There's gnocchi. And a salad Caprese. And spaghetti and meatballs. There's salmon with roasted peppers. And eggplant stuffed with quinoa. And chicken fingers breaded with crushed matzo.
There's even matzo lasagna. "You wouldn't have anyone even try to construct a lasagna 50 years ago," says Cleveland, who's a fan of the new Passover items that have come on the market, including pastas and dinner rolls made with potato starch.
He says the rolls tasted so good, in fact, it was unsettling for some of the older Jews who thought they couldn't possibly be allowed for Passover.
Schnerb calls the lasagna "out of this world." "You'd never know it was Passover," she says.
Breakfasts include not just matzo brei, a traditional fried matzo dish, but eggs with cheddar cheese, blintzes and pancakes made with matzo meal. "Nobody wants to have sort of the same kind of meal every day," says Shirley Kenick of Pikesville, who tried Passover at Pearlstone last year and plans to return this year.
Lunch is lighter - often a fish or a vegetable-based dish, such as stuffed peppers. Cleveland almost always offers salads, often jazzed up with nuts and cheese.
Baltimore's Esther Pelberg, who has attended for a number of years, is impressed with the variety of dishes and Cleveland's way of making them elegant.
"It's tempting and tasty," she says. "Like you're going to an exquisite exclusive place in midtown Manhattan."
Cleveland tends to shy away from Passover desserts, which are notoriously disappointing. Instead he likes to serve fresh fruit, and maybe some spongecake or macaroons. He also makes his own homemade candied nuts - a kosher treat he likes to make year-round.
"We're passing on the joy of cooking to those who are eating," he says. "When you put in joy and love, it's extra flavor you're not going to typically find in an institutional setting."
quinoa salad
(serves 10)
14 ounces dry quinoa (about 2 1/3 cups)
1 cup diced sun-dried tomato
1 cup fresh basil
3 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 medium-sized diced Bermuda onion
1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced
dash of kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
4 ounces extra-virgin olive oil (about 1/2 cup)
2 ounces fresh mint and parsley (about 1/4 cup), combined and diced small, to top
