Levana Kirschenbaum is an American restaurateur, caterer, cooking teacher and food writer. She is almost always referred to solely by her given name, Levana.
Childhood, education and personal life
Levana was born and reared in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
.
She studied in France, and immigrated to the United States in 1972.
She is married to Maurice Kirschenbaum, they have three children.
Career
Levana has taught kosher cooking classes, written cookbooks, and run a catering service and a bakery, but is probably best known as one of the partners in Levana's Restaurant.
Levana opened a kosher bakery on the
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
of Manhattan in 1976.
Restaurant
Levana’s was a fine dining restaurant in Manhattan, now defunct after more than thirty years in business.
Levana’s was credited with "pioneering" the category of fine dining for a
kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
observant clientele.
The restaurant, located in Manhattan's
Lincoln Square neighborhood, opened in the 1970s and was owned and operated by the Kirschenbaum family, including its namesake, Levana Kirschenbaum, her husband Maurice, his brother Sol, and a third brother.
The manager was Sol Kirschenbaum.
Cookbooks
* ''Levana Cooks''
* ''Lévana's Table: Kosher Cooking for Everyone'' (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2002)
* ''Lévana Cooks DairyFree!''
* ''The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen: Glorious Meals Pure and Simple''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirschenbaum, Levana
Chefs from New York (state)
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Moroccan emigrants to the United States
American cookbook writers