Results tagged “avenuedeli”

Frank Bruni, the Times’s top restaurant critic, awards the new 2nd Avenue Deli one star today, which isn’t bad considering it is, despite all the history, still a deli. We popped in there for food and photos just before it reopened at its East 33rd Street location and found the sandwiches (pictured) as monumental as ever; a second visit turned up no sign of the free bowl of gribenes (chicken skin fried in chicken fat) that the owner Jeremy Lebewohl had promised free at every table.

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes.

The initial news of the legendary 2nd Avenue Deli’s reincarnation led us to stockpile Lipitor as visions of pastrami, chopped liver and gribenes danced through our heads. And when we feasted our eyes on the sneak preview of this fresser’s paradise, we could hardly wait to go and devour more of the menu.

An opening for the new 2nd Avenue Deli is in sight! This week, they've been putting the final touches on the new Murray Hill location, but today Gothamist stopped by for a quick preview of the legendary deli. During the friends and family only preview, they don't have a their full 5-page menu ready yet, but they did have the classic items including matzah ball soup, pastrami and tuna sandwiches. One new item is the "chocolate shot" that will be served to diners at the end of the meal. The original 2nd Avenue Deli closed in March, 2006.

Good news for old-school New Yorkers: the new 2nd Ave Delicatessen is expected to open sometime next week in its new Murray Hill Location on 33rd Street, near Third Avenue. Lovers of the deli’s famous matzo ball soup and pastrami sandwiches were devastated last year when, after a half-century in business, the 2nd Ave and 10th Street legend was snuffed out. The closure came in the wake of a bitter rent dispute between deli owner Jack Lebewohl and the landlord over rent increases; the soul was promptly siphoned from the site and turned into a Chase bank (though the Yiddish theater “Walk of Fame” on the sidewalk remains).

This week's New York Mag runs down some of this season's upcoming restaurant openings -- better start planning now. We've already given you the scoop on Will Goldfarb's Picnick and Peter Hoffman's Back Forty, due in September and October respectively, but we're looking forward to some of the other spots highlighted by Rob and Robin, especially noodle shop Bun, from Mai House chef Michael Huynh and his wife, Thao Nguyen, and El Quinto Pino, from the Tia Pol gang.

Last night, as part of a fund-raiser for the Church of Stop Shopping, Reverend Billy visited the Chase branch that is where the Second Avenue Deli used to be. dogseat has a great series of photographs (you can seem them on his Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Flickr set) of Reverend Billy and the gospel singers outside the branch. And they're on top of the Yiddish Walk of Fame. Sigh, progress is rough.

With yesterday’s innocuous New York Times review of Katz’s Deli and the news last week that the 2nd Avenue Deli will be "recreated" in Murray Hill, it seems that forces of pastrami have won some kind of cosmic victory over the over the forces of real estate; forces that threaten to destroy old-fashioned New York dining institutions.

Whether or not it's the 2nd Avenue Deli, we just hope some favorites from the old menu will return, like the corned beef, mushroom barley soup and incredible tuna fish.

They say New York is home to a million stories, and so far this year, we've published 7021 of them here on Gothamist. So in case you missed any of those, let's take a little stroll back in time, and review the most significant stories the past 12 months, shall we? Here's part one of a semi-chronological look at 2006; part two will go up tomorrow:

First, Rectangles closed and becomes a North Fork Branch, now this. The Post gets the props for being the first to break that the former Second Avenue Deli is going to be filled by another Chase bank branch. Earlier in the month the Villager ran with the story that the Deli was going to be filled by dental-chain Vital Dent and a food space. But that contract wasn't signed then, and we guess it fell through. This deal sounds better for the landlord at least. Now instead of splitting into two spaces, it looks like Chase is going to fill up the entire Deli space the newsstand next door. Though the Post reports the contract was signed on Wednesday, they don't mention if the bank will be paying the $33,000 monthly rent that "forced" the Deli out. We suspect they will.

A woman who had just picked up coffee from an East Village Dunkin' Donuts was forced into a car by a man posing as a police officer. She managed to escape when police pulled over Richard Padilla's car - he had cut off their car at 119th Street and 2nd Avenue - yelling that he had raped her. Padilla had told the woman he had a gun and kept her captive in his car from 6AM - 8:30AM Monday morning as he drove to a number of spots to sexually assault her. While he was charged with kidnapping, committing a criminal sexual act, sexual abuse and criminal possession of marijuana, Padilla was also wearing a sweater that the letters "NYSP" - New York State Police. The lawyer for Padilla, who was convicted to sexual assault in 1987, said, "He hasn't been arrested for 19 years. He's entitled to some bail." - alas, he was not.

The NY Times fills in some more holes with the 2nd Avenue Deli's real estate trials, which seemed to culminate in yesterday's gutting of the 2nd Avenue and 10th Street location. It turns out that owner Jack Lebewohl "owed $107,000 in back rent and other charges and that eviction proceedings had begun even before the deli closed." Well, then that $9,000 increase on $24,000 rent would have been really hard to deal with. Next tidbit: Apparently some kosher deli operators have already called the buliding's owners to inquire about the space! And finally, Lebewohl seems open to the possibility of reopening the deli elsewhere in Manhattan - but the new location won't have some of the old deli's old elements, as the clock and "Abe Lebewohl" (Jack's brother who founded the deliand was murdered in 1996) sign will go to Abe's children. Hmm, would you go to a reopened 2nd Avenue Deli elsewhere? Or another kosher deli that opens up at 2nd and 10th?

Did you know that Mayor Bloomberg proclaimed that January 10 is now "BBDO Day"? BBDO, the ad agency behind Pepsi, FedEx, and Bank of America, was named the US agency of the year by AdAge and global agency of the year by Adweek, and made a lot of money last year, meaning that January 10, which Gothamist will remember as The Day the 2nd Avenue Deli Cleared Out is actually BBDO in the city's files - check out the mayoral proclamation that Adfreak found! While we love stupid stuff the city does, this is just sad - unless it's some secret deal the city made with the midtown restaurant and bar assocation to give BBDO more reason to celebrate in the area. Or was the Mayor trying to placate the Republican party, as BBDO has used Bob Dole in their Pepsi and Visa ads. Well, we're glad to see that the Mayor's Office is keeping busy.

By the time we got to the 2nd Avenue Deli, the sign was totally torn down and a "dismantling" truck had arrived. But 2nd Avenue Deli owner, Jack Lebewohl (right), was on the street, talking to reporters (he confirmed that it was in fact closed) and receiving condolences from neighborhood residents. Every few seconds, someone would stop in shock, ask what was happening, and then something along the lines of, "What a crime!" or "We can't go to Katz's - it's been going really downhill!"

A shuttered 2nd Avenue Deli was an unfamiliar site on an otherwise regular Thursday - except that people knew that owner Jack Lebewohl was engaged in a kind of protest against his new owners, Jonis Realty, over a $9,000 increase in rent to $33,000 per month. The NY Times sets up the situation as an inevitable turn of the real estate market, with some interesting details: Some sort of rent increase was part of a deal with the previous owners 15 years ago (!) - and Jonis apparenlty agreed to knock off $3,000 of the rent. Huh - if someone generates a model that can project, hmm, let's see, what an acceptable margin of profit would be, over 15 years, and see how that might offset a 25% increase in rent, with considerable new capital investments to make, taking into account inflation, wage issues, and price elasticity (or inelasticity), please tell us!

Noooo!!! The 2nd Avenue Deli has been closed since Sunday - and may stay that way - because owner Jack Lebewohl thinks his new rent is too high. Lebewohl told the NY Times, "My current rent is $24,000 a month for 2,800 square feet. They want $33,000. I can't afford that." He added that he felt the restaurant would need to renovate in order to meet various health codes, which have been getting stricter. The new owners didn't return calls to the Times, but Gothamist wonders if various Kosher-food loving New Yorkers will put on a benefit to reopen it, a la CBGB's. Come on, food bloggers - let's band together!

It's our favorite weekend of the year, Halloween weekend! Ghosts are always roaming our streets and sitting on our ancient pub stools in this city, and this is the best weekend to go out and see them face to invisible face in some good 'ol fashioned walking tours. Yeah, we ain't afraid of no ghosts!

Yes, we know it's a lame title, but we couldn't think of a witty way to tie this week's food events together. And we know that Tuesday is generally Joe's Eating In column, but he's got this "job" thing that seems to have reared its ugly head, (not to mention his 10th foodie this past Sunday -- congratulations, Joe!) so you'll have to hang tight for a few days. Now, without further ado, some of this weeks fabulous food events:

The site for the Second Avenue Deli. And Mike from Satan's Laundromat was also arrested on August 27, but he was part of the protest.

New York Restaurant Cookbook: Recipes from the Dining Capital of the World, by Florence Fabricant (Rizzoli 2003).

The event was also a tribute to Lebewohl (the Second Avenue Deli is run by his family), who was robbed and murdered in 1996 outside an East Village bank. In spite of the East Village's sketchy reputation during much of the deli's existence, a manager said Lebewohl "always felt this neighborhood was a good girl with a bad reputation." Well, only because of shopowners and residents who try to persevere and make the neighborhood a better place, like Lebewohl. A Ukrainian Weekly article gives a nice overview of Lebewohl's life.

Lebewohl has invited Paul Reiser and his mom (Lower East Side residents at one point), Mayor Bloomberg, President Bush, and John Kerry. He tells the Post, "I told the president if he's going to be here, we'll make him a sculpture in chopped liver." Oooh...a liver Bush. Gothamist is sure we've got some talented artists reading this site: If you make a chopped liver bust of President Bush, please let us know.

Mayor Bloomberg and Miami Mayor Manuel Diaz have put their stomachs as well as sports prides on the line. Mayor Bloomberg's office released this press release about their friendly wager: