Current owner(s) IDT Corporation Dress code Neat casual City New York City | Food type Sushi, Cafe Street address 44 2nd Street | |
Country United States of America | ||
IDT Megabite Cafe (also known as IDT Mega Bite Cafe) is a cybercafe and sushi bar in New York City. It is considered to be the world's first kosher cybercafe.
History
IDT Megabite Cafe is located in the New York City Diamond District. Originally the internet café was a kosher cafe and pizza restaurant. The cafe restaurant was converted in February 1997 to a cybercafe with a new interior and a kosher sushi bar at a cost of about $135,000 at the time. It is considered to be the world's first kosher cybercafe.
The cybercafe's owners had the idea of offering free computer access when they opened. When IDT Megabite Cafe first opened in 1997 they placed about a dozen computers in the restaurant, one for each dining table. In addition, there were two separate computers to check e-mail.
A spokesperson of the IDT Corporation said a wider range of patrons came to the cafe because of the conversion. Orthodox Jews, who worked in the Diamond District of New York city, had been the traditional customers. But now that it was a cybercafe it would serve a more diverse crowd. To accommodate this clientele they stayed open two extra hours every night, except Fridays. On Fridays, the cafe closed one hour before the sun went down and didn't reopen until Sunday in observance of the Jewish Sabbath.
IDT Megabite Cafe was founded by a 31-year-old person who works the cash register during active lunch times. He is from Israel and partnered with IDT Corporation to establish a kosher cafe and restaurant. Initially a rabbi was the inspector to make sure the food on the menu met the Jewish tradition and the Jewish dietary laws. The café became popular for Orthodox weddings, bar mitzvahs and other Jewish ceremonial events. There was a separate sushi rabbi that made sure the sushi did not contain shellfish or crustaceans.
The cybercafe’s computers had to follow certain Jewish traditions, as did the cafe's menu. The Jewish ideal is a clean body and a clean mind. When the café was full at lunch time, patrons could look at a large poster behind the computers giving them a list of approved items to surf when they got access to a computer. This list included web addresses for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and Project Genesis, an educational program for those who follow the Jewish faith.