Washington Heights Kosher Eating Options [Updated for Spring 2009]

It's been over a year and a half since I last posted the kosher dining options in Washington Heights and felt it was time to update the list. I've organized this list by dairy places to eat and meat places to eat.

Dairy
Dougie Doug's
501 West 184th Street
212.928.2222
Free wifi
Hours:
Sunday 10:30-5
Monday-Thursday 8:30 - 8
Friday 8:30-2
However, in the summer, they may be closing around 4pm.

Grandma's Pizza
2551 Amsterdam Avenue
212.927.4895

Lake Como Pizza
2549 Amsterdam Avenue
212.740.0110
Hours are about 8-9, although they will be closed end of June - mid August

Your Heights Cafe
4413 Broadway
212.544.9044 or 212.544.0041
Tav HaYosher certification
Open Sunday through Thursday 11-9 (and will keep those hours through the summer)
The newest kosher eatery in the Heights, having opened about two weeks before Pessah.


Meat

Beli
2566 Amsterdam Avenue
917.797.0703
Sunday-Thursday 4:30 - 11 (although I don't know what their summer hours will be)

Golan Heights
2553 Amsterdam Avenue
212.795.7842

Just Kosher Delight
2543 Amsterdam
212.568.2343
Sunday-Thursday 11:30-11
Friday Closed
Saturday One hour after shabbas until 1
Not sure about summer hours and might be closed in July


As an aside, if I believe I got this right, all of the kosher eateries in the Heights are certified kosher by the Va'ad haRabbanim of Riverdale.

Is Starbucks' New Vivanno Kosher?

Last month, Starbucks launched a new beverage, Vivanno™ nourishing blends. There are two flavors currently available: orange mango banana and banana chocolate. According to their press release,

With customers looking for healthier options to fit their on-the-go lifestyles, the new Vivanno™ beverage line is one way Starbucks is meeting requests for great-tasting, good-for-you offerings while furthering its commitment to food and beverage selections that support a healthy lifestyle. The simple ingredient list for both beverages includes:
• one whole banana,
• a proprietary whey protein and fiber powder,
• choice of milk,
• and ice (in the Orange Mango Banana Blend, Naked® Juice is also added).

This is certainly an interesting move, especially for those trying to get more protein into their diet. However, the question is, "Are they kosher?" So, to this end, I e-mailed Starbucks' customer relations and Madeline responded "Due to the nature of your inquiry, we are unable to provide an ideal response via email. Therefore, we would like the opportunity to provide/gather more information in order to best assist you. Please call our customer relations department at 1-800-235-2883." So, today, I called.
A nice, young lady named Kate answered my questions (Starbucks' customer relations, if you are reading this, she did an excellent job). Kate said that the protein powder is a proprietary blend certified by the Kof-K. However, she said that the Naked juice in the orange mango banana blend is not certified kosher. This strikes me as strange since the OU says Naked juice is kosher. Anyways, in the orange mango banana blend, aside from the Naked juice and the proprietary protein blend, there is also water and milk. In the chocolate banana blend, aside from the proprietary protein blend, there is milk, water, banana, and mocha sauce (the mocha sauce, according to Kate, is certified kosher by the OU).
Of course, at the beginning of the call, Kate gave a general kosher disclaimer that Starbucks uses non-kosher products behind the counter and that none of the stores are certified as kosher, per se (even though there are many products that are kosher).
Anyways, while searching for my answer to the original question, I came across KosherStarbucks.com that says "The Orange Mango Banana, and Chocolate Banana Vivanno are kosher only without the Protein & Fiber Powder. You must specify each time you order that the Protein & Fiber powder should not be included in your beverage." This statement seems bizarre to me if the Kof-K says that the protein and fiber powder is kosher.
Anyways, I don't know / caveat emptor.

The Shulhan Arukh on How Much Time to Wait to Eat Dairy After Consuming Meat

In honor of finishing my milk & meat test (בחינה של בשר בחלב), I decided to quote and translate section 89:1 of the Shulhan Arukh (Yoreh Deah), the mid-16th century Jewish law work, on how much time one is to wait between eating meat and milk. Up first is Rabbi Yosef Karo:

אכל בשר, אפילו של חיה ועוף, לא יאכל גבינה אחריו עד שישהה שש שעות. ואפילו אם שהה כשיעור, אם יש בשר בין השינים, צריך להסירו.
והלועס לתינוק, צריך להמתין.

If one ate meat - even a wild beast or poultry - one should not eat cheese after that until one waits six hours. And even if one waited that amount of time, if there is still flesh/meat in one's teeth, one needs to remove it.
And one who chews up [meat] for a child/toddler needs to wait [the prescribed amount of time].

However, Rabbi Moshe Isserles wrote

ואם מצא אחר כך בשר שבין השינים, ומסירו, צריך להדיח פיו קודם שיאכל גבינה (הר"ן פכ"ה). ויש אומרים דאין צריכין להמתין שש שעות, רק מיד אם סלק ובירך ברכת המזון, מותר על ידי קנוח והדחה (תוס' ומרדכי פכ"ה והגהות אשיר"י והג"ה מיימוני פ"ט דמ"א וראבי"ה).
והמנהג הפשוט במדינות אלו, להמתין אחר אכילת הבשר שעה אחת, ואוכלין אחר כך גבינה. מיהו צריכים לברך גם כן ברכת המזון אחר הבשר (ע"פ הארוך והגהות ש"ד), דאז הוי כסעודה אחרת, דמותר לאכול לדברי המקילין. אבל בלא ברכת המזון, לא מהני המתנת שעה. ואין חילוק אם המתין השעה קודם ברכת המזון, או אחר כך (ד"ע ממהרא"י ולאפוקי או"ה). ואם מצא בשר בין שיניו, אחר השעה, צריך לנקרו ולהסירו (ד"ע ממשמעות הר"ן הנ"ל).
ויש אומרים דאין לברך ברכת המזון על מנת לאכול גבינה (ארוך בשם מהר"ח), אבל אין נזהרין בזה.
ויש מדקדקים להמתין שש שעות אחר אכילת בשר לגבינה, וכן נכון לעשות

If one found meat between ones teeth afterwards and removes it, one needs to wash out one's mouth prior to eating cheese.
There are those who say that one does not need to wait six hours, but, rather just to remove their plate and to bless the Grace After Meals and it is permitted through wiping and rinsing.
The simple custom in these lands is to wait one hour after eating meat, and then [to be able] to eat cheese. However, one still needs to bless the Grace After Meals after the meat, because it would be like another meal, for which it would be permissible to eat, according to those who are lenient. But without the Grace After Meals, waiting an hour does not help. And there is no difference if one waits an hour before the Grace After Meals or afterwards. If one found meat between one’s teeth after that hour, one needs to remove it.
Some say one should not say the Grace After Meals just to eat cheese, but we are not concerned about this.
There are some who are meticulous to wait six hours after eating meat before [eating] cheese. And such is proper to do.

For Rabbi Isserles' use of the term "these lands", I will refer to Joseph Davis' excellent article:

"These lands" is a phrase that Isserles was fond of, and he used it several times in his Responsa. In one place, he contrasted "these lands" to Italy.... In another place, he contrasted "these lands" to Moravia.... In a third responsum..., Isserles contrasted "these lands" to Germany....
Isserles used "these lands" to mean the lands of Poland. The "customs of these lands" that Isserles codified in his notes to the Shulhan Arukh were the customs of the Polish Jews.

-Joseph Davis, "The Reception of the Shulhan Arukh and the Formation of Ashkenazic Jewish Identity," AJS Review 26, no. 2 (2002), 265.
For more on this topic, my havrusa wrote a little piece on this same topic (you have to scroll down a little).

Kosher Dining Options in Washington Heights

Now that today is Labor Day, fall is soon upon us. A new season is here, school is starting once again, and new people have moved into the neighborhood. With these changes come a couple of new kosher restaurants in Washington Heights and a few of the same previous places. Here they are, in alphabetical order:
-Dougie Doug's (212.928.2222) 501 West 184th Street {dairy} - replacing Revaya has just opened up within the last month
-Golan Heights (212.795.7842) 2553 Amsterdam {meat} is going strongly.
-Grandma's Pizza (212.927.4895) 2551 Amsterdam {dairy} is also still going strongly.
-Knish Box (212.544.9044) 4413 Broadway {dairy} - this is a new place and the first kosher restaurant near Bennett Avenue since Gruenbaum's on 181st closed in spring 2006. It just opened last week.

As far as Ari's deli (212.740.8030) {meat} is concerned, which had opened up two years ago, I haven't seen them open in several months.
Also, Lake Como Pizza (212.740.0110) 2549 Amsterdam {dairy} (where Time Out Pizza used to be) is another place that hasn't been open for a long time, so I don't know what the story is there.