July 16, 2004
What's Going On With B&H Dairy?
City Rag, acting on a tip from Chowhound, takes pictures of the locked-up B&H Dairy (above) on 2nd Avenue and wonders, "is this the end for this old-skool king of EV cheap eats!?" Apparently, B&H was locked up by city marshals "on behalf of the landlord" a couple days ago, and there's still food inside! That's nuts! Where is Gothamist going to go for a comforting bowl of soup? Does anyone know what's going on? Gothamist guesses it's a rent dispute, but what are the owners doing? The Chowhound folks are worried it'll turn into another bar with "kids from Jersey swilling Red Bull and Cosmos."
See B&H's menu, via Menupages.
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They also closed down Cinderella Falafel. I heard its most definitely a rent issue with the owners.
isn't it wild how the only metro area kids that visit Manhattan are from Jersey?
easily the most tired city stereotype of them all. But at least it serves a purpose: you can check off the person who says it in your mental notebook as "not very bright/creative/insightful/original"
Goddammit. When I worked at Mondo Kim's, B&H and Cinderella Falafel were the only two halfway decent places us broke-ass employees could afford to eat at. (We could probably had afforded Burritoville, but the human cost was too great).
Cinderella hooked you up with a gigantic deluxe falafel and can of Coke for $5. And the soup, pierogies, and challah grilled cheese with pickle at B&H could soothe over even my worst day of dealing with insane homeless people trying to sell stolen DVDs and masturbating in the porn section.
it's not the first time (or even the 2nd) time it's been closed.
if that jewel bako asshole opens another "tiny new york times gem of a restaurant" everyone should use its front gates as the east village communal public urinal and vomit trough.
whats funny is Jen is one of those jersey folks .
the veggie burgers @ B&H are amazing. well, i used to scarf them down about ten years ago. i haven't had one in quite some time. also, the mushroom barley @ the old kiev was heavenly. i have yet to set foot in its new incarnation.
gasp! unlock my comfort! nothing compares to ordering the borsch and them serving it up with the call "blood soup!".
Used to love B+H but the last whitefish sandwich I had there gave me a three day case of paralyzing food poisoning. I suspect a slippage in standards -- not that anyone should be forced to know the truth about the kitchens of New York. It's a shame though that there's no decent, relatively inexpensive place in the EV to eat anymore. Even Veselkas is inching up toward $9 sandwiches. Last I looked, EV was still a residential neighborhood...
B+H is the last dairy restaurant in NYC to the best of my knowledge. And their standards have slipped hard. 10 years ago, a few more dairy places existed but not anymore. It's sad to see it go if it's gone, but it's not like the B+H of old. And it's only appeal now is as an ironic piece of kitsch.
WHY WOULD THEY CLOSE B AND H???? IT'S THE GREATEST RESTAURANT EVER!!!!!!!!!!! I'M MOVING OUT OF THE CITY IF THIS IS HOW THEY WANT TO TREAT B AND H.
HATEFUL,
KATIE
WHY WOULD THEY CLOSE B AND H???? IT'S THE GREATEST RESTAURANT EVER!!!!!!!!!!! I'M MOVING OUT OF THE CITY IF THIS IS HOW THEY WANT TO TREAT B AND H.
HATEFUL,
KATIE
Thanks, Jen. This is the NYC-centric journalism I love from Gothamist. I hope B&H resolves the rent dispute -- the decent cheap eats in the East Village are few and far between.
There's plenty of dairy places in Brooklyn
I passed B & H on saturday and it was open.
I used to have breakfast there every weekday morning. In semi darkness, before they were officially open for the day, I would sit at the far end of the counter and have blintzes and toast and coffee, prepared and served by Lenny. This was back in like '71 when I was a teenager. This went on for a few years, so why my blood still flows through my veins, I don't know, but I'll never forget those breakfasts. The old lady, Anna, baking and prepping in the back. Mushroom and barley soup, and any kind of sandwich. It was all good. I think this was the hey day for B&H. The two partners, Dennis and some other guy, were pulling a ton of cash out of that place, and they were always busy.
Nothing lasts forever, but I did stop by about 5 years ago while touring an out of town friend through the area. I bought her a challah, it was excellent. We made French Toast the next am.
Based on some of the comments here, looks like I wont be eating there again, but I can still give B&H big props as the legend that it was.
Shatzy