Friday, April 8, 2016

Remembrance of Things Pabst- Oy my Yiddisher Pickle Edition

The best thing about New York Jewish Values is the food. The pastrami. The Matza Ball soup. The knish. The Yiddisher pickle.

Here I am at Ben's Kosher Deli in the garment center. We were out shopping at the show and we always stop at Ben's. I recommend it to you the next time you are in New York. It is not famous like Katz's or the Carnegie or any of the other rip off tourist traps. It is where your everyday members of the tribe go.

This was right after my heart thingy so I had to be careful about what I ate. So I carefully ate a whole freaking sandwich and a knish. They didn't have to the good square knishes because the company that makes them was on strike so there was a knish drought that was terrible.



You see all kinds of New Yorkers with New York Values eating here. From rich real estate guys to nebbishy cutters and garmentos.

This is where Ted Cruz should have went. Without any cameras. Without any reporters. Just to see. Just to meet the regular people. I think most politicians should do that. They have a photo of Donald and Ivanka eating there. They would have put one up of Ted.

But I don't know if that is his kind of joint. Just sayn'



17 comments:

edutcher said...

I think a lot of politicians learned their lesson after Lurch paid a visit to Pat's Steaks in South Philly.

He had no clue what to order, how to eat it. I mean, he wanted utensils.

After that, the role seems to be eat what you know.

chickelit said...

You're looking dapper and dare I say collegiate. You must have left your Louie Prima persona at home.

Trooper York said...

That was in January of 2014 when I was still pretty sick. I was under strict dietary watch so it was a big treat to have all that salt.

I am much cleaner eating today. No gluten. No carbs. No alcohol. No fun. I suck.

No wonder I am so angry.

Spinelli might be on to something.

Trooper York said...

Remember when De Blasio ate a slice of pizza with a knife and fork. What a maroon.

ricpic said...

The only diet that won't killya quick is the Mediterranean diet. My problem is that I eat Mediterranean. But I also eat Sara Lee.

Chip Ahoy said...

On t.v. a woman was explaining Americans don't enjoy their food. To lose weight they should stop shoveling it in and appreciate each bite. Using pizza as example she takes one dainty bite and totally masticates its like a cow chewing cud until the last molecule is dissolved into saliva and swallowed. A heavyset actress said, "This is how you eat pizza" she grabbed a pieced, folded it in half lengthwise so it's contents are sandwiched and she shoved the whole thing into her mouth pointed side first pushing in the last bit with the flat of her hand and the audience roared its approval.

TrooperYork said...

Chip I hate to break it to you.

But that is the correct way to eat pizza.

Chip Ahoy said...

It convinced me.

And the sandwich looks great.

virgil xenophon said...

Troop/

Speaking of New York values, I had a work assoc in the 70s in Louisville (nice guy) who was an ex-pat NYC Jew. (actually he worked in a small town in Southern Ky and only came up to the home office once a month. A NY Jew in rural KY? Go figure. At any rate he once told me: "Virg, everybody in NYC talks like a NYC Jew." LOL!

(Guess he forgot about the Puerto Ricans, eh? :) )

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ha ha. Troop sounds more "Jewish" than Midwestern Jews I grew up with. That's New York.

Hope it was enjoyable. Recently I'd remembered about kishka and found a place or two here that still sells them. I wonder how they are in terms of salt content? Probably more gluten than you'd want to, since they're basically a wheat sausage, but different enough to try now and then...

In any event, I have no idea how good or apt this book is, but the authors were signing copies in town last weekend. Just for shits and giggles, of course, because I'm sure you have other home cooking priorities anyway and even the matzah isn't technically kosher.

Stay in good health, Troop!

William said...

They say the old NY accent comes from people who spoke Yiddish learning English from people who spoke with an Irish accent.......There used to be a cafeteria in the garment district--Dubrow's I think--that was wondrous in its plenitude. I'm getting hunger pangs just thinking about it. All the food was right out there for you to see. You had to push your tray past it.......When I was younger, I worried about being skinny. Sometimes I went through the line twice. So I was doubly blest. I was skinny in a world where places like Dubrow's existed.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

A heavyset actress said, "This is how you eat pizza" she grabbed a pieced, folded it in half lengthwise so it's contents are sandwiched and she shoved the whole thing into her mouth pointed side first pushing in the last bit with the flat of her hand and the audience roared its approval.

Of course Jim is entirely correct. I don't do that all the time, but go with various near folding angles depending on size. I learned this when ordering from the inimitable Lorenzo's, which sells slices so delicious and large (at least around a 12 inch radius!) that if you don't fold them somehow you're screwed and they'll drip grease and tomata all over.

The only excuse not to is when getting the square Sicilian slices sold by the local NYPD franchiser.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

If it's true that NYC accent comes from Yiddish that's kind of hilarious. It brings to mind a phrase I heard at one point about what Jews were told in order to blend in and assimilate: Dress British, think Yiddish. Lol. Sort of ironic that half of them you can't tell apart from anyone else any longer and yet it was their own accent that left a dent in the place... even among Irish Italian guys.

Trooper York said...

Youse guys think I have an accent?

Jim in St Louis said...

The pickles looked great! and some pastrami would go good about now.
Thanks for now making me hungry Troop.

The Dude said...

The Irish, those drunken sots, contributed to the New York accent, too. As did the English.

There is a remnant of that speech, rarely heard now, most easily discerned when the word "bottle" is spoken. I, in my mid-Atlantic accent, would pronounce that word "bod-dul". My dear saint of a mother-in-law, born and raised in the Bronx, pronounced it "bah-ul", emphasis on the first syllable. She was old school. The only person I hear use that pronunciation these days is Judge Judy. So even she, with the last name Sheindlin, owes something to those who ran those stinkin' Dutchies out of Nieuw-Amsterdam.

Now, of course, New York values include a prayer rug and require that everyone is named Mo Hamid.

AllenS said...

Most of the pizza places around here, cut the pizza in squares. Easier to eat. Two bites and the piece is gone. Mo better.