Weinberg Dining: Comfortable, Healthy, and Delicious

Food has always been an important part of culture and belonging, and Weinberg Community for Senior Living is no exception. The Dining Services staff at Weinberg Community understands this intuitively. They make an enormous effort to bring the highest quality, best tasting kosher meals to Weinberg residents and their guests, and to ensure a comfortable, happy, and inclusive dining experience for all.

For new residents, Weinberg staff helps them feel at home from their very first visit to the dining room. “We try to seat them at a nice table, with friendly residents who are willing introduce them to others. Day by day, they begin to make friends and start a nice relationship with other residents,” says John Palacio Caballero, Dining Services Director at Weinberg.

Weinberg is CJE Senior Life’s only kosher facility, and because of that, it bears extra responsibility to uphold high daily standards and to serve the larger community for special holidays and events. Weinberg provides kosher catering for the broader community for pick up on Jewish holidays. The staff also caters to special events for residents and their guests upon request. Weinberg Dining Services even provides meals for the student body at nearby Rochelle Zell Jewish High School. Kashrut is monitored closely, with rabbinical visits three times a week.

For Shabbat and holidays, both Jewish and American, such as July 4th, Memorial Day, and Labor Day, Weinberg dining staff work hard to bring holiday joy and new memories to residents. Depending on the day and the occasion, they might prepare a brisket, a rib-eye steak, a Cornish hen, or a delectable salmon dish. “They love salmon here,” notes Palacio Caballero, who has an extensive background in hospitality services.

While this may look easy, it’s not. The Weinberg dining center prepares approximately 500 meals a day for Gidwitz Place and Friend Center residents and Adult Day Services clients, between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It provides healthy choices at every meal, with options for those on special diets, whether low salt, gluten-free, or for diabetes. The Weinberg dining team attends monthly food committee meetings, listens carefully to the discussions, and tries to incorporate as many suggestions as possible. The team also collaborates with Life Enrichment for special events like baking cookies with residents.

All these efforts point to the same goal: to make sure every resident and visitor is comfortable and happy during mealtimes. “We try all the time to help the residents, give them whatever they ask for, try to make them feel like they are in their home,” says Palacio Caballero. “To take good care of them, that’s the point.”