Shopping Lower East Side Oct 13 2009

There are many fine retail food merchants in New York, such as Zabars and Fairway. There you can get first quality foods from the world over. However, on the Lower East Side, there are many food producers who are a step away from the retail merchants. For example, Kossars Bialys, Guss' Pickles, Streits, Yonah Schimmels Knishes. Their products are fresher and they offer a greater variety. Zabars sells Kossars Bialys but they are bagged and are days old by the time you get them. In my experience, the bialys are covered with a fungal beard within 2 days of purchase. Others are not producers but are specialists such as Russ and Daughters whose selection of smoked and pickled fish stagger the imagination. Economy Candy sells candies that you thought had been out of production for decades, such as Sen Sen, Mary Janes, Beemans Pepsin Gun, Teaberry Gum. In addition, they will cut you a chunk of Halvah off a block. Do you want Halvah with or without chocolate, pistachios? Dried blueberries, cherries, strawberries, mangos, cantalupe, candied orange peel. All significantly cheaper than you can get them elsewhere.

A lot of these products are just unavailable outside of NYC. Yes you can get pickled Vita Herrings in a jar outside of NY but how about Matjes Herring, Bismark herring, lox cut paper thin in front of your eyes? And do you want your lox to come from Swedish salmon, Norwegian, Scottish, Irish, Nova Scotia, Alaska? All of these and many more are available at Russ and Daughters. Where else can you get ready made herring and beet salad?

Yonah Schimmels will sell you a jar of yogurt that comes from a Bulgarian yogurt culture that they have maintained since about 1890. The jar is a glass jar with a screw top that they have recycled from elsewhere.

Shopping Lower East Side Oct 13 2009

To Woodstock, Phoenicia and Woodland Valley, Catskills

In the mid 1950's, when my father got his first car, a used 1951 Nash, we drove up to Woodland Valley in the Catskills to go camping. We had no tent of other camping equipment but the Nash had this nice feature where you could move the front seat forward and fold the seatrest down to create a continuous sleeping platform in the whole car. In subsequent visits, we would reserve the lean-to to sleep in. Then we would hike the mountain trails, like the one to Slide Mountain. I had not been to the area since the early 1960's but since I am on vacation this week, I decided to rent a car and drive up there and take some pictures. Woodstock I had never been to but it has been so much in the news as a result of the concert that did not take place there in 1969, that I decided to see the place and to take pictures there as well. Unfortunately, the Woodland Valley campsite was closed for the season and they would not permit me to wander around and take pictures.

To Woodstock, Phoenicia and Woodland Valley, Catskills

Muddy Cup Cafe & Environs Staten Island

And so I bid farewell to Manhattan to embark upon a sea voyage to that remote and misty isle of Staten Island in an effort to determine if there is any civilized life there. As a matter of fact, the Cup Cafe (formerly the Muddy Cup Cafe) is well worth the trip. On the same block is an antique shop, an art gallery, an auction house and an interesting restaurant, Vida. Around the corner is Hoppin John's Southern Cuisine & Catering and, if you must, a few blocks away on Bay Street is a White Castle. The cafe can be reached via the S78 bus from the St George ferry terminal. Get off the bus at the intersection of Beach and Van Duzer St, about a mile from the terminal. The auction house is Ira's Curiosity Place, tel 718-815-0376. Vida's phone no is 718-720-1501. The Exchange Gallery's phone no is 718-717-2253. Hoppin John's phone no is 718-727-2244. The Cup Cafe's number is 718-818-8100

Muddy Cup and Environs Staten Island June 2007

Greenpoint Revisited June 2007

There are bakeries and butcher shops galore. I did not see a single supermarket, which is just as well.

The poppy strudel that I bought at Rzeszowska Bakery (948 Manhattan Ave) was sensational. Next time though, I will try the cheese babka.

There seemed to be a butcher on every block. Sometimes 2 or 3. I bought my meat at Quality Meat Market, 172 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Czeslava Dusza, owner. Tel 718-388-3437. All the butchers though seem to be closed on Sundays.

Casa Mon Amour looked interesting. I had never heard of a fusion Dominican/French cuisine before but I also came across a Colombian/French restaurant. Casa is located at 162 Franklin St, tel 718-349-1529. Beatrice Claray Wetcher is the owner. Open Monday to Saturday. Lunch special, all from steam (presumably this means a steam table) small:$5.00, large: $6.00

An interesting pub with 15 ales on tap was Pencil Factory. It was quiet with very broad floorboards. Ladies, the mens room was impeccably clean. I assume that the ladies room is even cleaner.

The place I definitely want to eat in is S&B Restaurant and Deli, Delicious Polish-American food, 194 Bedford Ave, 718-963-1536. Lunch special for $7.50, featuring soup of the day, 2 vegetables and a choice of blintzes, pierogis, potato dumplings, stuffed cabbage, bigos, etc.

The junk shop is The Vortex, 1084 Manhattan Ave, open 11 A.M to 7 P.M., 7 days a week. The owners wife has a similar shop 2 blocks down. Plus, there is a Salvation Army Thrift Store a block down.

There is a sushi restaurant, Katsu, with the menu in Polish. Japonska Kuchnia Domowa i Sushi. 1013 Manhattan Ave. Tel 718-389-2300.

Wild Ginger pan-asian vegan cafe, 212 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Tel 718-218-8828

Yet another Indian restaurant, Mamtaj Mahal, 135B North 5th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211. It seems reasonably priced. No Barfi on the desert menu though. Rats. Tel 718-599-1100.

Greenpoint revisited June 2007

Openhouse New York Oct 2009

My thanks to my ex Barb in London for alerting me to this event. Without her notices, I would not know about half of the interesting things that go on in the city. This is the 7th year of Openhouse. On this occasion, many public and private facilities open their doors and even provide tours. The weekend did not start auspiciously. All the subway lines except for the M train were experiencing delays due to scheduled repairs. And it rained yesterday. On top of that, no one showed up to conduct a tour of The Little Red Lighthouse. Both my camera and my cellphone glistened with water. I decided to head back home and let my equipment dry out. I resumed my visits today but some of the places I really wanted to see were only open Saturday. Maybe I will have better luck next year

Openhouse New York Weekend 2009

NY, NY June 2007

What is it that turns me off Hindu art? It strikes me as loud, garish, overstated. Like a woman putting on a vividly colored lipstick but doing it carelessly, smearing it beyond her lips. Or dousing herself with cheap dime store perfume so that she reeks and you can scarcely breather in her presence. The singing is even worse. The lyrics consist of Hare Krishna, sung over and over sung in a bellyaching, moaning style. The lyricist and singers should all be fired. Make that shot, Then pictures of the only Hungarian butcher left in NYC. It was formerly called Magyar Hentes but is now called Yorkville Meat Emporium and they are at the corner of 81 St and 2nd Ave. I was thinking of doing a series "butchers to know and Love" This one would definitely be included.

New York, New York June 2007

Gertels Bakery RIP June 2007

Gertels Bakery,a long standing tradition on the Lower East Side closed it's doors forever last Friday.It is due to be bulldozed to make way for, you guessed it, high rise luxury condominiums. One by one all the places that made New York special are being sucked out like marrow out of marrow bones. I used to shop there when I went next door to Kaddouri&Sons to buy the biggest and tastiest dried figs and dates in the known universe. The Kaddouri location is also scheduled to be flattened for the same reason as Gertels. Will this process only end when New York becomes as bland as the rest of the USA?

Gertels Bakery RIP June 2007