Kosher Food and Drink

As found on “FrumTikTok”:

Rabbonim in Toms River issued a letter to their kehillos about the new Smash House restaurant:

“As of now, there is reason to believe that one who cares about their and their children’s יראת שמים, would or should not want to patronize an establishment that at certain times has… https://t.co/IaboO7XDFi pic.twitter.com/7ZmXEDqIJ6— Frum TikTok (@FrumTikTok) May 3, 2026

I’ve covered this general issue before in an editorial “Restaurants Need to be Kosher, Not Jewish“, but felt that this was a particularly interesting instance of it occurring. It is a little unclear exactly what the issue was… there was a well-publicized incident of someone ordering a traife Smashburger instead of a kosher Smash House burger from a delivery service, which, while regrettable, doesn’t seem like Smash House’s problem. I also saw some sort of reference to teens hanging out, which also seems like a parenting issue, not a restaurant issue. Kids from the “wrong crowd” were hanging out at Tov Pizza when I was growing up in Baltimore, yet the rabbonim there wisely managed to bite their tongues about it.

Thankfully, it seems the rabbonim involved have reconsidered, and issued a follow-up letter:

There’s no doubt in my mind that the rabbonim involved here were trying to do the right thing by their congregations, and sometimes that’s going to lead to some unpopular decisions. But, of course, the other side of that coin is that you really need to do your homework before issuing letters like this, including follow-up with the owners of the restaurant.

The reality is that sometimes controversial restaurants can be real gems. A good example is The Cave out in Hollywood, FL. It’s got a bar vibe with live music. My gut feeling is that the Lakewood-adjacent crowd might have some concerns there if one opened up in that area. However, if it gets people to go to a kosher establishment instead of a traife one, there’s probably a case to be made that it’s still serving the community in a valuable way.