Pair: Kosher caterer served unkosher food

The chef and the general manager at one of Long Island's largest kosher catering companies filed court papers Tuesday against the company's owner, saying the owner has been serving non-kosher food to his unwitting clients for more than a year.

Chef Michael Savitsky and general manager Tom Cataldo say in court papers that, at the same time Morrell Caterers owner Scott Morrell has been charging his upscale and often deeply religious clients a premium price for kosher food, Morrell has been flauting religious laws by storing and cooking forbidden foods such as shellfish and pork on the same dishes, pots and ovens as the kosher foods.

"Everything was tainted," Cataldo said of the roughly 200 weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and other events that have been held at the facilities since they were first tainted in September 2010. "Next to kosher meat, you would have a bucket of raw shrimp."

Savitsky and Cataldo, each of whom own a 5 percent interest in the company, said they tried in vain to get Morrell to stop preparing food for non-kosher events in local temple kitchens where his company prepared kosher foods. They say when they couldn't, they decided to file the lawsuit.

Tuesday, State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bucaria signed a temporary restraining order, prohibiting Morrell from getting rid of company records or assets until the case is decided.

Steven Schlesinger, the Garden City lawyer who represents Morrell, called the allegations "a fiction," and said Savitsky and Cataldo are being used by a congregant to retaliate against Morrell for an unrelated dispute over a bad investment. Schlesinger said it was Savitsky and Cataldo, not Morrell, who initiated the non-kosher catering, which led to the non-kosher practices in the first place.

Morrell Catering runs catering halls attached to three Long Island synagogues: Temple Israel in Lawrence, Temple Beth Torah in Melville and the Woodbury Jewish Center in Woodbury, said Steve Cohn, of Carle Place, one of the lawyers representing Savitsky and Cataldo.

"I'm shocked at the lawsuit, and I don't know if it's true," said Leslie Martin, first vice president at Temple Israel.

Cindy Matte, president of the Woodbury Jewish Center, declined to comment, saying she had not heard about the suit. Representatives at Temple Beth Torah did not return calls.

According to legal papers, when Morrell's finances got tight, he decided to begin catering non-kosher events for functions outside the three synagogues. But he did not invest money for a separate kitchen to prepare the food, a requirement under kosher law.

Instead, according to the papers, he had his employees prepare the non-kosher food in the kitchens at Temple Israel and Temple Beth Torah. Although he was not using the kitchen at Woodbury Jewish Center, a conservative congregation, he was transporting the kosher food in the same truck with the non-kosher food, which is also a serious violation of religious law.

"There are people who would get physically ill if they found out they had eaten non-kosher food," said Jeffrey Weinberger, an attorney for Savitsky and Cataldo.

Kosher laws are complex, and vary widely. But a person keeping kosher cannot eat shellfish or pork products, and cannot mix milk products with meat. Dishes, cookware and utensils that touch meat may not be used with dairy, and vice versa.Likewise, dishes, cookware and utensils that have touched non-kosher food may not be used with kosher food.