Sparks Cafe

Kosher cafe in New Brunswick, NJ, at Rutgers Chabad

✡ Chabad of Rutgers

Location: New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States

Organizer: Sparks Cafe, Chabad of Rutgers

About

Sparks Cafe is a kosher cafe inside the Chabad House at 170 College Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ, on the Rutgers University College Avenue campus. If you are looking for a kosher cafe in New Brunswick for coffee, a pastry or a quick lunch, it is open to students and to the wider community. It opened in October 2026 and is run by Hillel and Shaindel Polichenco.

The menu covers hot and iced coffee and lattes, matcha, pastries, sourdough sandwiches, paninis, salads, yogurt parfaits and focaccia. The owners say everything is made fresh each day, including the coffee syrups, and that all baked goods, the sourdough included, are baked in house. They describe the cafe as organic, free of seed oils and mostly free of refined sugars.

The cafe is open Sunday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can sit inside the Chabad House, collect an order curbside or ask about local delivery. Kosher supervision is by Chabad of Rutgers, and the cafe's online ordering page also calls it a cholov yisroel cafe. Daily specials are posted on Instagram at @sparkscafe_.

About the provider

Sparks Cafe is a kosher cafe in the Rutgers Chabad House in New Brunswick, NJ, opened in October 2026 by Hillel and Shaindel Polichenco. It serves coffee, pastries, sourdough sandwiches and salads, with baking done in house.

Kashrut & dining

Kosher cafe under the supervision of Chabad of Rutgers. The cafe's own ordering page describes it as a "kosher and cholov yisroel cafe"; this appears in one source only, so confirm with the cafe. Pas Yisroel: not stated.

Activities & entertainment

Sunday to Friday: 9:00 to 14:00. Please check Shabbat, holiday and university-break hours with the cafe.

Location

Address: 170 College Ave, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

Getting there

Inside the Rutgers Chabad House at 170 College Avenue, on the College Avenue campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

Contact

Organizer: Sparks Cafe, Chabad of Rutgers
Location: New Brunswick, United States
Phone: +1 732 296 1800
Website: https://chabadnj.org