Article by Bethany Shondark, Washington, DC for YeahThatsKosher.com
Yesterday news broke in The Feast that Spike Mendelsohn, former star of Top Chef and owner of Good Stuff Eatery and We the Pizza will be opening a new Kosher food truck. There are several caveats to this exciting news, however:
- The Washington Va’ad has not been contacted to give certification.
- In the past, certification has been denied to those who own stake in non-Kosher establishments, which Spike does.
- The truck will only be open on Friday afternoons, a time slot inconvenient to most Sabbath-observing Jews.
- The truck will not be mobile, and will be parked outside the Sixth & I Synagogue. This synagogue is a Jewish center and does not have an affiliation with a particular movement. It does, however, require all events held inside to be Kosher.
Incidentally, in December 2008, Chef Spike conducted a cooking demonstration at Sixth & I Synagogue, showcasing gourmet latkes. The audience was shocked to discover his secret ingredient: Jello. When asked why he was cooking with non-Kosher ingredients, Spike laughed off the complaints, claiming that this Jello was Kosher.
This all seems to indicate that the truck will be, in all likelihood, Kosher-style instead of strictly Glatt Kosher. I’ve asked both Sixth & I Synagogue and Chef Spike to comment on the truck’s kashrut policy, however, I have not received word of their intentions.
