When Liz Mennen, a Manhattan transplant, arrived in Atlanta at age 22, she searched everywhere for a staple of her youth: the knish. But the dough-encrusted, potato-filled Jewish pastry was nowhere to be found, except in the frozen-food aisle of Kroger supermarkets. In April of this year—seven years after she arrived in Atlanta— she decided she'd had enough of a knish-less existence, and she served her first knish through her newly incorporated business, Oy Veg Kitchen.
Mennen's knishes epitomize the Jewish-food scene in Atlanta—steeped in tradition but constantly innovating. She makes two varieties: the Old School, which usually features caramelized onions and potatoes (sometimes she replaces the potatoes with seasonal veggies like kohlrabi), and the Sweet and Sassy, a Southern-inspired sweet-potato-filled version stuffed with a layer of ricotta cheese and seasoned with cayenne pepper.
Read Full Article »
