Get your tickets to Philadelphia’s first kosher barbecue event

HavaNaGrilla, Philly’s first kosher barbecue, will be held on the grounds of Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El Aug. 27 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. And you don’t have to be Jewish to come and have fun. It’s a carnival with wildly popular attractions for everyone – teens and toddlers, millennials, young and not so young.

Tickets and information go to www.phillykosherbbq.org. Prices are $10 for a single ticket, $20 for a family. Free Parking is at the Kaiserman Jewish Community Center on City Line Avenue and Haverford Road. Shuttle busses will run between the JCC and Temple Beth Hillel Beth El.

You can stroll from booths featuring face painting, animal balloons, a Beer Garden featuring local brews, a professional golf pro, animal and zoo experiments for kids – and a Mechanical Bull. There’s more. How about the pickle eating contest limited to 20 participants? Sign up ahead of time online. Barrels of pickles have been donated by The Pickle Guys of New York’s Lower East Side. How many of Pickle Guys’ finest can you eat in 4 minutes? The pickles are so good, the company ships throughout New York. And for the whisky and bourbon buffs among us , nips of the best aged Scotch and Bourbon are available for tasting.

If you just want to wander and let the kids have their own fun, browse and buy from 30 vendors. Philadelphia and Canadian artists will have a wide selection of unique crafts for sale. The temple’s sisterhood booth will offer a limited number of aprons printed with recipes and signed by celebrity chef Alon Shaya, as well as bamboo cutting boards branded with the HavaNaGrilla logo.

Food celebrities from every aspect of the kosher food arena will be on hand to help. While 20 competing teams are preparing the brisket, chicken and ribs in expectation of winning the coveted Dr. Walter Hofman Cup, rousing rock and roll will be provided by four rabbi rock bands. Gabriel Boxer, the Kosher Guru, is the MC.

Celebrity chefs will judge the food bonanza; Steven Cook from Philly’s Zahav, a restaurant constantly winning rave reviews, Alon Shaya, chef owner of award winning Restaurant Shaya, New Orleans and Abe Fisher restaurant’s Executive Chef, Yehuda Sichel, who creates Jewish dishes inspired by the foods and flavors of the Diaspora.

Besides barbecue and smoked beef sausages there will be grilled Jersey corn, local fruits and for vegetarians, Nana’s Kitchen will offer Israeli salads and Texas vegetarian chili.

Some contestants like Jeff Klein, weren’t always barbecue enthusiasts. A “sort of retired” pharmacist, Jeff is no slouch when it comes to smoking meats and fish. He explains “thirty years ago I smoked the fish I caught at the shore – and it was good.” Word spread. Now he’s sought after to cater barbecue events in the New York area. But his priority is Jakes Kosher Smoked Meats. From a Philadelphia storefront, from Thursday till Friday afternoon, smoked brisket, ribs, chicken and duck are snapped up by a classy clientele. Ari White, the nationally famous Wandering Que, will be cooking up a storm with 70 briskets, dozens of turkey legs, lamb ribs and chicken. Philadelphia’s kosher personal chef, event caterer and cooking teacher, Chef Daniel Israel, creates mouthwatering dishes for his clients. He hates waste as in the appetizer he will be demonstrating. “I’ll show how to transform leftover challah into a delicious Middle Eastern appetizer, Babaganoush …and they’ll go home and make it.”

Included in the dozens of raffle prizes: a Green Egg ceramic smoker, valued at $1,200, golf lessons and membership to the Jewish Community Center.

Proceeds from HavaNaGrilla will benefit the Jewish Federation Mitzvah Food Bank and the Narberth Food Bank.