When I read colleague Alan Feiler’s news report on the fire at Suburban House (jewishtimes.com), my heart sank.
The generation before mine had the Hilltop Diner and all of its legends. For my family and my friends, it was Suburban House. Like so many of you, I spent ate many dinners there and it was part of my family’s affordable list of places we loved to go.
My late father, who was in the retail business, used to work late on Thursday nights. My mother and I would routinely head to Suburban House. She’d get their legendary matzah ball soup. I’d get a hot dog and fries.
My bar mitzvah reception was even held there. It fell on October 8, 1966, the third game of the Orioles World Series game against the L.A. Dodgers. An S&H employee make sure I had a transistor radio so I could listen to Wally Bunker throw a six-hit shutout and hear Paul Blair’s home run, the only run scored in the 1-0 O’s win.
When I think of Suburban House, sitting in the reception hall with my friends, my proud parents, Rabbi Gus Buchdahl of Temple Emanuel and all everyone else, it was a great day.
I carry that memory and others, such as taking my then girlfriend now wife, Lisa, on several dinner dates there while we were college students. It was the place many of us BBYOers went after a mixer or a movie. Hot roast beef sandwiches with gravy and large Coke, French fries and gravy, all this seems to be in my memory bank.
When I drive by Suburban House now and in immediate past years, I always felt a smile come over me.
Now I hope with all my heart and soul that Suburban House, which is truly part of the Pikesville Jewish landscape, will recover, renovate and reopen. I wish for its owners and employees strength as they go through the stages of this recovery.
Suburban House, though, was and is an important part of the lives of so many who are proud to call Jewish Baltimore there home.
Here’s to many more of those years for Suburban House.

Frank, keeping kosher is not the “end all and be all of being Jewish.”  But it is an undeniable part of being Jewish.  It’s part of a heritage that has been passed down for thousands of years.  And Sol, I personally DO have a feeling of sadness and heart sinking when I see Jews eating non-kosher, especially since kosher food is so easy to obtain.  Shabbat Shalom!

You know, that was my first thought when I heard about the fire. When it reopens, oh please let it be kosher. Same great food, just kosher. How different could the matzoh ball soup be? Wouldn’t that be the ultimate healing in the community rift we’re facing?

But of course that’s just a pipe dream. It would mean eliminating parts of the menu. And if it’s kosher we all know that a lot of people would never eat there again.

I’m signing this with my zayde’s name. He took me to eat at Suburban House (and the Galley in the Alley and the Cross Keys deli) when I was little, but was so proud of me when I started eating only kosher. He loved all Jews, everyone.

Only if you consider keeping the kosher the end all and be all of being Jewish. Might surprise you, but not every Jew keeps kosher—and that’s because they don’t want to—and yet they do outstanding things for the Jewish people, as well as respect those who keep kosher.

Do you have the same feeling of sadness and heart sinking when you see Jews eating non-kosher?