NEW YORK - From the macaroons to the seven layer cakes, the Upper West Side restaurant My Most Favorite Food tries to make Passover as sweet as possible.
For much of the week, customers have been coming to pick up desserts for their Seders.
"We know what will please them," said one customer. "So we come here and get not quite one of everything, but we wish we could."
The restaurant is owned by Doris Schechter, who spends a lot of time preparing for Passover.
"This is quite the process," Schechter said.
During the holiday, observant Jews do not eat any leavened foods. That's because Passover commemorates the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt, which, according to the Torah, Jews fled so quickly there was no time to wait for their bread to rise.
So, in the week before the holiday, Schechter and her staff spend days meticulously cleaning the dining area and kitchen to ensure no traces of bread or leavening agents are left behind.
"For me, this whole cleaning process represents renewal for me," Schechter said.
Schechter is so serious about making sure the place is bread-free that she covers surfaces with tin foil.
"That ensures that everything is fresh and new for Passover," she explained.
But that's nothing compared to what her rabbi does. When he visits, he takes out a blow torch and uses it to clean metal surfaces in the kitchen.
"This is where the rabbi comes in with the torch and they torch every part of it," she said, pointing to the counter top.
The menu here for the eight-day holiday is also completely different. The cakes, cookies, muffins, and even granola are made without leaven or other foods forbidden on Passover. Matzo meal, cake meal, meringue and nuts are used as substitutes.
Schechter said over the decades she's spent a lot of time perfecting her recipes.
She told us one of the most popular desserts is the success cake, which, she told us, signals to customers that Passover is here. Schechter's bakery and restaurant will be open through early Friday afternoon and then will close until Monday.