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Glace, a new Upper East Side ice cream shop, carries on the Zabar family tradition
(New York Jewish Week) — It’s not every day that a new ice cream parlor opens on the Upper East Side — much less a new, “French-inspired” scoop shop opened by the offspring of one the most famous Jewish families in New York’s culinary scene.
On a sunny Wednesday afternoon, Sasha Zabar launched his latest food venture: Glace, an ice cream parlor that boasts some 20 homemade flavors, including Pistachio White Chocolate and PB&J. He’s the grandson of Lillian and Louis Zabar, who founded the eponymous Upper West Side gourmet grocery and appetizing store in 1934, and the son of Eli Zabar, the Upper East Side restaurateur who has 10 different stores and eateries.
Motivated by the lack of ice cream options in the neighborhood, Sasha Zabar decided to open Glace. (Julia Gergely)
Within minutes of the opening of Glace — the French word for ice cream — a gaggle of high schoolers had already made it their mid-afternoon hangout spot, crowding around bright red outdoor dining tables.
“There’s really nowhere to get ice cream in the neighborhood,” Zabar, 31, told the New York Jewish Week as he scooped cups and cones from behind the counter for the steady trickle of customers. “I grew up here and there used to be a Ciao Bella on 92nd between Madison and Fifth. After that closed in 2010, I’ve always wanted another ice cream store nearby.”
Located at 1266 Madison Ave., Glace occupies the former location of the French gluten-free bakery Noglu, which is also operated by Eli and Sasha. The bakery moved to a larger location just a few doors down at the beginning of 2022.
And though the scoop shop’s small, bright pink storefront with just a few stools for indoor seating is a new, independent venture, Glace stays true to the space’s gluten-free roots: Noglu’s gluten-free brownies and cookies are incorporated into several flavors, and the housemade waffle cones are also gluten-free. Glace offers homemade soft serve, sorbet, sundaes and milkshakes, and liquid toppings like hot fudge and raspberry sauce.
The “Eton Mess,” a $12 sundae that includes vanilla ice cream, strawberry sorbet, strawberry jam, whipped cream and toasted almonds. (Julia Gergely)
“I did all the flavors, I designed the store, it’s my vision being executed with a little bit of Noglu and Eli’s influence. But it’s a separate business,” Zabar said when asked how he feels about carrying on the family tradition. “It feels good, but it’s different in many ways. I want it to be its own thing.”
Then again, Zabar’s desire to strike out on his own also has precedent in the family: His father Eli split from the original Upper West Side Zabar’s business in 1973 when he moved across the park to found gourmet food shop E.A.T. Sasha Zabar and his twin, Oliver, have been involved in their father’s food empire for half a decade, and have already launched a few of the brand’s businesses, including Eli’s Night Shift, a craft beer bar on 79th and Third Ave., and Devon, a Lower East Side restaurant and cocktail bar that closed in 2021.
Zabar noted that many of his 20-some flavors — including Toasted Almond, which is reminiscent of a “gourmet version of Good Humor bar,” Zabar said, and Banoffee, a banana and salted caramel flavor — are inspired by memories from a childhood filled with Jewish celebrations, although he has yet to focus on particularly “Jewish” flavor profiles (like the Chocolate Covered Caramel Matzoh Ice Cream sold at his father’s shop this Passover for $20 a pint). “I am mostly focused on good ingredients and good flavors,” he said.
On opening day — which Zabar referred to as “an early draft” — Zabar had already identified some changes he wanted to make. The ice cream was harder than he intended (a freezer temperature fix) and he wanted to reorganize the toppings — the jars of almonds, pistachios, sprinkles and honeycomb meringue weren’t as obviously displayed as he wanted them to be.
“There are still some things that may change,” he said, adding that he plans to rotate flavors and toppings weekly, depending on what’s in season and what’s popular. “I just want to get it up and running and we’ll see where it goes.”
Zabar scoops a mango sorbet for one of the shop’s first customers. (Julia Gergely)
As for Glace’s customers, none seemed to pick up on Zabar’s perceived missteps. Several Upper East Siders out walking their dogs or taking a stroll excitedly popped their heads in to see what was finally filling the space that had been vacant for a year. While many walked in with promises to come back soon, some purchased cones, others ordered scoops and one chic older woman even tried the “Mac-wich,” a scoop of ice cream sandwiched in between two homemade, gluten-free macarons.
“I have a lot of thoughts,” said Lily, a ninth grader from a nearby high school, who stopped by to try out a mango sorbet in a waffle cone. “I’m scared to go to Noglu because it’s so expensive; I don’t even want to ask for water. I’m glad there is somewhere else to go and I love the flavors.”
(For what it’s worth, a gluten-free croissant at Noglu will set you back $10.50. A small scoop at Glace costs $7 — the cones are an additional $3.)
Her friend Lauren, who is gluten-free, opted for a chocolate cone, telling the New York Jewish Week that Glace’s opening “is really special to me.”
“I love the aesthetic, the flavors are amazing, I haven’t had a cone in five years because I can never find a gluten-free one,” she said. “It shouldn’t be three extra dollars, but at the same time I’m willing to pay for it. It’s really good.”
The pair couldn’t talk long — they were rushing to finish their ice cream cones before they melted in the sunshine. Plus, their next class began in three minutes.
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The post Glace, a new Upper East Side ice cream shop, carries on the Zabar family tradition appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Netanyahu pushes back on Vance’s claims that US is Israel’s ‘only powerful ally’
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Vice President JD Vance’s recent claims that the U.S. is Israel’s “only powerful ally” left in the world.
When asked on Fox News Sunday what his reaction was to Vance’s remarks, which came as Israeli ministers criticized the framework deal signed by the U.S. and Iran to end hostilities, Netanyahu replied, “I respect JD Vance. We have a very good relationship, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with everything that he says.”
“I have to point out this: Donald Trump is a great, the greatest friend we ever had in the White House, and I stand by that completely,” Netanyahu continued. “Secondly, we have some other friends, like a small country called India, you know, it has 1.4 billion people, and boy, do we have a tremendous support there.”
Netanyahu added that Israel also has the support of “many others,” but did not elaborate on which countries he was referring to.
“The relations are not quite as they appear, and we have, we have many, many friends, and I have to tell you, we also take care of our friends, especially the Christians in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister also dismissed the claim that there was any rift between the United States and Israel regarding the deal with Iran, telling Fox that he and President Donald Trump were “set on the same goal.”
“President Trump is the leader of the United States. He does what’s good for America. I’m the leader of Israel, the one and only Jewish state. I do what’s good for Israel,” Netanyahu said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, we see eye to eye, but as any, in any family, in any close friendship, there are sometimes differences of opinion, and we discuss them openly.”
Netanyahu also said that he and Trump have “common objectives” regarding the U.S. deal with Iran.
“We want to see Iran give up its nuclear weapons program. We want to see the nuclear enriched material removed. We want to see the enrichment sites for nuclear material dismantled,” Netanyahu said, adding, “as long as I’m prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons.”
On Saturday, Trump told Axios that Netanyahu had requested a meeting at the White House and said that the pair gets along “very good” and that the Israeli leader “knows who the boss is.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Netanyahu pushes back on Vance’s claims that US is Israel’s ‘only powerful ally’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Former Israeli hostages Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen wed in emotional ceremony
(JTA) — Two former Israeli hostages have wed, in the first marriage of hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen were visiting Trufanov’s family on Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 when they were attacked and abducted to Gaza. Trufanov’s father was murdered. Cohen was freed during a temporary ceasefire after 55 days, while Trufanov was held for nearly 500 days.
They married on Sunday in Israel, in a ceremony attended by multiple former hostages as well as Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who posted a picture of himself under the chuppah, or wedding canopy, with Trufanov and Cohen.
“We prayed for your return, we were moved to tears when you came back home, and this evening we were privileged to rejoice together with you and to bless you under the chuppah on your joyous day,” Herzog wrote.
While other freed hostages have celebrated births and engagements, the wedding is the first for a former hostage. It comes just days after Israel marked the 1,000th day since Oct. 7, and as the government’s handling of the hostage crisis continues to roil Israeli politics ahead of a looming election. Last week, Nitzan Alon, an Israeli army major general who was part of a small hostage negotiation team, said at a conference that more hostages could have been returned alive had the Israeli government made different decisions, strengthening a widespread belief within Israel.
Alon, too, was present at Trufanov and Cohen’s wedding.
After Trufanov stepped on a glass, the traditional signal for the execution of the marriage, Eyal Golan’s “Am Yisrael Chai,” an anthem of Jewish and Israeli solidarity during the Gaza war, began playing.
Rom Braslavski, another hostage who was briefly held with Trufanov in Gaza, posted pictures of himself with his friend at the wedding, as well as a video of him and the newly married couple being hoisted to dance.
“Today, we are together, not in Rafah, not stuffed in a trunk, but free and you are in a beautiful groom’s suit marrying Sapir. How much you talked about her, my brother,” he wrote on Instagram. “There is nothing happier for me than accompanying you on this day, and I hope both of you will bring into the world happy little children and that they won’t know evil. May they not know war, with God’s help.”
Another wedding featuring a former hostage is scheduled for next month. Eliya Cohen, who was held for 505 days, marked his engagement to Ziv Abud in a party that took place last week. He wore a jacket that read “Bring them Home” when other grooms wore it during the hostage crisis. With all hostages out of Gaza since January, Cohen altered it to read “Dad, thank you,” a mantra that he said sustained him during his captivity.
Cohen did not know that Abud had survived the attack on the Nova music festival until after his release. While he was held hostage, she drew attention to his plight by setting a romantic table with an unfilled place on the boardwalk in Tel Aviv.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Former Israeli hostages Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen wed in emotional ceremony appeared first on The Forward.
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Hundreds of Patriot Front members march in Washington on July 4, alarming Jewish groups
(JTA) — Hundreds of people affiliated with the white supremacist group Patriot Front marched in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, in a July 4 show of force by the group founded by a veteran of a landmark 2017 far-right rally that featured an antisemitic chant.
The marchers in Washington wore masks and some carried Confederate flags, according to reports and video from the scene. At times, they chanted “Reclaim America!” — a rallying cry channeling the group’s nativist agenda.
While Patriot Front’s public activities mostly center on its anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ agenda, the Anti-Defamation League has repeatedly cited the group, founded in 2017, as the largest purveyor of antisemitic materials in the United States.
One of the group’s signature slogans, which members displayed on a banner in Washington in 2023, is “No Zionists in Government.”
The previous year, the group’s internal communications, obtained and leaked by an independent media collective, showed that some members used Nazi slogans and that one member was accepted on the basis of an application in which he declared that the “biggest threat to America is Jewish domination over the world.” Group leaders criticized how the chat logs had been obtained but did not challenge the veracity of their contents.
In a statement on Sunday, the ADL called Patriot Front “the most visible white supremacist group operating in the U.S. today” and noted that its previous public rallies had been much smaller.
“The size of the march is concerning,” the ADL said about the Saturday rally.
Patriot Front’s founder, Thomas Rousseau, was a leading participant in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which attendees chanted “Jews will not replace us” while carrying burning torches. The chant refers to an antisemitic conspiracy theory positing that Jews are engineering mass immigration in order to displace white people. Rousseau later testified that he heard the chant but thought attendees might have been saying “you will not replace us.”
The 2017 rally fueled criticism of President Donald Trump, who did not immediately comment on it and then placed blame on “both sides” while condemning the display of “hatred, bigotry and violence.” It also animated the presidential run of Joe Biden and spurred a successful lawsuit against the rally’s organizers by an advocacy group called Integrity First for America, whose leader, Amy Spitalnick, is now CEO of the Jewish Council on Public Affairs.
“Patriot Front is an offshoot of one of the white supremacist groups we (successfully) sued for orchestrating the Charlottesville violence,” Spitalnick said in a JCPA statement on Sunday. “They are emboldened because their extremism has been wholly normalized by the administration and others.”
Trump has not commented publicly on this weekend’s Patriot Front march, which took place during festivities to celebrate the United States’ 250th birthday. A top administration official did not directly answer when CNN’s Dana Bash asked him whether he would urge Trump to denounce the group.
“What they stand for is nothing that I could possibly agree with,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told Bash, who is Jewish and has made antisemitism a focus of her recent coverage. “But one of the foundational principles of the United States, which makes democracy messy, is free speech.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Hundreds of Patriot Front members march in Washington on July 4, alarming Jewish groups appeared first on The Forward.
