NY Times article on loss of Kosher Deli's

Interesting article in today's NY Times on the decline in the number of Kosher Deli's (not exactly a scoop on that topic..).
 
One of our NJ favorites, Irvings in Livingston, is mentioned and confirms what I've witnessed on my 2 visits there -- they are not doing much business.
 
BTW, the other Kosher Deli in Newark is Bragman's, I was there a couple of years ago and was not impressed at all. I'm not sure how they are staying in business.
Hobby's is good though.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/dining/07deli.html?ref=todayspaper
 
 
 

By the 1930s, New York City alone had at least 1,500 kosher and kosher style, Mr. Sax said. Today there about two dozen kosher ones left.
 
An excerpt from the article. I don't even think there are that many unless they're including the boroughs and maybe Long Island too.
 
I've been saying this all along, yet there are wishful thinking folks here on the forum that would like to believe that kosher delis are alive, well and flourishing in "the hundreds".
 
 
But then again, maybe it was "I" who told the writer of this article what to write

Actually, there are about two dozen kosher delis within the five boroughs. Not all are great.

The non-kosher delis have also changed. Many used to roast their own meats and make their own salads. Now they buy from Boars Head, Blue Ridge Farms, and Sally Sherman.

How many Kosher bagel and bialy factories are left in NYC?

Having loved Jewish deli's, kosher or not, since I was a little boy in Brooklyn
it is sad to read stories like this one. 

One of my favorite stories is going to Ratner's (not deli I know) (but Kosher) for dinner and the waiter refusing to take my order, telling me i wouldn't like it----and then when I switched he said----that's left over from yesterday----try this-----and it was good  --------- whatever it was. 

NYPIzzaNut


How many Kosher bagel and bialy factories are left in NYC?

That is a hard question to answer since there are many "bagel shops" such as Ess-A-Bagel that have a retail store and deli. They also sell wholesale to corporate dining facilities, etc. Some bagel shops just bake for sale in their own shop. There are faux bagel shops that bake off frozen bagels. There are wholesale factories such as Just Bagels in the Bronx
http://www.justbagels.com/
and H&H in Manhattan:
http://www.hhbagels.net/
Wait for the slide show and you can see photos of their bagel shop as well as the huge factory on West 46th Street.
Rockland Baking in Nanuet has a huge bagel baking operation, and a lot of their output goes to NYC:
http://www.rocklandbakery.com/
Again, not all places turn out good bagels. Supermarkets sell baked-off frozen bagels. But, there is no indication that good bagels will disappear from NYC.
 
Just Bagels has a couple of interesting videos on their Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JustBagels

David_NYC

NYPIzzaNut


How many Kosher bagel and bialy factories are left in NYC?

That is a hard question to answer since there are many "bagel shops" such as Ess-A-Bagel that have a retail store and deli.

Maybe I am reading too much into this, but I thought the question was specifically for Kosher bagel and bialy stores.  I don't think that Ess-a-Bagel is full Kosher, as I believe that they sell both meat and dairy.  I am not sure about H&H, Murray's, or Tal.

I think that billyboy has a picture of me standing in front of a closed Kossar's Bialys from this past Saturday, lending some bit of evidence that they are, in fact, Kosher.

Good Catch. I know every bakery I mentioned has Kosher certification from some certification service for their products. So does Reynolds Aluminum Foil. But, I am not familiar with the various levels of Kosher observance.

David,

I think part of the problem is that most people tend to use "kosher" and "Jewish" as intrerchangeable terms.  The title of this thread, even, is a touch misleading, inasmuch as the title of the NY Times article references "Jewish delis."  While the Jewish kashrut laws aren't a simple thing to explain, the first tell-tale sign of whether or not a place is kosher is whether or not their menu includes meat and dairy items together.  For instance, a Reuben sandwich is available at both Katz's and Carnegie Delicatessens, but not at Second Avenue.  The pastrami at all three places may, on its own, be kosher, but that doesn't mean that everything sold there is kosher - and, depending on how seriously one takes these dietary laws, the seemingly slight difference would make eating there verboten.

A place like H&H is tough to tell - purely at a glance - whether or not they are kosher, because they have such a limited number of things that they sell.  Their bagels may or may not be kosher, depending on rabbinical supervision.

I used to pick up bagels on Long Island at a place called Bagel Boss.  In all the time I went there, it never even occurred to me that they were kosher dairy....until the day that I ordered bacon and egg on a bagel.  The clerk looked at me kind of askance and suggested that they had soy bacon.  I have him the same curious look back and he told me that they kept kosher.  I went flush...and said "oh, man...sorry, bacon bad..." and he said "yeah, around here, ALL meat bad!"  I looked around and realized that I never realized that this deli never sold any meat!  Oops.