(New York Jewish Week) - Over the years, quite a few funny Jews have performed at Comedy Cellar, the prestigious stand-up comedy club in New York.
Who was not there - from John Stewart and Sarah Silverman to Mark Maron and Jerry Seinfeld.
Recently, a new Jewish comedian joined the list, who never comes from the world of comedy: Israeli top chef Einat Admoni.
It's a combination of the two talents of a redhead.
New York food and restaurant blog Grub Street reported last week that Admoni, the founding owner of Balbusta Restaurant and the "Delicious" falafel chain, was hired to refresh the menu of the Olive Tree Cafe, adjacent to the stand-up club and used as a gathering place for comedians to perform.
Admoni did update the menu and added to it her well-known crispy cauliflower dish, as well as her falafel that made "Delicious" a thriving chain, and also went one step further: once in a while, she moves from the restaurant to the legendary Comedy Cellar stage and gives a stand show A nose of its own.
Just last week she took the stage at the last minute as a warm-up for Amy Schumer.
Admoni, 50, has largely made Israeli cuisine popular in the United States and has become one of the most successful Israeli restaurants in the country.
And anyone who follows her career, also knows her special sense of humor.
When he was hosted, for example, in the Call your mother (Call Mom) website on the Kveller website, Admoni joked that she had signed her daughter, then 9, to a contract in which the girl pledged not to become a teenage monster.
"I've made a lot of business partnerships in my life and I know what a breach of contract is," she said.
A good sense of humor is an essential, but not enough, commodity to put on a stand-up show, especially in a city like New York abounding in top-notch comedians.
But Red is serious about it.
A few years ago she attended a comedy course in Comedy Cellar to make the hobby a little more serious.
"I wanted to learn something unrelated to cooking, restaurants, kids and my husband, or anything else familiar," Admoni said.
On stage, she discovered a surprising sense of release.
"Because I'm Israeli, I target a lot of venomous reactions on social media," Admoni said.
"On stage I have a chance to express my views."
Noam Deverman, the owner of the stand-up club and the cafe, is also Israeli.
He inherited them from his late father Menachem (Manny), in the early 2000s.
When Deverman heard that Admoni was interested in appearing, he thought she would also be the most suitable person to update the menu, which over time became the source of quite a few jokes.
"The club may be famous, but the food at Olive Terry's Cafe is a little less so," Grub Street blog read.
Admoni told the blog that she intends to honor the history of the cafe, both its Middle Eastern roots and its being a hostel for comedians.
"I tried to cancel some of the items on the menu but then they told me 'no, it's been on the menu for years'. Or they said 'no, the comedians like this dish', and I replied 'what do I care'," she said. "It's important to me that they put comedians at the top of their priorities. I understand that."
Although Admoni will always be "first and foremost a chef," as she told Time Out New York, she sees her two designations as two sides of the same coin.
"I definitely see a connection between comedy and cooking," she said.
"We are different and laugh at different things and enjoy different foods, so in both areas one needs to know how to satisfy many people."
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