Manhattan’s largest Kosher food hall, Milk Street Cafe at 40 Wall Street is slated to close its door permanently this coming Thursday. Sources have shared with Koshertopia that there will be no relocation in New York but the original location in Boston will remain open. Milk Street Cafe, which opened in June, has been a direct casuality of the Occupy Wall Street protests.
The most precious and costly commodity in Manhattan is space. Because of this spacial deficiency, even some of the cities finest restaurants are no more then a glorified nooks. The expense is simply too great for most establishments to maintain, especially in certain neighborhoods or streets that cause the cost of space to borderline on the ridiculously excessive. So when I say to you that the Milk Street Cafe, the new kosher restaurant located at 40 Wall Street, takes up no less then twenty three thousand square feet, it should tell you in no uncertain terms how seriously owner Marc Epstein takes the business of building a successful restaurant. Embodying the “Go big or go home” ethos, The Milk Street Cafe opens up to a spacious front end ornamented tastefully with modern sensibilities. The stone floor is intricately decorated and stretches out into eight thousand square feet of equally well decorated prep stations. These stations offer a vast, almost mind boggling variety of foods, that run the gamut of Cafe style items. Diners can customize pasta, salads, and sandwiches on top of being able to get sushi, bakery, soups, and prepared grill items. What makes The Milk Street Cafe truly unique though is not that they offer so many items, it’s that they offer them in both dairy and meat.
Whereas most restaurants need to restrict their menus to either of the two options, The Milk Street Cafe has found a way to merge the two modalities of kosher restaurantism with an elegant, if not grandiose solution that is their prep kitchens.
Stretching out behind Milk Streets front end, are several kitchens, who’s space equals triple that of the main dining area. These kitchens are separated by corridors, and each kitchen is distinctly marked by it’s different color floor tile, which signifies if it is the dairy, meat or parve kitchen. When working in these kitchens, the culinary staff wear an apron and hat that is specific to each kitchen. The kitchens themselves are glorious monuments to modern day culinary production. Every bell, whistle, and kitchen appliance you could possibly need is neatly squared away at it’s corresponding prep station. This allows The Milk Street Cafe to do far more then act as a breakfast, lunch, and dinner spot, but also as a catering company, capable of servicing large corporate events or meetings.
What I really liked about the Milk Street Cafe, outside of it’s many dining options, it’s innovative structure, it’s willingness to push the envelope and it’s very affable owner, is the food. The food is very good. I ate mostly the meat options as meat is my preference. I highly recommend the Peppercorn rubbed roast beef with red peppers and horseradish sauce, and the Smoked Turkey Salad with sun dried tomatoes. Both these sandwiches are served on wonderfully fresh bread, that has a nice crunch crust with a soft interior. To me that is paramount for a good sandwich, and so the combination of the excellent flavors of the meat and the texture of the fresh bread make for one of the better sandwiches available in New York. A friend of mine chose to go the milchig route, and had the fettuccine with wild mushrooms in a light cream sauce. He said that he found it to be “very tasty and very filling”. I also recommend trying an offering from the Milk Street Cafe’s rotisserie. In particular their KC BBQ brisket, which is smoky, sweet, and cooked to a melt in your mouth perfection.
As I sat sampling my sandwiches, I realized that The Milk Street Cafe caters to all walks of life. A non-kosher eater could easily walk into the restaurant and never know they were at a kosher establishment. It so flawlessly integrates the different cuisines in such a graceful and well thought out way. that the effect is seamless. Owner Marc Epstein says that he is “Living the dream” in that he has his successful restaurant in Boston that he has now brought to New York as well. But what I don’t think he realizes is that he is actualizing the dream of a number of kosher consumers as well, by providing a kosher environment that feels like dining in a high end cafe that just so happens to be kosher. It’s just one more large step towards the main-streaming of kosher food. Personally, I can’t wait to go back and continue to work my way through their extensive menu
Milk Street Cafe
40 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005
Its finally ready! Koshertopia has confirmed that Boston’s favorite Kosher cafe, Milk Street is opening this Thursday. The new 23,000 square foot gourmet food hall is opening at 40 Wall Street (Trump Building). Milk Street is under the supervision of the OU and maintains 3 separate kitchens (milk, meat & pareve). The cafe boasts several gourmet food stations including: a barista station, made-to-order breakfasts, made-from-scratch breads, desserts and pastries, pasta bar, Asian specialties, sushi bar, two create-your-own salad bars (one vegetarian, one not), homemade soups, a grill, a rotisserie and a carving station.
Milk Street Cafe
40 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005
Koshertopia has confirmed the much awaited opening of Downtown’s newest Kosher eatery, Milk Street Cafe located at 40 Wall St. will be June 13th. Milk Street will be supervised by the OU and will offer Meat, Dairy and Pareve options.
Stay Tuned for opening specials and more information.
It’s nearly ready, construction at 40 Wall Street is in full gear and Milk Street Cafe management is expecting a May 2011 grand opening. Kosher supervision for the new location is currently being finalized and will be announced shortly.
Stay tuned for updates
Koshertopia has confirmed that Boston’s well known Milk Street Cafe is coming to Manhattan. The 29 year old cafe known for their homemade delicacies and corporate catering has secured an 8,000 square foot cafe space and 13,000 square foot commissary at 40 Wall Street diagonally across from the New York Stock Exchange (Between Broad and William Streets). This new addition to the Downtown business district will no doubt be warmly welcomed by kosher consumers.
