Many Manhattan vegan restaurants also happen to be certified kosher. The dining room at Anixi, certified kosher by IKC (Yossi Hoffman Photography) Vegan restaurants come in all shapes and sizes. From upscale to casual, Latin American to Mediterranean, dim sum, burgers, pizza (yes, vegan pizza), and more, vegan restaurants are on the rise. They’re often certified kosher… Nearly half of Manhattan’s approximately 50 vegan restaurants are certified kosher (restaurants with multiple locations are only counted once). All 22 kosher-certified vegan restaurants are listed on koshermap.nyc of cours ..read more

Changes to map layers with a focus on our food system’s impact on the planet (Yossi Hoffman Photography)#DefaultVeg I first encountered the #DefaultVeg hashtag in 2021 when Avodah announced that all of their meetings and events would be vegan or vegetarian by default. Their goal was “to make… vegetarian and vegan [food]… the norm.” What I love about their model is that they haven’t written off folks who want to eat meat. Instead, they’ve simply switched the default: “meat and other animal products … need to be requested in the same way vegetarians/vegans/people with food allergies cu ..read more

One vegan and two vegetarian restaurants are participating this time around. Note that this post only covers Manhattan-based restaurants. A restaurant serving platter with a decorative flower (Yossi Hoffman Photography) As I’ve mentioned in the past, while there are filters labeled Vegan and Vegetarian, they only filter for restaurants that have vegan or vegetarian options rather than for restaurants that are completely vegan or vegetarian. That being the case, I’ve done the filtering for you! The Restaurants NYC Restaurant Week runs from January 17 through February 12, 2023. Hangaw ..read more

After wading through nearly 30 pages of over 600 restaurants, [drumroll, please…] there are only 3 completely vegan Manhattan restaurants total. A restaurant serving platter with a decorative flower (Yossi Hoffman) As I mentioned last summer, while there are filters labeled Vegan and Vegetarian, they only filter for restaurants that have vegan or vegetarian options rather than for restaurants that are completely vegan or vegetarian. That being the case, I’ve done the filtering for you! The Restaurants Restaurants are listed in alphabetical order. NYC Restaurant Week runs from July 18 ..read more

Two vegan Italian restaurants, a veritable croquembouche of bakeries, and a DC favorite’s first NYC branch. Macaron from the recently closed UWS mainstay My Most Favorite Food (Yossi Hoffman Photography)Openings Coletta (vegan; certified by the IKC) An Italian restaurant from City Roots Hospitality and Chef Guy Vaknin (of Willow and Beyond Sushi). Pizzas include Wild Mushroom Truffle with caramelized cipollini onions, lemon “ricotta,” fresh rosemary, crema, and red chili; pastas include “Squid” Ink Ravioli with fire roasted eggplant caviar, wild greens, lemon butter sage sauce, “parmesan ..read more

The Orthodox Union’s kosher division has been certifying toilet cleaner as kosher for years. Why not certify the latest plant-based meat substitute from Impossible Foods? Why Doesn’t OU Kosher Certify Impossible Pork? In a recent JTA opinion piece, David Zvi Kalman argued that OU Kosher’s decision not to certify Impossible Pork was justified because it draws a (he argues, helpful) line in the sand in regards to super-realistic meat substitutes. According to this article, kosher-keeping consumer Rena Kates “doesn’t think she can stomach Impossible Pork. ‘I have this visceral reaction to it,’ sh ..read more

A number of new restaurants, plus a bonus list of pre-fall spots that I (gasp!) had missed. Plain, almond, and chocolate croissants at Patis Bakery (Yossi Hoffman Photography)Before the Fall… Before I go into fall openings, I want to highlight some restaurants that have opened over the last year that I’ve only recently added to the map. H/T @iamjoshuablum for many of these restaurants: Vegan (certified kosher): Tamam Falafel (Certified by Cup K; they’ve opened three locations: East Village, UES, and Union Square) Vegan (not certified kosher): Innocent Yesterday (Bakery and&nb ..read more

More and more NYC vegan virtual restaurants have been popping up on Uber Eats. Last week, as lunchtime was fast approaching, I opened up Uber Eats and typed in “vegan.” I was surprised to find nearly two dozen places I had never heard of. I then methodically copied and pasted each one into Google Maps (as you do), only to find that literally none of them existed as standalone brick and mortar restaurants (Searches for “vegan” on Doordash/Caviar and Grubhub/Seamless yielded a couple of virtual restaurants, but not nearly as many as I found on Uber Eats). One Address, 64 Virtual Resta ..read more

The follow-up to the baffling Mocha Red steak knife locker story. A few weeks ago, I wrote about an odd setup at Mocha Red whereby patrons can rent lockers at the restaurant for their steak knives. At the time, I was at a loss for how to make sense of such a practice, so I asked folks to respond with their reactions. I got a whopping nine responses, with most people falling in the “I have so many questions. I can’t even.” camp. So, I reached out to the restaurant to find out more. I spoke to Dimitrios; here’s a recap of our conversation: I asked him to share an overview of the basic ..read more

A handful of fast casual vegan spots, three bakeries, and a newly certified kosher Nikkei restaurant have been added to the Manhattan Kosher Map. The rainbow crepe cake at MENO (Yossi Hoffman Photography) August has arrived, and a whole slew of restaurants have opened, rebranded, and/or obtained kosher certification: Beatnic (vegan; certified by the IKC) isn’t a new restaurant per se; it’s more of a phoenix rising from the ashes of by CHLOE’s bankruptcy. Their menu is largely unchanged as per their homepage announcement (“Fresh new name, same crazy delicious food”), and their kosher certi ..read more