneck; 201- 836-3516; shopbutterflake.com

Eppes Essen, 105 E. Mt. Pleasant Ave., Livingston; 973-994-1120, eppesessen.com

La Tabatiere, 303 Herbert Ave., Closter; 201-767-2545, latabatiere.square.site/

Liv Breads Artisanal Bakery and Coffee Bar, 184 Essex S.t, Millburn, 973-218-6922, livbreads.com

Marc's Cheesecake, 251 Rock Road, Glen Rock; 201-857-0880, marcscheesecake.net/

Mikki & Al's Noshery, 79 Glenridge Ave., Montclair; 973-744-7100, mikkiandals.com

Ma'adan, 446 Cedar Lane, Teaneck; 201-692-0192, maadan.com

Swiss Chalet Bakery, 159 South St., Morristown; 973-267-0092, swisschaletbakery.com

The Kosher Nosh, 894 Prospect St., Glen Rock; , 201-445-1186, koshernosh.com

Zadies Bake Shop, 19-09 Fair Lawn Ave., Fair Lawn; 201-796-6565, zadiesbakeshop.com/

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rosh Hashanah 2023: Where to get the best eats in North Jersey