SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Judaism for chef Jamie Lauren was never focused on temples or religious rituals. Instead, she found a connection to her Jewish roots through food. Lauren grew up visiting New York's famous Jewish delis with her mom.
"We would go to Katz's and share a chopped liver sandwich, and we would have french fries and matzo ball soup," Lauren said.
Lauren has appeared on Top Chef and has worked as a high-end chef for many years. But she says she has always loved a classic matzo ball soup.
"There's a nostalgia I think that's attached to it, and I think a lot of people feel that way about matzo ball soup, so that's what makes it so special, and it brings up those memories."
So when the pandemic hit another peak this past winter, and things felt pretty bleak, Lauren's fiancée, Jessica Mei Gershen, cooked up a batch of her family's matzo ball soup. Her father, who died in 2011, passed down the recipe. It's a cherished dish with a top-secret matzo ball method at its heart.
"We all need comforting right now, and this soup provides our culture with a lot of comfort. Clearly, it's something a lot of other people want as well," Gershen said.
Matzo ball soup is enjoyed throughout the year, but especially over the Jewish holiday of Passover, when matzo and matzo meal replaces traditional flour for a week. The soup usually includes a chicken broth, pieces of chicken, and plenty of vegetables and herbs.
Gershen's family matzo ball soup was the best Lauren had ever tasted. With extra time on their hands, the couple began brainstorming. They had a hunch that others were also craving comfort food. Lauren cooked a batch of the soup to sell via Instagram to test the waters. They sold out in a few hours.
"I don't think we realized how strong the response was that we were going to receive," Gershen said.
Now they make the soup regularly from their home kitchen, and people order ahead — sometimes picking up six jars at a time. The soup goes for $15 a jar, and Lauren also makes pickles, mustard, and hot sauce — all by hand.
"I love pickling stuff, and I love how delicious pickles are — I eat a lot of pickles, and I love making hot sauce because I love spicy food. I like making things that I like to eat," Lauren said.
They quickly came up with a name for the new business, 2 Jewish Girls from NYC or @2Jewishgirlsfromnyc on Instagram.
Both Lauren and Gershen moved from the East Coast to California.
"We were like, what are we? Two Jewish girls from New York City!" Gershen said.
Lauren heads up the cooking, chopping onions, carrots, garlic, and parsnips for the soup, while Gershen handles the marketing and packaging — and serves as the occasional sous chef. It takes two days to make the soup. The chicken stock cooks for hours until it's a rich broth, and they craft the matzo balls by hand. They're light and fluffy, an essential part of the soup.
After cooking and packaging, people stop by to collect their orders. Hunter Braun had ordered his matzo ball soup to celebrate Passover.
"This is the first year I haven't cooked anything, I have a family seder in a few hours, so this actually worked perfectly," Braun said.
Other people have become regulars, picking up the soup whenever they can get their hands on it. Seeing people who are so excited is the perfect conclusion to days of work.
"It's immense satisfaction because there's all this work that's gone into it, and now people get to enjoy the fruits of our labor," Lauren said.