Blue Collar Hosts City-Wide Passover Matzo Hunt for Prizes

Passover begins next Friday, April 22, and across the globe, Jews will gather with family for the traditional feast, or Seder. The best-known Passover tradition is substituting bread for matzo as a way of commemorating the unleavened bread the Israelites ate when they fled Egypt. Children play a big part in Passover Seder, with the youngest family member taking a major role in the evening's celebration. In addition, kids also play a game called hide the matzo. 

Blue Collar's Danny Serfer explains, "At the Seder, before we begin to tell the story of the Exodus, we take the middle of the three matzos that are stacked under the Seder plate and set it aside. We will eat this matzo only near the very end of the Seder, and we don’t want it to get mixed up with the other matzos at the table. Hiding it and making it a 'hunt' is really an activity to engage the kids at the Seder to make sure they don’t fall asleep during what is invariably a long evening!”

A father of two youngsters, Serfer says this Passover holds special significance. "As I have my own growing family, this year is particularly important to us as it will be the first time my son gets to try to find the matzo. With that, I thought it would be fun to involve more people in the hunt this year."

He wants all of Miami to share in the hide-the-matzo fun and has organized the inaugural Blue Collar Matzo Chase. Serfer says he always enjoyed playing, though he never won. This was the impetus of the giant, city-wide game.  "I have two sisters who always beat me to it. This time, I’m hiding the matzo, and not just in the living room.”

Next Monday, April 25, at 11 a.m., Serfer will hide three colossal two-by-two-foot cardboard matzos somewhere in Miami. That morning, Blue Collar will tweet out a photo and a riddle to help everyone searching for the matzos. 

People who find the matzos are asked to reply to @bluecollarmiami on Twitter with a unique hashtag written on the matzo and a photo of themselves with their location. Blue Collar will post the finders’ photos to let every one know the unleavened bread has been discovered.

Each person who discovers one of the three matzos will receive a $50 gift card to Blue Collar, a Blue Collar T-shirt, and a set of "heroes of the Torah" commemorative glassware. 

The locations will be unknown to anyone at the restaurant, so bribery is useless, Serfer says. However, he does provide an important clue: Although all of Miami is, technically, the playing field for this inaugural matzo scavenger hunt, most of the action will take place in Blue Collar's neighborhood ("MiMo plus a little north and a little south.") 

To help prepare your family for the holiday (or even if you don't celebrate Passover), Serfer has shared his brisket recipe: 

Danny Serfer’s Passover Brisket
Serves 8-10 people

• 6 pounds brisket
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• 4 large white onions, quartered
  
• 6 large carrots, peeled and split lengthwise
  
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 cup drinkable red wine
  
• 1 quart low-sodium beef or veal stock

Liberally season brisket with salt and pepper, then store in refrigerator uncovered for 24 hours. The next day, preheat the oven to 250 degrees. In a deep roasting pan, place the onions and carrots at the base to form a bed for the brisket to rest. Lightly season the vegetables with salt and pepper and place the brisket on top. Braise on a roasting rack in the oven for six hours. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest. Take the original roasting pan with the vegetables and put it on your stovetop burners and crank it to medium-high heat. Add the red wine to the roasting pan and let bubble for 30 seconds; then add the stock and let simmer for 10 minutes to make your jus. Slice the meat across the grain, serve with a side of jus, and enjoy!

If you don't have time to make Chef Serfer's brisket (or if you prefer to let the master do the honors), Blue Collar is offering for the first time a Passover basket, which includes braised brisket, roasted potatoes, latkes, apple sauce, choice of three veggies, Marsha’s salad, and dessert. The basket costs $35 per person and can be ordered by emailing [email protected] or calling 305-756-0366.