![\"\"](\"http:\/\/graphics8.nytimes.com\/images\/2009\/04\/14\/nyregion\/kosherchinese2-480.jpg\" "\\"Cho-Sen")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So I co-hosted a seder this year and I was informed that I would be making the brisket. My reaction: “I’m Chinese. I cook small pieces of meat. I have no idea how to cook large pieces of meat.” <\/p>\n
Then I was like, well, I’ll just marinate it in soy sauce. And he told me that soy sauce isn’t kosher for passover because of the wheat and the soy. And I was like, “How do you cook meat without soy sauce?”<\/p>\n
The answer. One part ketchup to one part wine. Anyway that inspired me to write this piece for City Room<\/a>:<\/p>\n For Jews who are tired of eating Seder leftovers during Passover<\/a>, there is little respite. Most kosher restaurants have chosen to remain shuttered during the observance, since there are only two full days and two half-days of business during the eight days of Passover this year \u00e2\u20ac\u201d hardly worth the effort to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153re-kasher<\/a>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or clean, the kitchen to religious standards.<\/p>\n But there is one oasis: a glatt kosher Chinese restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens, called Cho-Sen Garden<\/a>. (The only other kosher Chinese restaurant in New York that could rival it for kitschy title is Shang-Chai, in Brooklyn.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n \n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the only one that is open, because we know what to do,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Michael Mo, the manager of Cho-Sen Garden.<\/p>\n Staffers are swamped on the days the restaurant is open during Passover. The restaurant has a sister establishment, Cho-Sen Island, in Lawrence, on Long Island. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We spend a lot of money for Pesach,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Mr. Mo, who is Chinese, using the Hebrew name of the holiday.<\/p>\n The staff spent Tuesday cleaning the kitchen, he said, explaining that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153you have to switch the place upside-down.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Of course, there is one little problem with being a Chinese restaurant that is open for Passover: The dishes can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use soy sauce \u00e2\u20ac\u201d that mainstay of Chinese cooking<\/a>.<\/p>\n Soy sauce uses soy and<\/em> wheat, both no-nos during Passover<\/a>. And while China has been getting in on the kosher food industry<\/a>, it has not really adapted for the more niche kosher for Passover industry.<\/p>\n Cho-Sen introduces a special Passover version of its menu. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153One hundred percent no noodles, one hundred percent no rice \u00e2\u20ac\u201d even I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m working, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t eat rice,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Mo said.<\/p>\n Instead, Cho-Sen serves matzo to its customers. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We put a box on each table,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like a cracker.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n Indeed, now General Tso\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chicken meets unleavened bread.<\/p>\n The restaurant also adds matzo ball soup alongside egg drop soups on the menu (but don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t offer matzo ball egg drop soup<\/a>, which is an underrated fusion creation).<\/p>\n The dishes offered include chicken with broccoli, pepper steak, and sweet and sour veal.<\/p>\n How does the restaurant make those without soy sauce? The chef has a secret recipe to capture the taste of soy sauce. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give it to anybody, he won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let anybody see it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mr. Mo said. (Another employee let some information slip, saying that it involved food coloring.)<\/p>\n