Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Israel News

Kosher Eatery’s Identity Crisis

There’s a new glatt kosher falafel joint in Manhattan’s East Village, but we can’t tell you what it’s called. That’s because, though it’s been open for a month, it won’t have a name until someone wins the Name Our Glatt Kosher Restaurant contest.

What?s In a Name?: The new glatt kosher restaurant is holding a naming contest.

The eatery, which bills itself as one of the only glatt kosher establishments in the neighborhood, serves shawarma, falafel and other classic Mediterranean street fare. But its owner is offering an even tastier treat to the person who can come up with the best name for the restaurant: $3,000 in cash (and, according to a press release, “bragging rights”).

Nissim Oron, the restaurant’s owner, said that nearly 7,000 contest entries have already been received. “We’re going to choose at the end of April,” he said. Oron declined to reveal any of the entries, but according to New York magazine’s food blog, Grub Street, suggestions have included Gentle Lentil, Glat-o-Mat, Hummuscidal and, yes, Your Mother Eats Falafel Balls.

If a name contest for an East Village falafel place sounds familiar, that’s because Oron held an almost identical contest four years ago, when he opened the popular Middle Eastern chain ultimately named Chickpea. Oron later sold the Chickpea franchise but held on to one of its storefronts, where he has opened the new glatt kosher falafelry.

Now all he needs is a new name.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.