Where to Find Passover Feasts for Dine-In and Takeout in San Diego

With restaurants back to business, this year’s Passover can be celebrated with friends and family over a table of chef-cooked traditional dishes or perhaps with a spring feast at home featuring classic seder plates and other specials foods. For those going out, or staying in, we’ve put together a roundup of where to find anyone staying in, we’ve found places to help with that, too — some are restaurants with takeout specials, some are grocery stores and some are places that specialize in catering.

D.Z. Akin’s

D.Z. Akin’s and its vast menu are a go-to for Jewish cuisine in San Diego. For Passover, this restaurant, deli, soda fountain, and bakery has traditional Passover dishes such as matzo ball soup and gefilte fish with rye bread, along with roasted beef brisket with gravy, roasted chicken, stuffed cabbage rolls, and a hefty assortment of other main courses and sides.

Gelson’s

Gelson’s

With locations in Pacific Beach, Carlsbad, and Del Mar, high-end grocery store Gelson’s has put together a Passover menu with 13 choices, some a la carte and some packages. Order before April 23 at 6 p.m. and pick up your to-go dinner between April 12 and April 25. Here are some of the tantalizing traditional meat and side dishes: Roasted garlic red potatoes with a touch of garlic, salt, pepper, and EVOO; tzimmes, loaded with sweet potatoes, carrots, pineapples, prunes, and spiced with honey and cinnamon; slow roasted brisket; and family meals that feed up to four people for $85 to $90.

The Place Catering

This Glatt Kosher certified caterer follows the “highest possible standard of Kashrut in San Diego,” according to its website. The Passover essentials menu has three items, including a seder plate. A long list of side and main dishes, plus several larger group packages (serving 10) means The Place is a great place to go for a range of Passover dinner needs and wants. Order before April 8 for pick up by April 14th.

Ben & Esther’s Vegan Deli

A vast selection of all-vegan versions of classic dishes can be found at this Portland transplant that recently opened in San Diego. The menu has a deli section stocked with vegan lox, whitefish, and noodle kugel and makes an accomplished chicken-less matzo ball soup. Specific Passover offerings will be posted on their Instagram page, but will feature a special plate with five or six choices for breaking the fast. It will have sweet and savory dishes, but no meat.

Terra American Bistro

This new American comfort food farm to table restaurant, which focuses on local and organic, is preparing a family special for Passover 2022, available for pick-up on April 15 with order and prepayment by April 12. On the menu, by chef award winning Jeff Rossman: a seder plate with extra charoset and matzo, gefilte fish with horseradish, a mixed green salad, and choices of entrees, soups, and side dishes. The finale: a dessert platter. Meals are priced and portioned for two or four ($79.99 to $139.99). Order through exploretock.com/terrasd/.

Elijah’s Restaurant

This Kearny Mesa restaurant, which also caters, has a Passover dinner special for $28.95 per adult and $12.95 per child under 10, with a choice of three appetizers, followed by matzo ball soup, a choice of three meat entrees (beef brisket, roasted chicken or salmon), and macaroons for dessert. For takeout Passover catering, they have a lengthy list of standards for this holiday, including charoset ($9.95 a pound), chopped herring, horseradish sauce and assorted meat entrees served by the piece or pound, as well as a traditional seder plate ($15.95). For those dining in, the permanent menu has matzo ball soup and other comfort foods, plus an array of cookies.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods

To pick up a Passover meal – or a family feast – from a Whole Foods Market location, order by April 21. Menu options include preserved lemon salmon, chicken and brisket dinners for four or eight (from $74.99 to $169.99), potato kugels, vegan charoset, gefilte fish, chopped chicken liver, and matzo ball soup, which Whole Foods described as “warm, comforting,” and packed with “all the flavors you love, but without the hassle or cleanup afterwards.”

SusieCakes

SusieCakes

This cake bakery, located at One Paseo, has a drool-worthy mix of sugary treats that are all fitting for a Passover dessert. Among them: Coconut macaroons, which they dole out either plain or chocolate drizzled (and offer by the piece or in boxes of up to a dozen), caramel matzo crunch (with bittersweet chocolate); a moist 9-inch flourless chocolate cake; and a dainty twist on that cake, shrunken to cupcake size and topped with a dollop of vanilla buttercream.