Three large columns and a green polished bar gave the original design a very apartment kind of feel. We removed the columns to open up the space, so people can enjoy an interactive experience with the kitchen and watch as their plates come to life.
I am Jason Marcus, the chef and co-owner of Traif– a restaurant coming soon to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. What is ‘traif?’ What kind of name is ‘traif’ for a restaurant? These are two good questions, and here is one answer. Traif is a hebrew word that essentially refers to un-kosher foods. I am Jewish, although obviously not great at it. So, Traif is a restaurant that celebrates the foods that I love most, which just so happens to be the foods that I am not supposed to eat. At Traif, we will feature pork and shellfish. Do you like bacon in everything, wish that your bowl of moules-frites would never end? Then, you might be very excited for Traif. We are about 6 weeks from opening, so I’ve decided to enter the world of blogging. I’m not sure if there’s anyone out there, but if there is… drop me a line, stay tuned for more updates, get excited for suckling pig confit and king crab bearnaise. We’re coming as soon as we can open, and we’ve got bacon, a lot of bacon!
Traif's Blog 
March 11, 2010 at 1:53 am |
I love bacon and all things piggie. I can’t wait! Good luck!
March 16, 2010 at 1:35 am |
P.S. I love BACON!!!
March 25, 2010 at 1:14 am |
What a low shmo! Who cares about ur twisted crazy head, do whatever u want and bug off
March 25, 2010 at 1:59 am |
Since ur jewish u shouldn’t be doing this
March 25, 2010 at 7:49 pm |
SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!
March 25, 2010 at 10:09 pm |
HI, i am a fomer hasidic jew with a very large following of ex frum (orthodox) jews…aside form being a standup comedian and being quite social, i also live in williamsburg and have a very large facebook, etc. following…ide appreciate u getting in touch with me consider this is obviously something that brings a smile to my face and hopefully my palette…good luck
joshie
April 2, 2010 at 3:14 am |
ur still gonna b jewish no matter how far away you try to stray.sorry cannot change.born and die a jew even you are a non practicing 1.
williamsburg doesn’t seem too much affected by economy.real estate still sky high.
good luck with your bussiness
March 26, 2010 at 5:29 am |
Hay you can’t mass with god stop now its not late!!
March 26, 2010 at 6:22 am |
‘Traif’ is actually not Hebrew but Yiddish. It refers to forbidden foods, as you point out. The Hebrew word from which it is derived is ‘tareph’ (or ‘terephah’), which refers to kosher animals that were killed not by ritual slaughter—a very different connotation.
March 26, 2010 at 3:00 pm |
This isn’t in bad taste. Its in very good and clever taste. This pork and shellfish loving Jew is very excited.
March 28, 2010 at 4:37 pm |
Good luck with your restaurant even though I won’t eat there. I also wanted to open a restaraunt called Traif but i decided against it, so Im glad somebody else is doing it.
We have a bike gesheft called Traif Bike Gesheft; we have first bragging rights on the name. Hope your restaurant does credit to our shared name.
Baruch
March 28, 2010 at 7:42 pm |
we live a few blocks away and are very excited. do you have a liquor license in place yet?
March 29, 2010 at 1:33 am |
Oh my gosh. I can’t believe someone has the balls to open a restaurant called “Treif”. But good for you. And I’m sure the food will be delicious.
March 29, 2010 at 4:36 pm |
Since your establish is not a kosher restaraunt, what is the concern of these negative posters? Are they threatening to throw bricks through the window of nobu or any other fine dining establishments that don’t cater to any one religion?
To think that every new restaraunt is in need of meeting the very specific demands of one group of people is both small-minded and selfish. Why not embrace the focus on a long shunned food selection that may bring some trivial joy to the pallettes of those of any religion. This offering is not in any way going to infringe on the free will of any people to choose to eat there, or not.
Whether it be McDonald’s, Or McCormick and Schmick’s, you walk past that without feeling the need to prod at their offerings. At least this fine establisment has had the foresight to let you know of its offerings ahead of time.
It’s time for some people to grow up and experience the world… We’re talking about food here!!! If not, the least they can do is step aside and not stunt the growth of others…..
March 30, 2010 at 2:52 am |
Welcome to the neighborhood! I live on the same block as Traif and for months, I have been waiting to see what new business would take over the space. I browsed your menu and I can’t wait to try the food! The outdoor space looks great as well.
March 30, 2010 at 3:35 pm |
Congratulations to Jason and Junior for their dedication and focus on the effort to initiate and then build this innovative and exciting restaurant. Great idea and best wishes for success!
April 6, 2010 at 4:48 am |
Congrat’s and all the best! Can’t believe another restuaranteur in the family. Wish we lived closer. Do you need a recipe for my famous matzo shrimp dumplings or lobster gefilte’s, LOL.
April 6, 2010 at 6:04 pm |
So excited for you guys! I have no doubt that the food will be as amazing as you both are.
April 7, 2010 at 7:47 pm |
Traif is a great name, a great concept and has great food. Great. What a wonderful world we live in and what a perfect place Brooklyn is to open Traif. Brooklyn has an amazing history of many different people from many different far away lands existing together by interacting in all aspects of life. Food is a favorite and important part if it all. Go to Traif and bring family and friends and have a deliciously fun time!
April 7, 2010 at 8:32 pm |
Good Luck and Mazel Tov. Can’t wait to finally taste your exquisite food. I’ll be up for dinner next wed. Everybody in Philly and Israel send a congratulatory shout out. So proud, bro.
April 7, 2010 at 10:55 pm |
Hey I wish I’d known about this blog before I’d could have seen what all the banging was about!
April 8, 2010 at 5:56 pm |
Jason and Heather –
Congrats on the opening of Traif! I wish you both all the best and can’t wait to come down and see it – enjoy all that is going on right now – you both deserve it!
April 9, 2010 at 1:13 pm |
The food, ambience and staff are all A+++. This is definitely a destination spot for food and drink. Can’t wait for the official opening. Good luck Heather and Jason. It is a thrill to see all of your hard work come together!
April 14, 2010 at 12:18 am |
Dear Traif,
We are a group of 8th and 9th graders who take a food in Judaism class at our temple. Our teacher found a post about your restaurant and we decided to check it out. We’ve read many positive comments about your new restaurant however, we have a different opinion. Your title of your restaurant seems inappropriate and offensive to the Jewish community. Although many of us in the class do not keep Kosher, we still felt that your title is mocking what most Jew’s believe in; keeping Kosher is a sacred rule for many Jewish people.
As you said before, ” I am Jewish, although obviously not great at it” (Mmmm, Bacon). You made it seem that if you do not keep Kosher, you can not be a good Jew. Reform Jew’s are not required to keep Kosher, which is another reason why our class took offense to your post.
To conclude, you might want to re-think your public view and opinions of keeping Kosher.
April 14, 2010 at 4:16 pm |
I’m a religious Jew, it really hurts me seeing how far my Jewish brothers and sisters are from god.
I still love them and respect them for what they’re and god loves and respects them too, just like any random human father loves his rebellious kid.
But Mr. Ham, never forget if you’re trying to run away from your roots, you got no chance!!!
Hitler didn’t make a difference between religious Rabbis and ham eating Jews, they all went with the same train to the death camps.
So buckle up brother and do what’s right!!!
How about open up a restaurant with your best kosher food like matza balls, gefillte fish etc.
What ever the case is, good luck and make a lot of money in your restaurant by Goysha customers.
Peace and love
April 17, 2010 at 9:23 pm |
Jason and Heather, I want to wish you the best of luck in your new restaurant. Sounds and looks like a beautiful place to eat and schmooze.
Heard so much about this place from your Grandma Sharma. Am so glad I have a chance to let you know I’m thinking about you.
Love to all, Aunt Sema
April 18, 2010 at 9:32 pm |
The word treif is not the opposite of kosher, treif means that you are sick and you can not live for one year (four seasons). A humen can be traif, and so can an animal be traif. Don’t be ignorant ask any rabbi in the world for the right explination of the word.http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%A4%D7%94
April 19, 2010 at 5:16 pm |
Jason and Heather,
Ignore all the naysayers. The food is awesome, the space is great, and the staff is nice and knowledgeable . Opening night was such a great experience. Thank you guys. I wish you all the luck and can’t wait to eat there again.
April 19, 2010 at 5:32 pm |
to the lovely class who wrote in:
firstly, u are wrong, most jews do not believe that kosher is anything but antiquated instructions given to goat herders in the bronze age…
secondly, even if it were the case, religion always demands (doesnt request) tolerance for their beliefs even if it comes at the expense of the public that doesnt share their views…why then, can u not be taught by ur lovely teacher to respect the fact that many people dont take ur belief system seriously and dont want to be bullied into choosing a name that makes u happy….thats what tolerance is all about, letting things go that dont sit well with u
lastly, maybe ur teacher can teach u what irony or even humor is all about, i promise u it will come in play more often in ur lives than observing or even respect customs from a time when people owned slaves and women couldnt open their mouths (or did ur teacher not tell u that thats the way the holy people in the bible lived)
pleasant day to you lovely kinderlach
April 25, 2010 at 7:05 pm |
Hi,
So I dont know were u learned about religion, but they did not teach u a lot about it. Judaism does not demand tolerance for its beliefs, nor does it request it. What Judaism does is say the beliefs and laws of this religion come from the Torah. Judaism demands that either you follow or dont follow the Torah. But never does Judaism talk about tolerance for anything. Also tolerance is not about letting things go that dont sit well with you, its about allowing others to be different than you.
While u are correct that some people in the time of the Torah owned slaves, you are wrong about the women. In the Torah there are many strong women such as Deborah, Hannah,Miriam, Ruth, Yael, Judith, Sarah, Rachel, Rifka, Leah, and all the prophetess. Before making statements such as that women couldn’t open there mouths, you should read the Torah.
April 19, 2010 at 5:55 pm |
Dear Joshie.
Your missing a big point here.
Judaism isn’t just a nation its also a religion, that’s why you’ll see Russian, Polish, Israeli, Morocan, American, German Jews, because its not where you were born, its what faith and what religion you follow, so by doing stuff that is forbidden by the Jewish religion, you don’t go according to your rules of where you belong.
The Jewish religious was founded by god and he gave us a book of laws which is called Torah, you can’t ignore those rules and still be a good Jew.
Just like if you buy a car and you want to go for a oil change and the person giving you the oil change tells you that in the manual book it says that you have to take this specific oil.
But you answer, what does the company of the car know, they want to make money, you tell the guy to give you the cheaper oil, would you be shocked if your car breaks down?
If you don’t follow the manual book (Torah) of God, you’re far of being a good Jew.
And about woman rights, In matter of a fact the Jews were the first to give rights and respect to woman, look in the talmud which states back to 2000 years ago, when wives were like slaves by their husbands, and we’re talking about romans and greeks, who in matter of fact said the same words about the religious Jews that you say.
But in the talmud there is plenty of sayings about honorring your wife, treating with love, respect to woman.
The Torah was the first source of morality, in the ten commandments it states stuff like, you shall not kill, commit adultery, before that and not till too long ago, if I was stronger then you I killed you and took over your land.
World war one, world war two, all the nations were cultrelized people, spanish inquazion, how did we Americans take over our land from the native Americans, we can go on and on but we’ll never stop.
And about humor, I think its very rude to be humorous in a community where for the past 3 to 4 generations, 90% of the community were religious Jews that don’t eat non kosher and that it hurts them such a restaurant, and new people move in and don’t care for the feelings of the old residents.
Don’t tell for the class their teacher should teach them some humor, Humor on a different persons account is rude, maybe by you not, but it is.
April 19, 2010 at 6:09 pm |
Sorry, correction, my last post was to Ittamar
April 19, 2010 at 6:29 pm |
Sorry. No tzadikel…your post was to Joshie. Mine had no mention of religion at all. If you are going to say negative things about someone’s post, at least get the person’s name right.
April 19, 2010 at 6:32 pm |
Sorry, I apologize, I hope that apology is accepted
April 19, 2010 at 6:53 pm |
tzadikel
i thank u for being verbose and doing a much better job of arguing my point than i could have…
religious people are so deluded they dont even realize how ridiculous they sound…
aside from the fact that u know nothing about history or logic, ur entire argument and the attenuated analogy to cars hinges upon the fact thet YOU ASSUME that the manual u have is the manufacturers one and the proper one for the car…this is a terrible analogy because only u believe ur book is instructions by god for how to live, most intelligent educated people realize its simply a collection of stories by goat herders a while ago with no real application to present day morality…
even amongst jews ur the minority, so please, educate urself, understand that all progressive advancements in the last century have been made by liberals and people who realize that the bible is a silly book of stories that sadly some people still take seriously…
women vote today, have jobs and theres a decent level of equality not because of people like u, its because of people like me, who fought to undo all the horrible years when religion was in charge of morality…
this is precisely why me and my friends support TRAIF and will continue to…aside from the fact that they have delicious food, they represent modernity and a nice change of pace from the backwards hasidic williamsburg that is only blocks away…
dont forget, ur religion is someone elses superstition, nothing more, no matter how much u insist its not so
much luv
joshie
April 19, 2010 at 9:27 pm |
If not, the least they can do is step aside and not stunt the growth of others…..
I fail to see how dining on Pork cheeks and shrimp will contribute to your personal growth in any way…unless of course you refer to the expansion of your gut…this isn’t exactly low-calorie fare.
April 19, 2010 at 10:52 pm |
Too bad my cousin closed his pork processed meats business in Israel (Tel Aviv/Yaffo) a few years ago. You could have served traif sausage, bacon and salami direct from the Promised Land.
Good luck on your endeavor.
April 26, 2010 at 1:25 pm |
Cant wait to check this out ….maybe tonight.
May 23, 2010 at 2:05 pm |
MMMMMM, was at your restaurant last night and the food and service was soooo yummy! Good luck with it and we hope to be back soon!
July 22, 2010 at 4:42 am |
In YIVO orthography (look up “YIVO orthography or YIVO transliteration or YIVO orthography and see a table for the English letters that YIVO uses for each Yiddish letter), the spelling is treyf, or possibly treyfe, if the pronunciation used to end with a vowel like the totally unstressed first o in computer.
I used to think I had to keep strict kosher. My family is 100% ethnically Ashkenazic Jewish. We went to a conservative shul more than 3 times a year, but we were not close to orthodox. We ate in non-kosher restaurants at least once a week. I thought I had to follow orthodox Judaism but when I was 15 I realized there is no god, and shortly before the High holidays in 2009, when I was 26, I came out as a committed atheist. I would be glad to eat treyf, but since June 2008 I have been on a health regiment where, among other things, I eat mostly fruit and no cooked food or recipes whatsoever. Thus the issue of Kosher versus treyf is a moot point. However, I do still eat fish, and since I became an atheist I have eaten swordfish 4 times and sea scallops once. Both times I didn’t heat them but bought them frozen and soaked them in a brine of mostly water, a tablespoon white vinegar, and about 1/2 -3/4 teaspoons pickling salt in a cleaned out mayonnaise Jar for more than a few hours. The swordfish was good yet strange. The scallops were bizarre and almost too gross for me.