sorry, your dad drove from little italy to the museum of natural history for roasted chestnuts before heading back to nj via the lincoln tunnel? take a look at a map, to my eye that sits in the gray area between devotion and obsession.
1 Like
Not completely sure about the belly lox, but for sure instead of the cafe, I would always walk into the store at Zabars and get a freshly made sandwich to order from the fish counter. The pre-made sandwiches at the café are refrigerated for storage and are pretty terrible. In a pinch, I would go for a mozzarella/tomato panini, but not good for a train ride, as it’s only really good hot. Some people don’t like the thicker cut fish you get at Barney Greengrass (Amsterdam bet. 86 & 87 St.), but they have salty lox (assume that’s belly lox?) as well as a large selection of other appetizing fish. Finally even further uptown is Murray’s Sturgeon (Broadway about 89/90 St.) where you could also find your belly lox in a sandwich made to order, cut thin here.
4 Likes
Umm… also available at Zabar’s — to which Zabar’s cafe is attached — at the lox counter, lol.
ETA: what @ninkat said!
Yeah, go figure.
I figured @digga would have tried that, if it was an option.
I haven’t been to Zabar’s in decades - how is their slicing, compared to R&D?
Can’t give you a satisfyingly picky response re slicing comparison, other than saying that the clientele at Zabar’s is quite, umm, particular, shall we say?
Yes, I saw that, but I have no intel about Zabar’s, so I responded with something I DO know.
I remember the clientele very well. I probably still have bruises from being shoved out of the way with a granny cart. But my favorite (?) particular clientele is at Di Palo’s, where you have to wait for some guy with a pinky ring and a town car idling outside to try every. single. kind. of. prosciutto.
3 Likes
As I live down the street from Zabar’s, I have plenty in the way of intel. Recently, their charging $8 for a half gallon of milk has sent me scurrying elsewhere for daily necessities, but it is still my destination for nova.
I haven’t been to R&D in a dog’s age (just too far when I have very good options nearby), but I remember it as being tops. Still, you can get well (thinly) sliced nova at both Zabar’s and Murray’s in my 'hood, and as I lived down the street for years from Barney Greengrass, I am also partial to their thicker sliced nova.
P.S. I go without granny cart! And I try never to go on a weekend, though Christmas morning is a ritual at Zabar’s (and that is crazier than any given weekend).
P.P.S.I’ll have to look for those chestnuts; clearly I’ve been missing out!
3 Likes
I lived in the Lucerne 1986-1987, when this guy started doing the Citarella fish displays and Fairway was just a small grocery store with an unusually good cheese selection. I imagine a lot has changed and a lot hasn’t.
1 Like
We went when they first opened and were sufficiently unimpressed that we haven’t been back. I remember a great menu but decidedly disappointing food. Kind of “wannabe” NY style deli. Close but no cigar. I can’t remember specifically.
Yup! Obsession! Not that far (time wise) if you were driving in 1960s traffic and you knew which route to take at a particular time of day.
This was a man who woke us up early for a drive from our home near Newark to the Delaware Water Gap to eat at a place he’d heard about that served breakfast in a cast iron pan! Yes. Obsessed.
3 Likes
We asked for them to make the sandwich at the fish counter but they directed us to the cafe. The place wasn’t even crowded. 
1 Like
To your points about smoked fish, they slice to order (and have both sturgeon and sable). They source from Acme (mainly) which is where R&D and most NY places also get their smoked fish. The prices are high (as in higher than NY) but the quality is decent. I can’t speak to their other food but we’ve had smoked fish and bagels from them over thirty times. Their bagels are decent.
I know this is an NYC thread, but for the record let me assert that the Boston area is not such a bagel wasteland. In Cambridge alone in addition to Mamaleh’s there are the distinctive bagels at Bagelsaurus and the slightly pretzely ones at Mariposa, both well worth having.
2 Likes
Yeah, I kinda thought they might have been a pain just because. A workaround would have been to get the belly lox from the counter and the the bagel next door, but the hassle / attitude is just annoying sometimes when you encounter someone who’s decided to be difficult.
(I frequent the other counters much more, and it’s gotten easy to tell who’s going to be a pain… before I left for my recent trip, I got a few pounds of various sliced up things and several pounds of cheese, and actually chuckled at the range of responses while all that was happening – I had great service, but there was some ignoring, some rudeness, some willful deafness, and more to be observed during my longer-than-usual visit. And that’s not just the staff, lol. That said, the guy hand-slicing the house ham was a gem, and he was so pleased and even more particular about packaging it after I told him it was going to be frozen to travel a few thousand miles to my dad.)
2 Likes
Great to see you here on HO.
Their signature dish is the chicken. We had it during covid., it was flavorful and spicy, sort of like (in name way) Spicy & Tasty. The sides were great as well, Brussels sprouts and i usually don’t eat them.
1 Like
Bagelsaurus is okay, but so expensive!!! I already commented on Mamaleh’s, but never had their bagels. Now that they have a Brookline outpost, I may try it. Mariposa, I’ve never heard of. Pretzely sounds good, but not like the bagels I’m talking about. Have you tried OMG? They can be hard to find. For Montreal bagels (frozen in Montreal, sent to the store), The Belmontt Cafe, in Belmont Center is good. I just read about Turenne ( *251 Washington St., Somerville, 617-764-4054, [turennebagels.com]) made in the shop’s wood-fired oven.
3 Likes
Again, not to divert this thread (as if New Yorkers could ever get diverted from themselves), but look at this, and the thread in which it’s embedded.
2 Likes
worth pointing out you diverted our thread to yours?
Don’t hate us because we’re interesting.
