NYC Tip: A Gentile’s Guide to Jewish Cuisine
By Abe Gutierrez
If Gangs of New York taught you anything, it was that the earliest immigrants that populated New York were rough riding, burly settlers who knew that violence was a justifiable means of getting what you wanted. Many of us came here as tourists, walked around Little Italy pretending to be The Godfather, and expected to see street peddlers hawking their wares on the sidewalks. We thought Five Points was still the hub of the Irish Immigrant population, and were puzzled to find it ripe with foreign tourists and not The Dead Rabbits.
One thing that remained true to expectations, though, was the abundance of fantastic Jewish cuisine. Jewish food for the most part has been immune to the mass commercialization that has plagued many other immigrant cuisine, so in most cases, your chopped liver and onions sandwich is going to be made in the same style that it was made for the inhabitants of tenement housing on the Lower East Side some 80 years ago.
In New York City, we are privileged to have some of the best Jewish-style food in the U.S., on every street corner. The Jewish deli has become a staple in the city, and Kosher cuisine has become an art form. Here are some of New York City’s establishments best known for the noshings of The Tribe.
Katz’s Delicatessen — 205 E Houston St (between Avenue A & Essex St)
Let’s get this one out of the way now. Right on the Lower East Side, Katz’s Deli is probably the most famous deli in all of New York City. Famous for multiple reasons, Katz’s has the old-school deli vibe: retro, depressing décor that could make it pass for an abandoned café in a slasher film set in Iowa. They have all the staples, like fantastic, briny-yet-crunchy dill pickles, perfect Matzoh Ball soup, and of course their infamous pastrami on rye. The saltiness of the meat works so incredibly well with the muted flavors of the rest of the sandwich. The insanely simplistic sandwich is befitting of its setting. Katz’s cannot afford to have meat that is not outstanding; the sandwiches here are quite literally just the meat and bread, and when you have a sandwich that transparent, any kind of imperfection would come through ruthlessly. At Katz’s, they don’t hide their sandwiches behind any kind of fancy aiolis or other toppings, and it works perfectly.
Russ and Daughter’s Appetizers — 179 E Houston St (between East Houston St & Chrystie St)
Although R&D is marginally less popular than Katz’s (despite being a stone’s throw away), it serves a completely different style of food. At Russ and Daughters, fish is king. But don’t look for Chilean sea bass or skate wing here — Russ and Daughters tempts you with the Ashkenazi staples: smoked herring, sable, whitefish, and their claim to fame, perfect lox. The countless arrays of lox at this Lower East Side staple make it difficult to decide on what to order, and their lox and cream cheese bagel with capers, onions, and tomatoes is pretty pricy (about $11), but worth an occasional splurge.
Carnegie Delicatessen — 854 7th Ave (between 54th St & 55th St)
We’re not huge fans ourselves, but Carnegie Deli is notorious for their quantity over quality approach to dining. It is actually impractical to eat all of a sandwich. Their meat is piled to such a disgustingly high level, that the two pathetic pieces of bread they serve it with seem ironic being there. This tourist trap serves $20 sandwiches the size of an infant, and yet they do not allow you to split any of the sandwiches unless you pay a hefty premium. The food here is fun to look at and post mobile uploads of, but after the initial chuckle it brings about, you remember that you just paid upwards of $20, and are probably on the brink of cardiac arrest.
Sarge’s New York Delicatessen — 548 3rd Ave (between 36th St & 37th St)
Sarge’s pretty much takes everything that was wrong with Carnegie Deli, and fixes it. Yes, they have gargantuan portions, but more than that, the meat that they put on those suckers is actually tasty. Sarge’s caters to real New Yorkers, not just the busloads of tourists that overrun Katz’s on the weekends. Perhaps most importantly, Sarge’s is open 24 hours. This means you can nosh on your kugel after drunkenly flinging chutzpah at your roommate, even if it is 5 a.m.. Sarge’s serves every kind of Kosher delight you could ever dream of — feeling like latkes with apple sauce? Sarge’s has the best deep fried potato pancakes in the city. Nothing to kvetsch about here.
Yonah Schimmel’s Knish Bakery — 137 E Houston St (between 2nd Ave & Chrystie St)
Another point for the lower east side, YSKB specializes in knishes, those little snacks that make the halal carts that saturate NYC smell so amazing. It is actually fairly difficult to describe a knish, as it is more dense than a biscuit and more substantial than a dumpling, and calling it a pastry would be a disservice. They are small, but packed to the brim with flavor and carbs, so after enough of these you will need to have someone schlepp you all the way back to your dorm. Yonah Schimmel has the greatest variety in knishes that we have ever seen (though we admit we had only had the ones at the halal carts before our experience with YSKB) the range and complexity of flavors that come out of these little pockets of sustenance are astounding. Yonah Schimmel has perfected the art of a Knish, now we only await a store dedicated to latkes.
By no means was this list exhaustive, so share some of your favorites on the comments section.
L’Chaim!
