Updated: Jan. 17, 2023 at 4:50 p.m.
A new kosher cafe on campus is set to open for business next week.
Seth Weinshel, the associate vice president of business services, said Hillel Cafe, located inside the four-story GW Hillel building on the corner of 23rd and H streets, will serve kosher food to the University community with “regular” lunch and dinner hours to start within one to two weeks. Weinshel said Hillel Cafe can accommodate more than 150 people per meal period and is the product of a collaboration between GW Dining and GW Hillel, a Jewish student educational and social organization.
“The continued partnership will provide high-quality kosher food to GW and the community,” Weinshel said in the email.
The cafe will be open to customers from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Friday, according to a Tuesday Tweet by EatDC. The account also shared the cafe’s potential menu upon opening, which includes offerings like pita sandwiches, buildable bowls with vegan and meat options, and various salads and desserts.
Weinshel declined to comment on the potential hours of the new cafe, the physical layout and the nature of the partnership between GW Hillel and GW Dining.
Officials hinted at plans to open the cafe in October, but University officials have envisioned opening a kosher dining vendor that accepted GWorld in the GW Hillel building since at least 2018, when officials began reconstructing the GW Hillel building amid student concern over the lack of kosher options on campus.
Officials projected the facility’s completion for spring 2020, but the building’s opening was delayed till July 2021 because of a legal clash between the University and local residents over property zoning and construction delays caused by COVID-19. The new building reopened in July 2021, and a kosher dining vendor in the space was expected to open in the fall 2021.
Restaurant owner Yehuka Malka announced prospective plans to open his kosher restaurant HaMakom in the GW Hillel space two months later with hopes of “piloting” a potential kosher restaurant chain on university campuses around the country. But in January 2022, Malka pushed back the opening of his restaurant to this fall, citing COVID-19’s “rough toll” on the restaurant industry and supply chain issues.
Weinshel declined to comment on how the Hillel Cafe differs from the Hamakom restaurant.
This story was updated to reflect the following:
This story was updated to include the Hillel’s Kosher Cafe hours this week.
