The 5th Avenue Deli: ‘Clean,’ ‘High Quality’ Food from a Friendly Face

A Lifelong Businessman Faces the Challenge of his Career Operating a Kosher Deli
“I was a businessman in my retirement,” said owner Fred Boldaji, “but they called me up and offered me a challenge.”

Three years ago the George Washington University didn’t have a kosher restaurant on campus. Even today, many students still don’t know the 5th Avenue Deli exists.

“Jewish kids come by and say ‘we didn’t know you were here,’” Boldaji explained.

But things are changing for the solely certified kosher restaurant on campus.

“We started off slow, but we’re doing better and better each month,” the owner stated.

The strategy is simple: if one person has a good experience, Jewish or not, kosher or not, he or she will come back.

In the heart of Passover, Students struggle for food

As many Jews will admit, especially college students, lasting eight days without any chumetz, or bread products, can be particularly difficult, even more so when there are a limited number of kosher for Passover choices.
In my interview with the owner of the 5th Avenue Deli, and manager of Energy Zone, both located in The Marvin Center, Mr. Fred Boldaji acknowledged the difficulty for Jewish students to acquire a kosher for Passover meal. “We tried to open [5th Avenue Deli], they wouldn’t let us keep kosher for Passover,” he stated as he explained the complicated rules of Hebrew law.
Though he does provide a moderate amount of snacks, Mr. Boldaji explained the decline in the number of orders from last year prompted him to buy fewer meals and less variety, which he attributes to the lack of time following spring break for students to order food.
Hillel in the meantime has partnered with the Jewish Student Organization in providing snacks in Kogan Plaza around noon, while providing dinners for Jewish students at night. Though the numbers never exceed 20, students do drop by Hillel between 6 and 7:30 each night for a meal. “It’s such a large Jewish population… it meets the needs of students,” explained Ben Wacks, the Jewish Student Life Coordinator.
For many Jewish students Passover seems like a nightmare. Alexa and Kimberly Wertman, a sophomore and junior respectively and sisters here at GW, explained that their father pre-cooked meals for them, but it still remains tough. “It’s easy to keep kosher for Passover when you’re home… we didn’t struggle until DC when we saw everybody eating chumetz,” Kimberly explained.
Junior Max Feinblatt certainly agrees. Though he has kosher for Passover food, such as turkey, matza, and chips, “It’s more difficult and annoying at school,” but he survives on “matza-pizza” for lunch and Hillel for dinner.
Freshman Daniel Lehrman, however, has a different strategy. He decided that he would take advantage of Passover and eat healthy foods, such as salad and lots of vegetables, while consuming more fluids. Though he has kept to his strategy, he admits, “It’s [still] hard though.”
Overall, the general consensus for my interviews produces a clear message: Jewish students here on campus cannot wait for Passover to end.