Arizona State University now has a kosher cafe.
Mozart Café, a kosher dairy restaurant in Scottsdale, recently opened a satellite location in the Memorial Union (MU) on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus.
Adam Zalkin, the engagement director at Chabad who is also a recent graduate of ASU, said that Mozart, which is under the supervision of the Greater Phoenix Vaad Hakashruth, brings a “new feel” to campus. He also said that the new environment would likely bring “new people,” as well.
“Mozart Café is a great start and a new beginning,” said Rabbi Shmuel Tiechtel, executive director of Chabad at ASU, highlighting the significance of this event in his 12 years on campus.
Kellie Cloud, executive director of the MU, said that ASU and the area’s primary Jewish “players” met in March of 2014 to discuss the addition of a “unique menu” to the MU. They worked with Gabi Falach, who opened the Scottsdale restaurant with Aviram Cohen in 2011.
Cloud described Mozart as having a “Mediterranean flair, with paninis, which the MU does not have.”
Could the arrival of Mozart indicate that there will be a kosher meal plan in ASU’s future? “I hope that after seeing how Mozart does, ASU develops a full kosher meal plan,” Tiechtel said. “Only time will tell.”
Michael Mesenbrink, a resident district manager at Aramark, the company that provides the food for the MU, along with Cloud suggested that in the future, ASU should start to see more kosher options added to the MU. The timing will need to be right and the space will need to be available, so there is “no specific timetable,” he said.
Tiechtel said that there were parents and students who called him for guidance, and previously, when asked about kosher dining options provided by the school, he would have to tell them that there was no specific kosher meal plan, just ways to avoid breaking kosher. “Students don’t come to ASU because there is no kosher meal plan.”
But, “with the addition of Mozart, I think we will begin to see more kosher-keeping Jews coming to ASU,” he said.
Hillel at ASU serves a Shabbat dinner as well as other meals throughout the week, also supervised by the Greater Phoenix Vaad Hakashruth. Chabad at ASU and Jewish Arizonans on Campus (JAC) also offer kosher Shabbat and holiday meals.
Mozart Café is “key to building a strong Jewish foundation at ASU that will last well into the future,” Zalkin said.
Noah Weinberg is a sophomore at the Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Mass Communication and Journalism.
