"My wife gets her Shabbos food there every Friday," he told me.

Having made an impact on shoppers — with its valet parking, and aisles wide enough to navigate with a golf cart, never mind shopping cart — it’s no wonder that the store’s owner was one of four honorees recognized by Met Council.

At its inaugural Food for Life Campaign reception last week at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, which raised $400,000, Met Council’s CEO William Rapfogel handed a community award to Pomegranate owner Abraham Banda.

In introducing Banda, culinary maven Arthur Schwartz told how amazed he was that Pomegranate has "real chefs in the back cooking all the food. Even a sushi chef! Sushi has replaced gefilte fish in the Jewish home."

Even though he said he doesn’t keep kosher, Schwartz was impressed with the freshness of the food. "Every morning Banda goes through the store and cleans out the prepared food and sends it to community groups to distribute to the poor."

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun presented Met Council’s Tikkun Olam Award to Central Synagogue, represented by Kenneth Heitner. A humanitarian award went to John Doherty of Wolfpack Hospitality and former executive chef of the Waldorf-Astoria where he fed countless presidents, diplomats and royalty.

In presenting a leadership award, in the form of a massive silver tzedaka box, to Kenneth Chenault, CEO of American Express, Sheldon Silver noted that the company lost 11 employees on 9/11. "Within a year you were back in the Lower East Side, where I am a lifelong resident" Silver said.

Chenault praised Met Council for being a voice of the Jewish poor and providing food, housing and counseling to 120,000 people every year.