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Photo Credit: Google Maps
By Shiryn Solny
Leaving the iconic Kosher Kosher's Best in Queens, NY, these In recent weeks, guests have made a point to wish owner Jay Parker the "best of luck" in the future, as they shared memories of a place that will stay with them, with these sides of knishes homemade and cabbage salad.
After 73 years, the restaurant closed on Saturday
Client Bruce Blecher, 41, had just finished a meal with his young son when he had tears in his eyes while talking to JNS about closing of the restaurant. He remembers being a child at Zagat restaurant and his close ties with staff members over the years, claiming that some of them even went to his home.
The restaurant, on Queens Boulevard in Rego Park, announced via Facebook in early June that after seven decades in the business, it would have closed its doors on June 30th. The post has aroused reactions from sad and even shocked customers. Many have pleaded Parker not to close shop
Deli owner told JNS that the restaurant has struggled for more than a year now to run its business with the addition of bicycle lanes on Queens Boulevard. They came into effect in August 2017 by the Department of Transportation and cut nearly 200 parking spaces in the surrounding area, cutting Parker's business by 25%
Benjamin, Parker's father, opened Ben 's. s Best in 1945. Jay began working in cold cuts when he was 11 or 12 years old, and eventually bought his father's place. Jay also met his wife at the restaurant when she came to place a holiday order for his company.
The restaurant nurtured political figures and celebrities, including former New York mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani, comedian Jerry Lewis, Israeli President Shimon Peres and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The charcuterie was used as a film set for the movie "The Comedian" of 2016, with Robert De Niro and Danny DeVito, and was featured in the popular Food Network show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives". Man, "a documentary published in 2015 that tells the story of Jewish charcuterie owners – and the future of the industry – while they're struggling with demographic shifts and more
& # 39; You have been home, where is yours? "
The interior of the" mom and pop "style deli is decorated with photos and pictures plaques that show his history and his brand in the community, including the fact that he was sponsoring a local league baseball team.A map on the wall says, "You have been home, Where is yours?" And allows customers to place a pin from where they come from.
"I've never been on vacation to a place in the world where people have not shouted at me:" J & # Have a corned beef sandwich? "Jay said of his celebrity status because of the restaurant. He said that he and his wife were in Acapulco when people cheerfully shouted at them from the other side of the street, and this also happened in England.
Jay's friends in the industry have promised to hire some of his staff. New York's own famous Jewish delis, including Second Avenue Deli, Mr. Broadway and Ben's Kosher Delicatessen. When asked what he hopes for his legacy, he says, "I want to go out like a mensch." As someone who has always tried to do the right thing, works really hard to do the right thing. "
" I have never tried to hurt anyone. I've always done my best to make everyone happy, "he added." [To] released the best product I know [and] to treat people the best way possible. I have staff here for 38 years and 32 years and 30 years. These people do not stay unless you are a mensch. "
Hey also described the kosher case as part of the" social fabric "of the Jewish community, saying," We are involved in [people’s] life cycle: breezes, bar mitzvahs, weddings , shivas. . .
History of Jewish delis and their decreasing number
New York was once so synonymous with Jewish delis that it was called "de". "The Book of David Sax in 2010 titled Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen."
Author Ted Merwin wrote on the same subject in his 2015 book Pastrami on Rye: A Gifted Jewish Delicatessen Story, which follows the rise and fall of Jewish charcuterie in American Jewish culture.
Merwin said that "New York may be nicknamed" The Big Apple ", but for most of the 20th century a pastrami sandwich was more likely than a fruit to spark New York thoughts." 19659005] However, he also explained that "the pbadionate embrace of deli meats is tempered with time, while other social and economic factors the deli and towa and others more "exotic" and healthier, more exotic looking. "
For years, experts have been thinking about the Jewish charcuterie industry and the scarcity of these restaurants. There were at least 1,500 Jewish delis in New York in 1930. The delights were the place where the Jews went to get food that their parents ate in Eastern Europe and where the non-Jews went to see it. that Jewish culture had tasted.Today, there could be less than 12 deli kosher still open, according to Jay Parker.
Save the Deli called the Jewish delicatessens "a dying race", and describing the phenomenon, Sax wrote: "Across North America, and in select Jewish Epicureans disappear faster than chicken fingers in a buffet of mitzvah bar. "
Parker thinks there were so many Jewish delis because the type of food served in these establishments was exactly what the Jews brought with them. America. Speaking of his own grandparents who made the trip to Eastern Europe, he noted that "they had no work.They had no education. they fell into everything they could fall in. As new immigrants, the three things they had to provide their family were food, shelter and clothing. – parents built the sausages, lived in the backyard, and you could work day and night because your only job was your job.You did not have any money.
The 1,500 kosher delis that we once had was probably because many people were just earning their living so that the next generation could do better, and as the community dwindled, the number of businesses decreased. " he added, when the older ones left, they did not want their children to be s the same domain because they wanted more for their children, he explained. "My father did not want me to do that … it's the last thing he wanted me to do."
Among the resources that discuss the decreasing number of kosher delis comes a mention repetitive of a change in the choice of food among the customers. Many people opt for ethnic foods and other trends – Indian, African, sushi – and do not care about food related to their Jewish heritage. According to Michael Kane, owner of the Kosher Restaurant and Kosher Park East in New York City, one of the main reasons for this is the badimilation: "People who came from Europe from the United States". They loved that food, that's how they were raised, they ate that food, "he said." Delicatessen is still very popular in the Jewish community, but as people get older, they do not eat more like before. People have changed their diet and their eating habits. The next generation does not eat at the same level as previous generations when they came to the United States in Eastern Europe. "
He added that" the key to survival is diversification, to stay in the trends. Stay with everything you can do.
Blecher, who has been eating deli food since childhood, has agreed that the cuisine like that served by Ben's Best is not as popular as it was . He told JNS: "Have you ever had a pastrami sandwich?" If you ask most people, they do not, they do not know what is pastrami. "It's not like steak, it's not like chicken." Pastrami is a thing of culture – it's a Jewish culture. "
However, he said he You must also consider the demographics of a region. Speaking of the closing of Ben's Best, in what was once a largely Jewish community, he said "it's not even so much food, the area no longer guarantees food." here are more international.Every years ago, it was a European Jewish quarter.There was a line at the door thirty years ago.For forty years ago, you could not take a sandwich.
Parker called the closure of his "sweet and sour" restaurant and stated that he had no plans to move Ben's Best and start over elsewhere. told JNS: "We had something wonderful, great, and it's not transferable." He hopes to travel more, ski, mountaineering and spend more time with his family. granddaughter in Boston
do to change it … it's time, "he said of the fence. "[God] has always been very good to me." He always closed a door and opened a few others, maybe that's his way of saying, "Go out and have a little fun." But it's not really work.If you like it as much as me, it really does not work.I did not work a day in my life.It was so much fun.? [19659032] FB.init ();
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