The Second Avenue Deli (also known as 2nd Ave Deli) is a certified- kosher

Jewish delicatessen A Jewish deli, also known as a Jewish delicatessen, is a delicatessen establishment that serves various traditional dishes in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, and are typically known for their sandwiches such as pastrami on rye, as well as their soups ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In December 2007, it relocated to 162 East 33rd Street (between Lexington Avenue and

Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...

) in Murray Hill. In August 2011, it opened a second branch at 1442 First Avenue (East 75th Street) on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

. In November 2017, it opened a cocktail lounge called 2nd Floor above its Upper East Side branch. In 1998, the deli won an America’s Classic Award by the

James Beard Foundation The James Beard Foundation is a New York City-based national non-profit culinary arts organization named in honor of James Beard, a prolific food writer, teacher, and cookbook author, who was also known as the "Dean of American Cookery." The prog ...

History

The delicatessen originally opened in 1954 on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and East 10th Street in the

Yiddish Theater District The Yiddish Theatre District, also called the Jewish Rialto and the Yiddish Realto, was the center of New York City's Yiddish theatre scene in the early 20th century. It was located primarily on Second Avenue, though it extended to Avenue B, b ...

in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. By that time, most of the Yiddish theaters of the prior half-century had disappeared. The sidewalk at that location has plaques with the names of about fifty stars of the old Yiddish-theatre embedded into the sidewalk, similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is known as the Yiddish Walk of Fame.

Simonson, Robert Robert Simonson (born September 11, 1964) is an American journalist and author. Personal life Robert Simonson was born in Wisconsin; he has lived in Brooklyn since 1988. Career Robert Simonson began writing about cocktails, spirits and bars for ...

(March 19, 2006)
"Where Have You Gone, Molly Picon?"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. Article access requires website registration.Siegel, Jennifer (March 24, 2006).
"Stars Still Shine on 2nd Avenue Walk of Fame Survives Deli’s Demise but Its Fate Is Unclear"
''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ...

''. Some of the honored stars are

Molly Picon Molly Picon ( yi, מאָלי פּיקאָן; born Malka Opiekun; February 28, 1898 – April 5, 1992) was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller. She began her career in Yidd ...

, actor

Menasha Skulnik Menasha Skulnik ( yi, מנשה סקולניק; May 15, 1890 – June 4, 1970) was an American actor, primarily known for his roles in Yiddish theater in New York City. Skulnik was also popular on radio, playing Uncle David on '' The Goldbergs'' for ...

, singer and actor Boris Thomashevsky (grandfather of conductor, pianist, and composer

Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...

), and Fyvush Finkel (born Philip Finkel). The delicatessen closed briefly following the murder of its founder

Abe Lebewohl Abe Lebewohl (1931–1996) was the founder of the Second Avenue Deli. The deli has been described as “possibly the Big Apple’s most well-known delicatessen” which was “famed worldwide as a hotspot for celebrities and regular Joe's alike ...

, a survivor of

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, during a robbery on March 4, 1996. The crime remains unsolved. On January 1, 2006, new owner Jack Lebewohl closed the delicatessen at its original location in the East Village after a rent increase and a dispute over back rent. (The East Village location later became a

Chase Bank JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fin ...

branch.) On July 31, 2007, Lebewohl announced that the delicatessen would reopen at a new location in the fall of 2007. It reopened on December 17, 2007, at the Murray Hill location with Jeremy Lebewohl, the nephew of its founder, as its new proprietor. The delicatessen's specialties include matzoh-ball soup, corned beef,

pastrami Pastrami (Romanian: '' pastramă'') is a food originating from Romania usually made from beef brisket, lamb, pork, chicken sometimes from turkey. The raw meat is brined, partially dried, seasoned with herbs and spices, then smoked and steamed. ...

knish A knish is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish snack food consisting of a filling covered with dough that is typically baked or sometimes deep fried. Knishes are often purchased from street vendors in urban areas with a large Jewish population, some ...

es,

gefilte fish Gefilte fish (; from yi, געפֿילטע פֿיש, lit. "stuffed fish") is a dish made from a poached mixture of ground deboned fish, such as carp, whitefish, or pike. It is traditionally served as an appetizer by Ashkenazi Jewish househo ...

cholent Cholent and other Sabbath stews ( yi, טשאָלנט, tsholnt ''or'' tshulnt) are traditional Jewish stews. It is usually simmered overnight for 10–12 hours or more, and eaten for lunch on Shabbat (the Sabbath). Shabbat stews were develope ...

and other notables of

Jewish cuisine Jewish cuisine refers to the worldwide cooking traditions of the Jewish people. During its evolution over the course of many centuries, it has been shaped by Jewish dietary laws (''kashrut''), Jewish festivals and holidays, and traditions ce ...

. Despite the deli being under kosher supervision, most Orthodox Jews will not eat there because the restaurant is open on Shabbat. The original restaurant had a separate room decorated with

memorabilia A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revu ...

actress

, including posters, song sheets, photographs, etc. The new location has pictures of her on the walls for approximately one half of the dining area. The deli's original iconic neon sign is now installed in the City Reliquary in Williamsburg,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. The deli is one of the few Jewish restaurants in the United States that still serves p'tcha (jellied calves' feet). Given the small and dwindling customer base, p'tcha is made to order upon request.

Ranking

In 2013, ''

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, coverin ...

'' gave it a food rating of 23, and ranked it the 9th-best deli in New York City. It is rated 3 in the top 5 delis in New York. In 2021, the ''Financial Times'' ranked it as one of the “50 greatest food stores in the world.”

References

External links

* {{Restaurants in Manhattan Ashkenazi Jewish culture in New York City East Village, Manhattan Fleischig restaurants Jewish delicatessens in the United States Jews and Judaism in Manhattan Murray Hill, Manhattan Restaurants in Manhattan Restaurants established in 1954 Upper East Side James Beard Foundation Award winners

History

Ranking

See also

References

External links