Former Gertel’s Bakery Foe Turns Fallen Kosher Comrade on the Lower East SideHell’s Kitchen: Kyotofu has planned a sake dinner for August 26 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. that features five types of sake, a tasting menu, and cocktails for $60. [Grub Street]
Lower East Side: Moishe’s bakery at 504 Grand Street will soon serve wholesale products from recently closed-out kosher competitor Gertel’s. [Lost City] Spitzer’s Corner began its soft opening this weekend and was already chock-full of jolly drinkers. [Eater]
Midtown West: BLT Market (from this week’s Openings) won’t be serving dinner until Thursday, but here’s a peek at the interior to sate any premature curiosity. [Restaurant Girl]
Sunset Park: The taqueria Tacos 2004 draws legions of immigrants who come to twirl the waitresses across a teeny dance floor. [NYT]
West Village: Next Monday at 7:30 p.m. winemaker Alain Rochard of the Languedoc will host a four-course dinner and wine-pairing at Provence restaurant. [Strong Buzz]
Neighborhood Watch
Gertel’s Baked Goods Still to Be Had on the Lower East SideAstoria: Greek restaurant Stamatis’s expansion across the street finally looks near completion, and the place looks nice. [Joey in Astoria]
Coney Island: Takeru Kobayashi may have lockjaw, but you can still show your support on July 4 by wearing one of these Kobayashi T-shirts inspired by the Nathan’s and Bob’s Big Boy logos. [The Food Section]
Hell’s Kitchen: Rumor has it that Dunkin’ Donuts on Eighth Avenue near 36th Street is giving away free coffee and doughnuts while training its new staff today. [Grub Street]
Lower East Side: You can still get Gertel’s pastries at Flicker’s Coffee and Tea Shop around the corner. [Lost City]
Tribeca: Blue Crab Mondays are back at the Hideaway. [Gastro Chic]
Upper East Side: Park Avenue Summer now boasts a create-your-own-cocktail bar. [Restaurant Girl]
Neighborhood Watch
Varietal’s Kitchen Closes in ChelseaBronx: Italian pastry shop Egidio has a history steeped in family feuds, politics, and adultery; now a cannoli-wielding former owner has opened up shop nearby. [Lost City]
Chelsea: Varietal has closed its dining room, though wine’s still being served at the bar. [Restaurant Girl] Great Small Works performing-arts group will host a Spaghetti Dinner this Sunday evening on the roof of the 14th Street Y. Besides bowls of garlicky pasta, ticket holders can look forward to “puppet theater [and] New Orleans brass band music.” [Blog Chelsea]
Greenpoint: The Original Soup Man (a.k.a. the Soup Nazi) joins other chains on Manhattan Avenue and shocks customers by charging $9 for some selections. [Gothamist]
Hell’s Kitchen: Alex Garcia’s new restaurant, Gaucho Steak Co., at 752 Tenth Avenue, is now open for lunch and offering delivery. [Grub Street]
Soho: Savoy’s Clambake Dinners start July 6 and run through the end of the month. [Restaurant Girl]
NewsFeed
Gertel’s Closes Its Doors — in Manhattan, Anyway
No babka for you. At least not if you’re one of Gertel’s retail customers. As of this Friday at 2 p.m., the last of the flaky rugalach and spongy babka will be sold from the beloved Hester Street location. The Lower East Side bakery, in operation since 1914, will shutter its doors, to make way for, yep, another condo in the hood.
User’s Guide
Has Assimilation Ruined the Knish?David Katz, a writer given to elegiac moods, just published a column on knishes in the Jewish Quarterly. He decries the decay of the knish, which under the pressure of assimilation went from a delicate mashed-potato pastry to a tough square of deep-fried dough. “There’s a word for these street knishes, which are still sold today, and that word is vile,” Katz pronounces. The column concludes with a paragraph of praise for Yonah Schimmel’s old-time knishery, noted by us recently in our pre-obituary for Gertel’s last week.
NewsFeed
Impending Jewish-Bakery Apocalypse?
Gertel’s Bakery, one of the last of the old-time Jewish bakeries on the Lower East Side, may be shutting down, another victim of the condo-ing of New York. “We haven’t finalized anything yet,” owner Abe Stern told us, without denying the possible closing, widely discussed in the neighborhood. If that bakery’s classic hamantaschen and rugalach are on the way out, we wondered, Can Yonah Shimmel’s knishes and Kossar’s bialys, other pillars of Jewish baked goods, be far behind?
