New York

I am a Jew, yet I love to eat pork and shellfish. I love to eat pork and shellfish, yet I am Jew. Those two facts have been inextricably entwined in my being for as long as I can remember. But I got over the guilt a long time ago. Thankfully, so has Mara Levi. Like me, she is a Jew who grew up in a place where being kosher is an impossible proposition for people who live to eat. Whereas I was weaned on Maryland crabs, Mara spent her formative years in Texas BBQ country. At Mara’s Homemade, hidden amongst the curry joints of Little India, Mara and her daughters serve up southern comfort food as well as Cajun and Creole dishes and Arkansas BBQ. The pulled pork is so good it will make you question the infallibility of a God who tells His children not to eat such things. And the Crawfish Mara, spiral pasta cooked, covered with spicy cream sauce, and swimming with crawfish tails, smells so good it might convince Maimonides to take a bite if he dropped by. But like all Jewish mothers, her best dish is brisket, although Mara’s is smoked southern style.

Photo:  David Freedenberg