How to Eat Old School

The folks at Eater, who like to map everything edible in the City, ask my to pick out of selection of old guard dishes from New York City's most venerable restaurants. Mutton Chops at Keen's, Pastrami on Rye at Katz's, that sort of thing. Such a task is a pleasure for me, so I was happy to do it. Thanks to Zachary Feldman for putting the post together. Here's the intro. You'll have to jump to Eater to read the rest, because the layout is too complex for me to copy here.

What are the makings of an iconic dish? While the critics and blogs dole out "least favorite food trend" memes annually, these stalwarts—provided, with commentary, by the erudite Brooks of Sheffield of our Who Goes There? column and the erstwhile Lost City—have stood the test of time to help define and inspire the city's ever-changing culinary landscape. Noteworthy dishes that offer something beyond the pizza, cupcakes, burgers, and fried chicken that seem to have strong-armed the market, you won't find this food on a truck anytime soon.- Zachary Feldman

A Good Sign: The Restrooms at Katz's Deli

That Latest Katz's Rumor: Not True

I was handing in my ticket at Katz's Delicatessen last night when the woman in front of me nervously asked the cashier if it were true that the immortal deli was closing. "That's a rumor," growled the lady at the counter.

Lord knows prediction of Katz's death come along about as often as Angelina Jolie acquires another child, but I hadn't heard this one. So I asked about it. "Someone's always starting a rumor," the cashier said. "You think if they were going to sell, they'd sell now?! The time was last year." The intimation was that the tanked economy is keeping Katz's safe for the time being. I expressed my wish that any such sale wouldn't happen for a long while. "Or ever," returned the cashier.

Lost City's Guide to the Lower East Side

Better take this tour quick. Anything that even resembles history in the Lower East Side is disappearing faster that Bloomberg's scruples. Some destinations, like Gertel's Bakery and the First Roumanian-American Congregation Synagogue, were lost only recently. Start on Houston Street, the northern border of the LES. Strangely enough, some of the best things left in the neighborhood are on this busy strip.

YONAH SCHIMMEL KNISHES: Amazing this place is still here, given it rents, not owns. Only joint in Manhattan that I know that specializes in the ur-NY delicacy, the knish. And they're pretty good, if you get them on a good day. The store's been here since 1910 and given the grumpiness of the help, it seems like they've been working straight since then. Check out the dumb waiter; it leads to a basement brick oven where the knishes are baked.

RUSS & DAUGHTERS: Two blocks east and four years younger, this "appetizing" store is as sleek and clean as Schimmel is creaky and dusty. An apt business model on how to honor tradition and stay contemporary simultaneously. The place gleams white with mouth-watering promise. For smoked fish and other bagel toppings, lower Manhattan has no match. But most anything's a good bet here.

KATZ'S DELI: The third business in the Olde Lower East Triumvirate completed by Yonah and Russ. The sprawling, byzantine, wondrous 121-year-old Katz's isn't just a good Jewish deli; it's a place like no other on the planet. The ticket-taking payment system is used by no one else in the City. The walls are living histories of ancient signage, past celebrity visitations and aged decor. Each counterman is a character with a sense of pride and a way of doing things. The meats are expensive, but a dog, fries and a Dr. Brown's will get you out cheaply. And whatever you do, Don't Lose Your Ticket!


ECONOMY CANDY: Turn down Essex Street, walk to Rivington and turn right. Wonder where all the candy in the world comes from? It comes from this place! Bursting with every sort of treat ever invented, from the low brow to the high end, and many you've probably forgotten about. In business since 1937.

STREIT'S MATZO FACTORY: Turn around and walk west a couple blocks. One of the older holdouts of what was once a Jewish stronghold, the Streit's factory and store at Rivington and Suffolk Streets has been here since 1925. (Shapiro's used to be right next door.) Most Streit's matzo are produced elsewhere, but this factory still turns out a fraction of the output, kept on mainly for tradition's sake. The factory's been put on the market, so don't depend of the matzo makers to be here forever. While you're here, look across the street at the imposing neo-Gothic P.S. 160 and imagine being an immigrant kid going there 100 years ago. Intimidating much?

ESSEX MARKET: Return to Essex Street. One of the last of the working indoor markets that were created in New York during the Depression. It's still a vibrant place of business with old-time green grocers alongside hoity-toity artisanal cheesemongers, as well as ancient kosher winemaker Shapiro's last foothold in the nabe. Plus a nook to house chef Kenny Shopsin's eccentricities. Roam, browse, eat.


KOSSAR'S BIALYS: Turn south on Essex and walk to Grand. Like Schimmel, Kossar's is a relic of a specialist. Bialys? Who does that anymore? They make bagels, too, but the onion-flecked bialys are works of art. The interior is just this side of a working factory (which it is), with wooden palettes, metal racks and flour everywhere. Too bad about the new character-free awning.

MIKVAH: Walk further west down Grand to where the street meets East Broadway. Here there is a Dutch-style building. Inside is a Mikvah, a ritualized bath used by Orthodox Jewish women once a month—one of the few such in the City.

BIALYSTOKER SYNAGOGUE: On your way back to Essex, turn right up Willet to take in this ancient, roughly beautiful 1928 house of worship, once a Methodist Episcopal Church. It looks so old, it might have been deposited here by a glacier millions of years ago.

FORWARD BUILDING: Walk all the way down Essex to East Broadway and gaze up at the majesty of the old Jewish Daily Forward newspaper building. The towering structure used to be a mess, but has now been shined up due to a condo conversion.

ELDRIDGE STREET SYNAGOGUE: Jog a few blocks east to Eldridge, between Division and Canal. There is arguably no house of worship more impressive than the flamboyant Moorish structure colloquially known as the Eldridge Street Synagogue. Built in 1886, it is slowly, bit by bit, being restored. Even in its half-finished state, it is awe inspiring, particular the large circular stained-glass window in the facade. It's open to the public most days; check times beforehand.

GUSS' PICKLES: Skip two blocks west to Orchard, and walk north towards Broome Street to find one of the last, and the oldest, picklemonger in the area. The old business used to be on Essex, and its story used to be a lot simpler. Now there's a war between this shop and one of Long Island as to who truly carries on the torch of the original Guss. Nevermind that. This Guss' is here, not in (ahem) Cederhurst, and the pickles barrels are filled with treats.

LOWER EAST SIDE TENAMENT MUSEUM: Walk up Orchard near Delancey to get an idea how life was (hard, punishing, many steps) for the original LES immigrants with a tour of this fine and compact museum.


MAX FISH/PINK PONY/THE HAT RESTAURANT: For the final block before getting back to Houston, use Ludlow Street, where, for a trip back to more recent LES history—the 1980s and 1990s—you'll find the well-preserved trio of the good-time bar Max Fish, cafe The Pink Pony and cheapo Mexican eatery El Sombrero ("The Hat"). Squint your eyes and you can easily imagine how the nabe's first wave of boho hipsters lived before they were priced out.

Lost City's Guide to Carroll Gardens
Lost City's Guide to Times Square

Just Not Right

My brother-in-law was in for the weekend. We were seeing a show in the East Village and I wanted to give him a quintessential New York dining experience. A natural choice came to mind: Katz's. No place is like Katz's. No place look like it, eats like it or has an even remotely similar payment system. So Katz's it was.

We passed by it at 5:30 PM and took a peek. Open and ready for business. But there was plenty of time, so we went strolling through the Lower East Side, sightseeing. We then returned to to Katz's at 6 PM, where the ticket-taker stopped us at the door. "Private party tonight."

What? A private party at Katz's? Sorry, but this is not right. Katz's is all about democracy. A big, sprawling place that could fit the population of a small village and where everyone is welcome and treated the same. It's very ambiance reeks of "the people." It should never be roped off for the benefit of some moneyed toffs. It's just wrong.

No idea what the even was. Maybe a City Council third-term victory party.

Did You Know FDR Liked Katz's?

There are pictures of everyone from Bill Clinton to Rob Reiner to Soupy Sales on the walls of Katz's Delicatessen. But here's one I never noticed until a recent visit. FDR!

I don't know about you, but FDR doesn't strike me as a pastrami-on-rye type of guy. Katz's is now a political whistle stop. Carter and Giuliani and Bloomberg have all made a stop. But in the 1930s?

The picture looks like the FDR who was elected in 1932. But honestly, it's not a photograph, but an illustration. I doubt FDR knew anything about it. It appears to be the cover of a giveaway menu or something. Roosevelt's name isn't even on it. "Compliments of Katz's Delicatessen/Known as the Best," it says. Then there's some Yiddish, that I wish I could read. Anyway, a neat artifact.

Katz's Hidden Largesse

If you hit Katz's Delicatessen late one night after a round of Lower East Side carousing and don't have the jack for a sandwich and a beverage, don't sweat it. It's hard to spot right way, but at the back of the cavernous eatery is this unique silver, Art Deco apparatus. It dispenses free water out of three faucets. Just grab a glass from one of the three shiny shelves and you're in business.

I've never seen a piece of work like this anywhere else in the City, and I think it's pretty safe to say this is the only example of its type in town. Belongs in the Smithsonian, as far as I'm concerned. Or the Cooper-Hewitt.

A Good Sign: Katz's Delicatessen

A natural, I know. A classic. But I've never posted it before, so here it is.

The clock's a gem on its own. It wins points for whimsy.

The side signs are also worth noting. Fine examples of metal signing. One thing: Who was signmaker George Taran? Not a clue. But millions of people have seen his handiwork.

Katz's Survives Bruni Test

What? Does Katz's have a sign on its back that says "Kick me?" Why does fate seem to have it in for the venerable Lower East Side deli. First, that putz who got in a drunken fight with a security guard threatens to sue the place. Then the rumors that a condo tower would wipe it out. And now, just when it's weak and vulernable, the New York Times sends its egomanical pitbull restaurant critic Frank Bruni after it. Katz's needs a Bruni assessment right now about as much as a hole in the head.

I've frankly had enough of Bruni. The man's all about his own power and reputation, as far as I can see. That said, his review is fairly respectful. His keeps the wiseass remarks to a minimum. He leaves the "Ah, but is it really that good? Is it Bruni good?" devil's advocate stance at the door. One star he gives the place. But he correctly praised many of the deli's offerings, and emphasized the special quality of the service set-up:

To revel in its pastrami sandwich, one of the best in the land, with an eye-popping stack of brined beef that’s juicy, smoky, rapturous. To glory in the intricate ritual of the place: the taking of a ticket at the door; the lining-up in front of one of the servers who carves that beef by hand; the tasting of the thick, ridged slices the server gives us as the sandwich is being built; the nodding when we’re asked if we want pickles, because of course we want pickles.

It’s a ritual unique to Katz’s, an argument, along with Katz’s age, to consider it the king of New York delis, reigning above the Carnegie, above the Second Avenue Deli, which closed a year and a half ago. It may reopen, but not on Second Avenue, a reminder that nothing can be taken for granted.

Katz’s shouldn’t be. At few other restaurants can you feel that you’ve stepped this surely into a living museum, a patch of urban mythology.

Bruni the reporter, however, strikes out. Trying to discover if the owner Fred Austin plans to sell the place, he finds out about as much as any of us have. Though he does reveal Austin as a bit of a merciless sadist, toying with New Yorkers' hearts and minds:

When I asked Mr. Austin about the latest rumors that Katz’s was being sold, he said it was entirely possible that somebody could come along and “offer me an amount I can’t walk away from,” but that none of the many offers made so far were sufficiently tempting.

I remarked that his response seemed to leave him plenty of wiggle room.

“How about that?” he said mischievously.

Fucker.

New Sign at Katz's

This may be old news, but Katz's Delicatessen on Houston Street has a new sign on the corner of its low-rise building. I'm talking about the red letters that spell of Katz's vertically just above the entrance. Passing by, it looked different to me, so I went in and asked. Sure enough, the old sign was replaced last year. You can see the old sign in this postcard below. The letters were raised on that one and, to me, it's much more appealing. Still, the new one's not bad.


By the way, Katz's now has a very official-looking security guard in a crisp blue uniform handing out the meal tickets just inside the door. Very imposing. He said he had begun work only two months ago. That's about the time that loutish actor accused the Katz's staff of roughing him up and threatened all kinds of legal action. Not that the two events are connected. I'm just saying...