We’ve learned that the Chickpea brand has been purchased, although its original owners are holding on to the Second Avenue location (hence the competition to rename their restaurant). Chickpea’s new operators, Ashish Kapoor and his partner Mike Himani, also own All About Food, Seattle Coffee Roasters, and Nan King, the Chinese-Thai chain that, incidentally, will open a new location on Broadway and 53rd Street in the next couple of weeks. Kapoor tells us he plans to open new Chickpeas with slightly trendier décor in Penn Station (within three months), on the corner of Houston and Allen (within a month), and in Journal Square. The chef will still be Alex Schindler, but the new stores will not be kosher. “We want to bring the food to a wider audience,” says Kapoor, and with the new location in the LIRR terminal, we have no doubt they will.
