the buzz

“Chickpea Goes Kosher (Lint Balls and All)!”

According to Eater, Chickpea, the St. Mark’s falafel joint, will be certified Glatt Kosher. The location will close this week until Saturday to make the changes to the kitchen and menu. (The 14th Street location will not make the kosher change.)

This is good to hear, especially in light of an alarming email I got a few days ago from a reader.

“I think Chickpea’s end is near.  I was in today for the first time in awhile and there were several changes that can’t bode well.  Most significant, they no longer bake their falafels, they now fry them like everyone else.  They also took down parts of their menu board with some of their flavored falafels or hummus, I can’t recall which. And they took down a lot of the art / in-store marketing that highlighted the healthiness of the food.  They were out of whole wheat pitas.  All of this together made me wonder if they’d either been sold or are playing out the string on a soon-to-expire lease.  Finally, when I unwrapped the foil around my pita I found a big lint ball wedged into a crease on the pita. Pretty gross. In my book, anything that displaces the venerable St. Mark’s Pizza has a responsibility to uphold.”

All I can say is, hopefully all future lint balls will be kosher.

Share ! Post a comment