Mishpacha Article on Char Bar

Wednesday, August 01, 2018

Another repeat customer is lobbyist and public relations consultant Ezra

Friedlander. When the New Yorker comes to Washington for a meet-andgreet

with a congressman or communal leader, he can always be found

with his guests at Char Bar, probably enjoying his favorite, the Texas Toast.

“Absolutely, all the time,” Friedlander enthuses. “As a matter of fact, my

guests often don’t even realize it’s a kosher restaurant. At the end of the meal

they might ask for coffee, and only when they’re told they can’t have milk do

they realize it’s kosher. And then they just say, ‘Oh, wow, this is kosher.’ I mean,

they don’t put two and two together until it’s pointed out to them.”

Friedlander adds what most impresses him is that although Char Bar is the only

glatt kosher restaurant in town, the staff operate it at a standard “as if they had the

most competition in the world.” Needless to say, he has his share of stories about the

place.

“I was having dinner here with someone

from the Liberian embassy, when I saw Ivanka

Trump walk in with her son,” he recounts.

“I walked over and introduced myself, and

to her credit, Ivanka was very friendly. I told

her my wife admires her, and you know, I

gave her privacy. I didn’t try to engage her in

lengthy conversation because she was there

to be with her son, but she was very, very

accommodating, more than she needed to be.

That’s the kind of fun you have when you walk

into Char Bar — you could have a US senator

in the booth next to you. You could have a very

conservative personality back to back with a

very liberal personality.”