Associate Editor

Recently retired airline executive Jacob Schorr, an Orthodox Jew, often encountered turbulence of the culinary kind. That is, he had trouble finding kosher restaurants where he wouldn't feel embarrassed hosting business contacts.

So he has created one of his own ‹ the Pomegranate Bistro, which is scheduled to open in the next few weeks in the Cabin John Shopping Center in Potomac.

The 80-seat meat and pareve establishment, in a storefront that formerly housed the Chicken Out Rotisserie, will strive to fill any number of upscale market niches, according to Schorr and the restaurant's staffers.

For example, Pomegranate will offer "a finer experience than is generally available at many kosher facilities," and will also be "satisfying to the general public" as well as kosher-keepers, according to Schorr, 63, who has residences in Silver Spring, Jerusalem and Bal Harbour, Fla.

Pomegranate will provide "New York-class, high-end food delivery" with a "high level of ambiance" that will "make people go 'wow,' " said general manager Eli Verschleisser.

"This will be New York-quality food," said Pomegranate executive chef and co-owner Stephanie Gold. "I would describe Pomegranate as upscale, serene elegance." The setting will be "very romantic," added assistant manager Martin Chavez.

Dinner will be served on cloth, lunch on place mats, and gourmet prepared foods will also be available during certain hours for "grab-and-go" customers and other shoppers. (Outdoor tables will be set up in the warmer months.)

The prepared foods section will be "comparable" to such high-end groceries as Whole Foods and Balducci's in terms of quality, selection and price, according to Gold, who said that section will be open late on Thursdays to accommodate shoppers who are stocking up for Shabbat. The restaurant itself will be open for lunch and dinner.

Dinners will be about $18-$35, although the menu is not finalized, Chavez said last week. The restaurant will also have a liquor license.

Pomegranate, which is under the supervision of the Rabbinical Council of Greater Washington, is one of about a dozen kosher-certified eateries in the area. The size of that roster ebbs and flows from time to time. While new establishments open when investors see fresh business opportunities, others fold for a variety of reasons, ranging from bad food to bad service to bad location to bad concept to undercapitalization, according to observers.

The most recent departure was Mama Leah's Gourmet Kosher Pizza in Rockville, which closed at least a month ago. A spokesperson for Mama Leah's could not be reached for comment. Schorr said he had been approached about investing in the operation, but "I took a pass on it" in part because the business's location was less than ideal.

Schorr was also an investor in the now-defunct Red Heifer restaurant, a white-tablecloth, crossover establishment in Bethesda that closed in 2005. "I made very good use of it for business purposes," said Schorr.

A member of the Orthodox Kemp Mill Synagogue and Young Israel-Shomrai Emunah of Greater Washington, both in Silver Spring, Schorr is former chair and CEO of Spirit Airlines. Gold has 25 years of experience as a chef, most recently at Signature Caterers in Silver Spring, where she was executive chef and catering manager.

Meat and pareve dishes, such as fish, will be prepared and handled separately at Pomegranate, according to Gold, who said the establishment will have essentially four kitchens ‹ pareve and meat kitchens for prepared foods and a similar setup for dining room fare. "Anything that is pareve from our prepared foods section, for example, we guarantee will be 100 percent pareve and can be used with dairy in the home; this is what the consumer wants," said Gold.