Estranged New Yorkers Find Way Home to Knishes

In a post yesterday about TONY's Essential New York Food Quiz, The Feedbag objects to the description of knish-maker Yonah Schimmel as a "potato-pie pro," wondering: "Are TONY readers really that estranged from their own city that they don't know what a knish is?"

Thousands of vendors once roamed the streets selling knishes with mustard and salt, long before Chowhounds picked every bone in the outer boroughs clean, and long before the Vendy Awards. Knisheries have all but disappeared; Schimmel's is one of the last brick and mortar operations left standing. The man seen here, Ruby Oshinsky, sold his famous knishes streetside around Canarsie in the 60s and 70s.

A site exists dedicated to recollections of Ruby from more than 125 of his old customers, most of whom fortuitously stumbled upon his teetering metal pushcart. They describe his knishes as "flat, roundish, soft skinned, creamy inside, with grains of salt from a banged up tin can as the finishing touch." The man announced his presence with a bullhorn outside schools and houses of worship, sometimes yelling "I'm now on the premises with my homogenized, pasteurized and recently circumcised potato knishes. Please folks, come. I need the money."

With the help of his pastry-wrapped mashed potatoes, Ruby saved kids from getting pummeled. The trick to dissolving a fight: offer the bully a knish. In many of these stories, Ruby comes off as supernatural, his knishes talismanic. One kid walks home from school unscathed even as Hurricane Donna touches down - a greasy bag from Ruby in his hand. In another Ruby shows up like Spiderman (albeit wielding a 38 Special) to thwart a motorbike robbery. Rumor had it that Ruby filled his bathtub with potatoes and his wife mashed them with her feet.

Ruby died in 1987, but people are still thinking about the knishes he made for them 40 years ago. Even more comforting than that: estranged New Yorkers need only type the words "Ruby" and "Knish" into a search engine and can be taken back home. [Ruby the Knish Man via Flatbush Pigeon]

Photo: Ruby outside Tilden H.S. in 1967, credit

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By Hugh Merwin in Food on November 5, 2008 3:10 PM

Comments [rss]

Glenda

If you haven't checked out Bruce's site Ruby the Knishman please do. I am friend that has enjoyed hearing the stories of Ruby and I have been lucky enough to hear them from some of the family members. New Yorkers bring back the old fashioned knishes not the frozen store bought ones that aren't the real thing.

bruce

I'm the creator of the Ruby the knishman site. To answer the first question, no, i make no money off this site. Actually, i created it for myself. It was a tiny one page thing. At the last minute, i put on the site the line "Any Ruby stories, send to karch139@optonline.net". I expected to get maybe 2, 3 stories. I never anticipated the memories that came pouring in, including 1 songwrite, 1 screenwriter, his family, etc! Here's to you, Ruby, they still remember!

jibbly

#3, are you kidding me? I still have phantom cravings for a piping hot knish from a vendor with extra mustard. The last time I ever saw a street vendor with one in the city was sometime in the mid or late '90s. Hot diggity I could go for one right now.

Instead our options are down to dirty water dogs and giant pretzels. I do appreciate the halal carts but those are full blown meals, not bad-for-you snackages.

blablanyc

I love Yonah Schimmel. It's one of the few businesses I would consider purchasing. You can't beat the 100+ year yogurt they serve.

HUGO_MEGO

The Knish is another piece of NYC that is going extinct. The hipsters find it too greasy and prefer yogurt with fruit.

thefacts

What I remember most about Brighton Beach was the characters walking on the sand sifting for coins with a screen contraption (pre-metal detectors)and guys with these heavy metal boxes around their shoulder screaming in 90degree weather: "Red-hot potato knish. Getcher red hot knish here!"

ur doing it rong

Knishes are the epitomy of meh. "OMG this is the best knish I ever tasted! It's way less bland then the others!"

The Edge

Days gone by...

JenChungsBaby

Growing up in Brooklyn I was friends with the family that owns (owned?) Gabila's knishes and I used to go to the factory and get them fresh off the line. I still think those fried square ones are the best.