Here in Malibu: 'Bu Jew?

'Bu Jew?

Veronique de Turenne Bio • Email

That's what the Jewish Journal calls Joyce Brooks Bogartz, owner of the Malibu Beach Grill, a kosher restaurant on the land side of PCH across from the Malibu Pier. Locals are split on the place. Some just can't forgive the way long-time tenant (and wildly popular - did you ever have their garlic mashed potatoes?) Malibu Chicken was forced out. Others take a c'est la vie approach and say the food at the new place is pretty good.

But this post-punk Gidget is the kind of 'Bu Jew who is as comfortable around Chabadniks as she is with surfers.
"Having a kosher place, you can only be so risqué in your appearance," she said.

Situated a quick jaywalk across Pacific Coast Highway from Surfrider Beach and the Malibu Pier, Malibu Beach Grill is a kosher oasis in a town renowned for breathtaking seaside vistas, A-list celebrity sightings and new-age crunchiness. And nearly two years after the controversial ouster of Malibu Chicken by building owner Chabad of Malibu, Malibu Beach Grill is well on its way to carving out its own niche with an eclectic menu that can best be described as California fleishig (meat).

But the road to winning over the locals wasn't easy.

A Mel Gibson joke here would be overkill, right? Yeah. Anyway, here's the rest of the story.

August 31, 2006 09:05 PM • Native Intelligence • Email the editor

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