Queens will soon have New York City’s first stadium built specifically for professional soccer. Whether its promised celebration of local food will include the borough’s kosher community remains unanswered.
Etihad Park is under construction at Willets Point near Citi Field and the Mets-Willets Point subway and Long Island Rail Road stations. The 25,000-seat venue is scheduled to open in 2027 as the new home of New York City FC. Gotham FC plans to make the stadium its permanent home in 2028, and the venue is also expected to host international soccer, concerts and other major events.
One of the stadium’s featured spaces will be Paze City Square and its Five Boroughs Food Hall. New York City FC says the food hall will contain a rotating collection of ten small businesses representing cuisines from across the city.
Applications closed July 1, and the ten inaugural food stalls are expected to be announced before the end of 2026. The businesses will be chosen through an open application process by a selection committee that includes chef and restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson and representatives of New York City FC and Legends Global.
The chosen businesses will participate through one-year licensing agreements. Legends Global, the stadium’s food-and-beverage operator, will work with them to develop the dishes and menus served inside the hall.
Paze City Square will operate during matches and major stadium events. On some non-event days, the space may open to the surrounding neighborhood for markets, festivals and other community programming.
Queens is one of the most diverse food destinations in the country. Any serious presentation of the borough’s cuisine should consider the kosher restaurants, bakeries and caterers serving its Jewish communities.
The issue goes beyond offering a Jewish or Bukharian dish. A business presented as kosher must operate under dependable rabbinic supervision, use approved ingredients and maintain controls that remain intact inside a large stadium.
That requires planning. Stadium concessions often share storage, preparation areas, equipment and staff, while a kosher operation may require sealed ingredients, dedicated utensils, controlled heating systems and consistent supervision. Matches and concerts may also take place on Shabbos or yamim tovim, meaning a Jewish-owned business may need an operating arrangement that does not conflict with religious observance.
Those challenges do not make kosher service impossible. Major venues have offered supervised concession stands or sealed kosher meals, but the arrangements work best when they are built into the operation rather than added after opening.
New York City FC and Legends Global should answer several questions before the food-hall businesses are announced. Did any certified kosher establishments apply, and will kosher certification be considered during the selection process?
Can a participating business operate only at events that do not conflict with religious observance? Will the stadium accommodate a separately supervised preparation and service area?
If no kosher business is selected for the main food hall, the stadium should explain whether another dependable kosher option will be available. A venue serving the entire city should not overlook a substantial population that cannot eat from ordinary concessions.
The question also concerns economic access. The stadium is being promoted as an opportunity for local businesses, and qualified Jewish-owned restaurants should be able to compete for that exposure.
A Bukharian kosher vendor could introduce thousands of visitors to plov, kebabs, samsa and other foods that form an important part of Queens’ identity. That would serve both the Jewish community and the stadium’s stated goal of presenting the authentic flavors of New York City.
The Five Boroughs Food Hall promises to represent the city’s neighborhoods. That promise should be measured by whether communities with specific religious needs can participate and eat there with confidence. The vendors have not yet been announced, meaning there is still time to make clear that kosher Queens belongs in the city’s newest stadium.
By Steven Saphirstein
Queens’ New Soccer Stadium Promises Local Food—Will Kosher Businesses Be Included?
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