Vegan (& Kosher) Restaurants in Manhattan
Many Manhattan vegan restaurants also happen to be certified kosher.
Vegan restaurants come in all shapes and sizes. From upscale to casual, Latin American to Mediterranean, dim sum, 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 course, but I’ve also set up a handy dashboard for further exploration of these spots:
The dashboard includes filters for kosher certifying organization, cuisine type, and even whether the restaurant has Tav HaYosher certification (Uri L’Tzedek’s ethical seal). A few takeaways:
- There are no upscale Asian restaurants on the list (Hangawi and Franchia are both vegan, but neither are kosher-certified).
- IKC certifies the vast majority of the restaurants. They’ve been particularly active in this space, especially after UKS and OKS folded a couple of years ago, so this came as no surprise.
- IKC also seems to have a lock on the upscale restaurants, as it certifies all eight of them.
… but are they keeping it a secret?
I often hear that folks who only eat at kosher-certified spots wish that more vegan places were certified kosher. It turns out they already are, but they may not be advertising as such. For example, in my initial review of the Blossom website, I missed their kosher certification info since it’s buried on the Contact Us page. The word “kosher” doesn’t appear at all on the P.S. Kitchen website. They’re not alone: 2 of the 14 casual spots and 4 of the 8 upscale eateries omit the word “kosher” entirely from their websites and/or Instagram pages.
Are these restaurants actively hiding their certification?
Emphatically, no.
Rather than make assumptions, I reached out to all 22 restaurants to find out more. All but two of the restaurants stated that they display their kosher certificate in a prominent location (e.g. the storefront window). For those restaurants where the word “kosher” was left off the website, all of the restaurants I was able to reach shared that it was not a conscious decision.
Kiley, the general manager at Blossom, explained that they’re not trying to hide their certification. On the contrary: they’re eager to “provide vegan food to a larger community,” and kosher certification enables them to do just that.
P.S. Kitchen’s manager, Timothy, echoed that sentiment. He explained that the omission from the website was totally unintentional, and that they’re planning to fix it.
“We’re proud to be kosher,” he said.
P.S. Kitchen derives its name from the idea that it’s not just a restaurant. Yes, they serve food (the BBQ burger is excellent), but… P.S. they’re vegan. And P.S. they donate 100% of their profits to charity. P.S. they’re kosher too, and I’m hoping that this blog post can be one small step towards moving the needle on restaurants’ kosher certification being relegated to a postscript 😉.
Did I leave any off the list?
Let me know if you have info about kosher-certified vegan restaurants in Manhattan so I can make sure they’re marked appropriately on the map.
