This Kosher-Certified Vegan Spot Might Be the Most Mindful Menu in Manhattan

KOSHER! KOSHER! KOSHER!

We are kosher, no flesh foods, no dairy, no eggs, no fake meats, no nonsense. Our produce washing machine is bigger and better than what a kosher household employs to wash produce. Kosher Certified—see certification below.

Is Giraffe Kosher?

Did you know that giraffes are considered kosher? According to the Torah, any land animal that both chews its cud and has fully split hooves may be eaten (Leviticus 11:3, Deuteronomy 14:6). The giraffe checks both boxes.

So why isn't giraffe on anyone's menu? A popular story says the rabbis can't decide where to make the cut on such a long neck. It makes for a good tale, but Jewish law actually allows a kosher slaughter cut across a wide area of the neck (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 20). The real reasons are practical: giraffes are rare, enormous, difficult to handle, and costly to raise.

Who cares? We don't kill any animals. We are a vegan restaurant, and we do not serve giraffe. That said, it would be wonderfully disruptive to put Barbecued Giraffe on a vegan menu. Why not? Plenty of wannabe vegan restaurants serve fake chicken, fake beef, and fake pork. So why not vegan giraffe?

Good news! We follow a strict vegan and kosher menu. Our food is 100% plant based, free from dairy, gelatin, eggs, butter, and all forms of flesh. We avoid animal secretions such as milk, and our organically grown leafy greens are washed in a commercial machine.

Our food choices reflect purity and compassion, values shared by many faiths. We are grateful for the opportunity to make mindful and ethical food choices every day.

Kosher Poetry

Our founder is a Syrian Jewish man, born in Brooklyn in 1969 and bar mitzvahed in 1982. He identifies as a Jewish man with Buddhist philosophical tendencies and is obsessed with yoga, psychology, theoretical physics, and Taoism.

Lo, we stand as adherents of the kosher way,
Nourished on plants alone,
Eschewing animal proteins, dairy, and eggs from our hands.
The people of New York call us "vegan,"
A name that fits our essence.
We make no quarrel with this title,
For it harmonizes with our path.

In the days yet to unfold,
The amber nectar of honey may grace our offerings,
A token of nature's kindness, bestowing sweetness.
Though it may blur our vegan mantle,
We shall greet it with grace, for it holds no wickedness.

Know this: we are truly kosher,
Kept under the watchful eye of Rabbi Zev Schwartz,
Guardian of the International Kosher Council.