"Fast" Food

Next Wednesday at sundown the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur begins - a 24 hour period of fasting and atonement. After a full day without food or drink, many Jews ritually break their annual fast with the "other" Jewish cuisine - Chinese. But, even more members of "the Tribe" default to the classic urban Judaic breakfast for break-the-fast - a smoked fish-palooza featuring a bevy of assorted bagels and cream cheese spreads.

So, all of this leads to two highly important questions: What is your favorite Chinese restaurant in New York? And, what is your favorite bagel bakery?

One more bonus question for the Jews in the crowd: If you and yours don't break fast with lo mein or bagels and lox, what is your family tradition? Burritos? Prime rib? Waffles? Caesar salad?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By VittlesVamp in Food on October 6, 2005 1:59 PM

Comments [rss]

jd

what about wine with dinner, is it cool to have a glass of kosher wine when you break the fast?

harry

In my family, we break our fast with a shot of whiskey, followed by blintz souffle, bagels, herring, smoked mackerel and other dairy items.

Joclyn

Kings Highway Bagels!

Amit Gupta

Absolute bagels all the way. Best everything bagels anywhere.

Amy

Congee Village for Chinese. If you haven't been, you must go; if not for the food, for the considerable ambience.

And for bagels, it's a toss up between Ess-A-Bagel and Absolute. Don't hate me for this, but I literally live ABOVE Absolute: their ceiling is my floor... Life is pretty good.

Rob

I will second the Absolute Bagels. Just did a side-by-side comparison with H&H and Absolute BLOWS them away.

Cole

Not as well known but as good or better than the now-deceased Columbia Bagels is Absolute Bagels, on 107 & Broadway.

Columbia Bagels' people also have a location in Times Square (called Times Square Bagels, on 44th between 8th & tourist hell, I think), but it's not as good.

g

This post shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Jewish culture. Jews eat Chinese food on Christmas, not after Yom Kippur ends.

Nathan

Bergen Bagels on Flatbush has great bagels, but I'm partial since I just got hitched there.

Just kidding.

Rocknrope

Peking Park on 40th and Park has good chinese, but I'm partial since I just got hitched there.

Thomas

Remember in China, it is just called food.

kim

wo hop and 69 bayard for chinese.

knot

fat asian baby got it right on the first try. ess-a and columbia hot bagels are/were the best bagel places in the city. actually, CHB has another store on 44th (maybe 43rd?) street (Times Square Hot Bagel) that's essentially the same bagel, but loses many points for location.

Phil

Bagel Mill at 1st and 88th (just across the street from my apartment) has the best bagels in the city, at least according to my wife and I.

My mother's traditional break-the-fast meal is blintzes, eggs, noodle kugel, bagels, and cream cheese (maybe some lox, too). I usually break the fast with whatever is handy. Last year it was a steak dinner. It's always some sort of pig-out feast. I'm hardly the most kosher Jew, though -- I've broken the fast with cheeseburgers, ribs or shellfish on other occasions.

southerngal

being good southerners, we would break our fast with breakfast dishes, to be sure: pancakes, eggs, grits, and biscuits. (okay, and bacon and sausage, too. it's impossible to keep kosher in the south.)

dinner

i guess my family's just evil and spends the day cooking a huge turkey dinner that we can't sample til we eat at sundown

kristin

cheers to that, zack... the only respectable way to break a 24-hour fast is to take advantage of the empty stomach...

zack

there is nothing like breaking a fast on a cold beer...

Ari

Bagels etc are ok but there's also the blintz souffle which is to die for. And omelettes.

fat asian baby

jesus! what sort of infidels don't break the fast with bagels and lox and whitefish and herring and blah blah blah? i always liked columbia hot bagels, but i think it's gone now. ess-a-bagel on 20-something and 1st is pretty good too.