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Shopsin's General Store is a diner in
Shopsin's first iteration was as a neighborhood grocery at the corner of Bedford Street and Morton Street in Greenwich Village. It, the stock and good will, but not the building, was purchased by Kenny Shopsin for $25,000 in 1973, using money from his father. He was undergoing intensive
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, known for its extensive menu and the personality of its namesake chef/owner, Kenny Shopsin. It first opened in the 1970s in the city's Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
neighborhood, but is now located in Essex Market
Essex Market (formerly known as Essex Street Market) is a food market with independent vendors at the intersection of Essex Street and Delancey Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The market is known for its many local ...
in the Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
.
Neighborhood grocery
Shopsin's first iteration was as a neighborhood grocery at the corner of Bedford Street and Morton Street in Greenwich Village. It, the stock and good will, but not the building, was purchased by Kenny Shopsin for $25,000 in 1973, using money from his father. He was undergoing intensive Freudian psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: + . is a set of Theory, theories and Therapy, therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a bo ...
at the time and lived in the neighborhood. The previous owner had prepared and sold roast beef
Roast beef is a dish of beef that is roasted, generally served as the main dish of a meal. In the Anglosphere, roast beef is one of the meats often served at Sunday lunch or dinner. Yorkshire pudding is a standard side dish. Sliced roast beef ...
, a practice Shopsin continued.
The restaurant
Shopsin's is known for both its extensive (900-item) menu of unusual dishes concocted by chef/owner Kenny Shopsin, including items such as "Slutty Cakes", pancakes with peanut butter in the middle, and "Blisters on My Sisters", similar tohuevos rancheros
Huevos rancheros (, 'ranch-style eggs') is a breakfast dish consisting of eggs served in the style of the traditional large mid-morning fare on rural Mexican farms.
Basic dish
The basic dish consists of fried eggs served on lightly fried or cha ...
, and for Kenny Shopsin himself, described by ''Time Out New York
''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide.
In 2012, the London edition becam ...
'' as "the foul-mouthed middle-aged chef and owner". Among Kenny Shopsin's quirks were his very specific rules, including that the restaurant will not accept parties of more than four people. "Pretending to be a party of three that happened to have come in with a party of two is a very bad idea," wrote journalist and restaurant regular Calvin Trillin
Calvin Marshall Trillin (born 5 December 1935) is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist. He is a winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor (2012) and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts an ...
.
The restaurant and Kenny Shopsin were the subject of articles in ''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' by Trillin, and of the documentary film ''I Like Killing Flies
''I Like Killing Flies'' is a 2004 documentary film produced, directed, filmed, and edited by Matt Mahurin. It documents Shopsins restaurant in New York City's Greenwich Village and its owner and head cook, Kenny Shopsin. In 2002 and 2003, Mahu ...
'', directed by Matt Mahurin
Matthew S. Mahurin (born January 31, 1959) is an American illustrator, photographer and film director. Mahurin's illustrations appear in ''Time'', ''Newsweek'', ''Mother Jones'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Esquire'', ''Forbes'', and ''The New York Time ...
. An effort to re-create Shopsin's "Slutty Cakes" was described in a January 2009 ''Slate'' article.
In 2008, Shopsin wrote a cookbook, ''Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin''.
In 2017, one of Shopsin's daughters, Tamara Shopsin, published a memoir, ''Arbitrary Stupid Goal'', about her father, his friend Willy, and growing up at the restaurant.
Shopsin died on September 2, 2018, at his home in the West Village.
See also
*List of restaurants in New York City
This is a list of notable restaurants in New York City. A restaurant is a business which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money, either paid before the meal, after the meal, or with an open account. New York City is ...
References
External links
* {{Restaurants in Manhattan Restaurants in Manhattan 1970s establishments in New York City Chinese restaurants in New York (state)