(New York Jewish Week) – The Times Square location of Miznon, the fast-casual restaurant chain run by renowned Israeli chef Eyal Shani, is making it kosher.
The pita-focused restaurant at 1410 Broadway at 39th Street opened two and a half months ago and is one of four Chani's Misnon restaurants in Manhattan. Mika He, his CEO of Good People Group, Shani's global hospitality brand, has offered a kosher-style menu almost since its inception, according to Ziv, and the restaurant does not include dairy products on the menu. The meat served is glattically certified kosher.
However, on Sunday, January 21st, the kitchen was thoroughly cleaned and food was prepared according to kosher guidelines, and that week a kashrut certificate was issued by Rabbi Aaron Melman of the National Kosher Superintendent's Office. I plan to
The Mitsunon store will be Shani's second kosher facility in New York City. The first is Marca, which opened on the Upper West Side in November 2023.
The decision to convert the second Shani restaurant in New York into a kosher restaurant was both ideological and practical, Ziv told the New York Jewish Week. “We always knew there was a need and desire for people to eat our food, but we didn't fully understand to what extent,” she said. To tell. “Since we opened Marca, we've had such a wonderful welcome in New York. We've been getting questions about lunch, delivery, and catering. Marca is doing great things. We're getting so much love. So I'm very excited.”
“It’s kosher so there’s no compromise,” she added. “In these very unfortunate times, this is a happy place.”
Eyal Shani, an Israeli chef at Malka, a Jewish restaurant in Tel Aviv. (Ariel Efron)
That sentiment is shared by many kosher foodies in New York, including Jerry Richter, a high school history teacher from West Hempstead, Long Island, who came to Manhattan for an early dinner at Marca on Sunday night. has been done. So, his server tells Richter, his wife, and their two friends that Shani will expand the reach of kosher operations in Manhattan by converting Times Square Miznon into a restaurant under rabbinical supervision. He said he is expanding.
Richter said the table was excited when they heard the news. “It's great to be able to access Mitsunon's menu while still being kosher!” he said. “Everyone's excited.”
Richter announced the news on the popular Facebook group Great Kosher Restaurant Foodies, which has 101,000 members, and the response was overwhelming: “Finally!” One respondent wrote: “Oh!!!” posted another.
Richter's post was viewed 24,000 times in less than two days, said Elan Kornblum, publisher of Great Kosher Restaurants Media Group.
“It's a big change to have something like this in Times Square,” Kornblum said. His other kosher restaurants in Times Square include Le His Marais, a French steakhouse, and AO Bowl, an organic, gluten-free Japanese restaurant.
Although Shani does not keep kosher himself, he opened Malka in Tel Aviv five years ago. At the time, Shani was the only kosher restaurant in his portfolio. He told the New York Jewish Week last year that he opened his first kosher store after seeing that kosher consumers were “craving” his food but couldn't eat it because it wasn't kosher. .
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“These people are part of my country,” Shani said. “Some of my people. How can I make food without feeding half the people? That's the main reason I opened Malka.”
Today, in addition to Malka on the Upper West Side, Shani operates two kosher-certified restaurants in Israel. In Paris, his three stores in Mithnon all use kosher ingredients, but are not kosher certified.
Shani's team decided to turn the Times Square Miznon outpost into a kosher restaurant. This is due to its central location near the Diamond District, Theater District, and Garment Center, all of which are frequented by observant Jews. Ziv said from the beginning they had talked about making the restaurant kosher certified, but he decided to test the waters with Malka first.
Ziv said he hopes customers who have eaten at the Times Square location will continue to do so. The store has been offering glatt kosher meat since the beginning, so food prices shouldn't be dramatically affected under the rabbi's oversight. “It’s just a small adjustment and a small price increase,” she said.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7, it has become even more important for restaurants to be more inclusive by adding kosher certification, Ziv added.
“Everyone has become more open, more tolerant and closer to our roots,” she said. “Just as we always make sure there are vegan options and go to great lengths to accommodate many other people, our restaurants outside of Israel in particular It's not complicated to approach a kosher restaurant because it's a gathering place for Jewish people.''
“It makes sense to offer kosher options,” she added.
