Comments on: Tripping through the clouds http://www.saltshaker.net/20051223/tripping-through-the-clouds Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:09:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Great Steak, Good Fun http://www.saltshaker.net/20051223/tripping-through-the-clouds#comment-128 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Great Steak, Good Fun Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:21:00 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20051223/tripping-through-the-clouds#comment-128 [...] Buenos Aires - I am saddened to have to pass along the news of the demise of a long cherished friend. The best pastrami in New York is no more. For those who’ve been reading the last couple of weeks, I very well may have been the last food writer to review the 2nd Avenue Deli, as it now passes into oblivion. If you haven’t caught up on the story, the new landlords of the building raised the restaurant’s rent from $24,000 a month to $33,000 a month, and basically were non-negotiable (I heard rumors that they were willing to “settle” for a mere $30,000), and the family decided they couldn’t afford the increase; one can generally tell in New York when landlords have new plans for a space… I’m almost tempted to call for a boycott of whatever may open there in the future! On the flip side, one hopes that, even if it ends up relocating, the Lebewohl family will reopen the 2nd Avenue Deli on 3rd, or 4th, or 5th, or… maybe even better, here in Buenos Aires… [...] [...] Buenos Aires - I am saddened to have to pass along the news of the demise of a long cherished friend. The best pastrami in New York is no more. For those who’ve been reading the last couple of weeks, I very well may have been the last food writer to review the 2nd Avenue Deli, as it now passes into oblivion. If you haven’t caught up on the story, the new landlords of the building raised the restaurant’s rent from $24,000 a month to $33,000 a month, and basically were non-negotiable (I heard rumors that they were willing to “settle” for a mere $30,000), and the family decided they couldn’t afford the increase; one can generally tell in New York when landlords have new plans for a space… I’m almost tempted to call for a boycott of whatever may open there in the future! On the flip side, one hopes that, even if it ends up relocating, the Lebewohl family will reopen the 2nd Avenue Deli on 3rd, or 4th, or 5th, or… maybe even better, here in Buenos Aires… [...]

]]> By: dan http://www.saltshaker.net/20051223/tripping-through-the-clouds#comment-120 dan Sat, 07 Jan 2006 13:52:29 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20051223/tripping-through-the-clouds#comment-120 Wow! I may have just had my last meal at this place! And for those of you who never made it here, it's possible you never will. This just in from the <em>New York Times</em>: <blockquote><strong>Hold the Mustard, Maybe Forever</strong> The Second Avenue Deli has survived turbulence and tragedy in its 51 years. The decline of the Jewish enclave on the Lower East Side did not kill it. The broad-daylight murder of its beloved founder, Abe Lebewohl, in a robbery in 1996 shut it down but briefly. Dietary fashion campaigns against artery-clogging fare like brick-thick pastrami sandwiches and fat-saturated potato latkes seemed only to make the lines of defiant fans longer. But the deli seems to have met its match in that implacable beast, the real estate market. On Sunday, facing a $9,000 increase in his $24,000-a-month base rent, the deli's owner, Jack Lebewohl, Abe's brother, pulled down the grates on the glimmering restaurant at East 10th Street and Second Avenue. The closing was described as temporary, but Mr. Lebewohl said yesterday that the next time the place opens it might very well be to clear out. <strong>. . .</strong></blockquote> Now I wish I'd bought their cookbook while I was in town! Wow! I may have just had my last meal at this place! And for those of you who never made it here, it’s possible you never will. This just in from the New York Times:

Hold the Mustard, Maybe Forever

The Second Avenue Deli has survived turbulence and tragedy in its 51 years. The decline of the Jewish enclave on the Lower East Side did not kill it. The broad-daylight murder of its beloved founder, Abe Lebewohl, in a robbery in 1996 shut it down but briefly. Dietary fashion campaigns against artery-clogging fare like brick-thick pastrami sandwiches and fat-saturated potato latkes seemed only to make the lines of defiant fans longer.

But the deli seems to have met its match in that implacable beast, the real estate market.

On Sunday, facing a $9,000 increase in his $24,000-a-month base rent, the deli’s owner, Jack Lebewohl, Abe’s brother, pulled down the grates on the glimmering restaurant at East 10th Street and Second Avenue. The closing was described as temporary, but Mr. Lebewohl said yesterday that the next time the place opens it might very well be to clear out.

. . .

Now I wish I’d bought their cookbook while I was in town!

]]> By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Quintessential NYC http://www.saltshaker.net/20051223/tripping-through-the-clouds#comment-115 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Quintessential NYC Thu, 05 Jan 2006 13:56:07 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20051223/tripping-through-the-clouds#comment-115 [...] New York City - There are certain things that are quintessentially New York experiences. The Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and Times Square spring to mind. On the food front, New York’s primarily claim to fame is diversity and quantity. There are few places on the planet, if any, that can match it for the varied number of cuisines available and probably nowhere that can match it for the shear numbers of venues available per capita. But in terms of specific venues that are definable as “New York experiences,” I can only think of two, over the 23 years I spent here, that qualify. One is the 2nd Avenue Deli, where I had lunch the day I arrived back (one could argue for Carnegie or Katz’s Deli, for me the former is too touristy and the latter, while very “New York,” just doesn’t put out the quality that it used to); the other is the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal. [...] [...] New York City - There are certain things that are quintessentially New York experiences. The Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and Times Square spring to mind. On the food front, New York’s primarily claim to fame is diversity and quantity. There are few places on the planet, if any, that can match it for the varied number of cuisines available and probably nowhere that can match it for the shear numbers of venues available per capita. But in terms of specific venues that are definable as “New York experiences,” I can only think of two, over the 23 years I spent here, that qualify. One is the 2nd Avenue Deli, where I had lunch the day I arrived back (one could argue for Carnegie or Katz’s Deli, for me the former is too touristy and the latter, while very “New York,” just doesn’t put out the quality that it used to); the other is the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal. [...]

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