Old New York: Bygone Restaurants
The item about the possible passing of Nathan's hot dog stand in Coney Island got me thinking about culinary destinations that are now mere memories. I once read that true New Yorkers live with one foot planted firmly in the past, their idea of the City having as much to do with what was in a particular place as with what's there now (and maybe more). So, I thought it might be interesting to start a list of the culinary hall of famers we have lost.
Here are my first nominees for the list, just the first few off the top of my head, with apologies for the obvious neighborhood bias:
Sutter's Bakery: formerly on Greenwich Avenue and 10th Street, now, and for many years already, a party goods store; I discovered croisssants at Sutter's.
Zito's Bakery: on Bleecker Street, near Murray's Cheese Shop, starting long before there was a Murray's; I think they made just two kind of loaves, an Italian white and whole wheat--that's it, and they were great.
Balducci's: the real one, run by the Balducci family (not the poseur at 14th and 8th), and at the original locaction, not on Sixth Avenue, where it closed, but on Greenwich Avenue, between Sixth Avenue and Christopher Street, where it was, most of all, a produce stand.
Jefferson Market: not in its ill-chosen last location, where it recently died, but when it flourished across the street, in the space now occupied by Sammy's noodles.
The Cookery: decent food and great jazz on the corner of 8th Street and University Place, now an awful BBQ joint.
Luchows: on 14th street, next to what used to be the Academy of Music (also, quite sadly, gone); the food was not so good, but it was an old world experience.
Florent: in the Meat Packing District (which has not been that for years, but once upon a time really was the place of work for hundreds of butchers in blood-stained white aprons); our latest loss.
Horn & Hardart: the automat; I don't recall exactly where it was, but what a gas!
Schraffts.
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40 Comments:
some of the above places i remember very fondly.... does anyone remember "chock full of nuts" .... obviously the best cup of coffee and the date-nut bread and cream cheese sandwiches were so simple and so satisfying?
the old manganaro's on 9th ave. where the old ladies used to cook in the back of the sandwich shop. and the supreme macaroni company also on 9th.
there was a great italian restaurant called Delsoma on 46th between 8th and broadway.... just the classiest, homiest italian restaurant where the waiters were italian adult men who remembered everything about everyone....they really treated you like family. not like the olive garden/mega corporation. at delsoma the food was always fresh, it was such a comfortable place. it's gone ... but not forgotten.
i remember the cookery, the real jefferson market, balducci's ... new york, new york - one tasty town. always was, always will be.
pooch at 9:14PM on 01/19/09
i'll add jon vie bakery to that list.
cybercita at 9:27PM on 01/19/09
Gage and Tollner's: Downtown Brooklyn on the Fulton Mall. T.G.I. Friday's moved in after it closed but then Friday's closed. Amy Ruth's (of Harlem) was supposed to move in but then didn't. I'm ashamed to admit I haven't been down that way in a while, so I'm not quite sure what's there now.
Adam Kuban at 9:35PM on 01/19/09
Ah, yes, pooch. Manganaro's heroes and those (just as you say) simple yet so satisfying date-and-nut bread and cream cheese sandwiches at Chock Full with a good cup of coffee. Also liked their powdered doughnuts. I used to hang out at the one on 116th and Broadway, across the street from the main gate of Columbia. Are they all gone? Didn't know that.
Are there any Zum Zum's left? Can't recall seeing one in years.
Ratner's is gone. A Sleepy's matress store now occupies the site. http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2008/10/ratners-sleeps.html. But thank you, Russ & Daughters, for surviving.
And what a shame that Gage & Tollner's is gone.
I should have mentioned, as many of you know, that the Schrafft's at the corner of 13th Street and Fifth Avenue became the Lone Star Cafe, which had great chili and ribs to go with their killer music--one of the very few places I've ever found that had great food and great music. I once saw James Brown there (awesome), after the country-only format stopped working. Now, for reasons that I can't begin to comprehend, because its such a nice two-story space in a nice location, its one of those ubiquitous steamtable/deli places. But what do I know?
pomaine at 10:17PM on 01/19/09
with regards to "the cookery" - the awful (super awful) bbq joint is gone now too... closed a few years ago - I believe it's a bank now.
NYCEater at 10:40PM on 01/19/09
@pomaine: Don't know if you caught this NYT piece on the old Schrafft's space that you reference here: Midday Havens, Lost to a Faster-Paced City.
And for anyone coming in to this discussion who doesn't know about it, check out Kevin Walsh's Forgotten NY—and be prepared to lose several hours while there!
And, pomaine, thank you for starting this thread. This has been very interesting reading.
Adam Kuban at 1:04AM on 01/20/09
Steinbergs. Walter Matthau and his wife Carol were there every time we went for dinner. Wonderful blintzes and cranky waiters.
islandexile at 3:49AM on 01/20/09
Paddy's Clam House, near the Garden.
Cafeteria on Kings Highway and East 16th Street, Brooklyn (don't remember its name)
I worked at a Chock full o' Nuts for a single day when I was in high school, upon which occasion I discovered that I was entirely too clumsy to be a waitress. By the way, they still exist. One on Avenue M inBrooklyn and one I frequent when I get to Hoboken. It's a five minute walk from the PATH.
Barbara Hanson at 9:47AM on 01/20/09
Oops, I didn't meant that they are the only ones. See locations here:
http://www.chockfullonuts.com/cafe/locations.asp
Barbara Hanson at 9:47AM on 01/20/09
@pomaine - zum zum! how can i forget.... i'm also glad to hear that there are chock full of nuts around! wow. that's a real plus...
anyone remember the "cafeteria's" on 7th avenue -- dubrows? where you could get everything and anything????? those were unbelievable places, also.
what a miss most is seeing "adults" working in those places -- not just college kids earning extra money. they took their "careers" seriously.
added something to the experience because you always felt you were in capable hands.
pooch at 10:22AM on 01/20/09
Since a couple of shops have already been mentioned, I'll add Dom's Fine Foods, down on the west side of Lafayette Street, block below Spring. I could always find all sorts of Italian odds and ends that I never seemed to see anywhere else.
mongoose at 2:26PM on 01/20/09
@Adam, I thought Amy Ruth's was still supposed to go in? Last time I was on Fulton they had a sign in the window.
I second Jon Vie and add the soon-to-depart Patisserie Claude. Also, Coq au Vin, Twigs, Minetta Tavern (newly RIP), Hisae's and Janis's, Chelsea Bistro, L&S Dairy, Bleecker Pastry (next to Rocco's), the original West End Gate (before it got truncated), John's Pizza at Lincoln Center.
Is the Landmark Tavern gone now, too? I hear mixed reports. Anyone?
eleeb at 3:54PM on 01/20/09
@eleeb - coq au vin? was that on restaurant row? landmark tavern????
pooch at 4:32PM on 01/20/09
the Balkan-Armenian Restaurant on East 30th Street.
Smokey's (the original on Ninth Avenue, not the two lesser versions), which introduced NYC to slow-cooked barbecue).
ronfrankl at 5:18PM on 01/20/09
what about happy kitchen?
JohnnyMac at 5:21PM on 01/20/09
Chock Full O' Nuts Cinammon Donut
Lundy's
Umberto's Brooklyn
Maxwells Plum
Doctorted at 5:47PM on 01/20/09
Ratner's
Mama Leone's
Doctorted at 5:48PM on 01/20/09
Jahn's
Doctorted at 5:49PM on 01/20/09
I'm glad Doctored said Maxwell's Plum. The place was a hoot, though the food was kind of grim. I can't tell you how often I ate take-out from Smokey's. Everything was good, including the fried chicken livers. What drove it under?
We lost Sweet's and Sloppy Louie's in the Fulton Street Fish Market. No idea what's there now. The whole things has become a plastic replica of what it was, so I never go.
Some upscale restaurants that I miss:
Lutece
The Coach House--where Babbo is now.
Sea Fare of the Aegean
Tower Suite--for weekend brunch, atop the Time-Life Building
I miss the Cosmic Coffee Shop, near where Colisseum Books (alas!) used to be. (Don't get me on to lost bookstores.)
pomaine at 9:27PM on 01/20/09
doctorted - do you mean jahn's ice cream shop? in queens?
my god, that was the ice cream parlor mecca ... i spent so many happy times there as a teenager.
pooch at 9:39PM on 01/20/09
How about that great French Restaurant La Cote Basque.
longisl at 9:54PM on 01/20/09
PATISSERIE CLAUDE?????!!!!!
NOOOOOOO!!!!!!
cybercita at 10:18PM on 01/20/09
Tab Tos on East 5th. So cheap, so delicious, so weird... my long lost sushi nazi. RIP, Tab Tos.
em at 10:25PM on 01/20/09
@pooch, Coq Au Vin was midtown but I don't recall exactly where. Hell's Kitchen, maybe? Classic French, Julia Child would have approved - like Le Quercy but less expensive, run by a French family (everyone was involved, daughter was the waitress, wife the hostess, husband the cook, cousin the coatchecker). Dessert- crepes surprise, which was a scoop of ice cream rolled in a crepe and topped with melba sauce. Heaven.
Landmark Tavern - very old pub on 11th Ave at 48th. Has had several incarnations. Always good pints & fish and chips, and a ghost residing on the second floor, they say...
eleeb at 11:14PM on 01/20/09
@eleeb: The Landmark's website was still up and running when I looked for it a month or so ago; I meant to eat there but was sidetracked by trying to sort and ship books, and didn't really get out, last time I was in NYC.
Patisserie Claude is gone?!!!! Oh no nonono....
mongoose at 2:30AM on 01/21/09
Lin's Garden, they had the best roast duck chow fun in the city. Now, most places won't even make roast duck chow fun unless you beg and plead and then they'll charge you an arm and a leg for it. Goodies. Jon Vie's closing killed me. The rugelach.... And yes, Ratner's :(
simon at 2:12PM on 01/21/09
@pooch--There was more than one Jahn's; I have fond memories of the one in Brooklyn.
Barbara Hanson at 4:48PM on 01/21/09
Patricia Murphy's for popovers. Lundy's, as mentioned elsewhere. Wolfie's, near Brooklyn College. I remember my little Italian grandmother - on one of the few occasions I saw her outside her own kitchen - bringing me there for a meal just once, and improbably ordering a Manhattan.
@eeleb, you mentioned Hisae's, which I can barely make out through the mists of time, although I know loved it in its day. Can anyone remind me where it was, and what I ate there?
mother91 at 7:36PM on 01/21/09
Patisserie Claude is still around. Claude has retired. One of his employees took the shop over. It's not 100% the same, but it's still around.
kathryn at 9:46PM on 01/21/09
I lived across the street from Jahn's in West Islip, NY. Got many free ice cream cones on my birthday.
longisl at 5:59PM on 01/22/09
The Horn & Hardart automat was on 42nd Street and, I think, 3rd Avenue, on the SE corner (that's southeast, not Serious Eats). I actually ate there a couple of times before it shuttered for good.
We used to eat at Luchow's with my family when I was a little girl. There was also a little traditional Italian place called La Groceria, in the West Village on 6th Ave & West 4th, where the Papaya Dog is now.
When I saw the review of John Dory it made me think of John Clancy, another late-lamented seafood place from the mid-80s, which was...oh geez. Just west of 7th Avenue on, maybe, 10th Street?
@pomaine: Zum Zum's! My mom worked in Rockefeller Center and she and I would have lunch there all the time in the '70s! I loved that place. Always did love a good wurst.
I'm pretty sure there was a Jahn's in Manhattan, since I know we went there for ice cream and we almost never went to the boroughs.
Is La Grenouille still out there? I remember eating there pre-theatre with my mom.
Lutece--I did have the opportunity to eat there in 1980; I'll never forget it.
There's a spot on 2nd Ave, between E. 5th and E. 6th, that is one of those restaurant black holes; no restaurant lasts there long. But in the mid-80s there was a great Caribbean restaurant called Sugar Reef, which my friends and I went to a LOT. So tasty!
Bygone restaurants; a sad thread....
klg19 at 6:20PM on 01/22/09
Tien Tsien at 125th and Broadway. Manny Wolf's. The Red Balloon. Cafe Chauveron. What a privelage.
islandexile at 3:06AM on 01/23/09
new york used to be a great cafeteria town. What a loss:
Food (on prince st)
Dubrows (midtown and brooklyn)
Garden Cafeteria
bzk722 at 9:31PM on 01/23/09
Trader Vic's in the Plaza
terrificpig at 7:00PM on 01/25/09
There was a very old world Italian food shop on 29th street and 3rd Avenue named Trinacria;wooden floors,barrels of things and the first and best sausage and pepper sandwich that I ever tasted...all for 65 cents in 1968[which was a lot to spend on a sandwich at that point in my life].A nod to Zampieri's Bakery on Sullivan Street,which baked big thick slabs of onion focaccia every morning.And the cafaterias,some good,some awful;the Dayton,the Garden,Dubrow's,the Gouverner.
wingding at 3:41PM on 01/26/09
Cafe Crocodile on east 74th street. I loved that place, and spent pretty much every birthday and anniversary there. Andree (the chef) and her husband, Charlie, would bend over backwards for you. There were so many times I'd planned special occasions there and they went so above and beyond it was ridiculous. I loved that they were a family run place and took such pride in it. Then one day they were gone (sniff). I don't think I'm every gonna find a place that suited me so perfectly.
chisai at 7:24AM on 01/27/09
How about the fact that there are no longer any of the old dairy restaurants left in the lower East side. these were wonderful Kosher restaurants where you got the best blintz, herring etc. I particularly remember the Grand Street dairy Restaurant
oldgraycoyote at 2:44PM on 01/27/09
does anyone remember the name of the long gone Italian restaurant on the west side of Second Avenue in the 50s that had great thin crust pizza and equally great Chinese bartenders?
menus at 6:12PM on 02/22/09
I recall '60s-era Village soul food: Pink Teacup (everything with bacon, I seem to remember) on West Side; Princess Pamela's (briefly) pretty far east, perhaps on 10th Street..
And then there was: The Paradox, for your brown-rice-and-seaweed fix.
timeincer at 3:03PM on 05/01/09
The Pink Tea Cup still there, the last time I looked. Side of fried chicken with your pancakes?
pomaine at 12:45AM on 05/02/09