Russ and Daughters' Nepalese Fish Slicer

New Yorkers and its suburban emigres (I am among the latter category) have strong opinions about smoked fish. I didn't grow up with smoked fish in the small, central New York town where I spent my childhood years. It was an acquired taste that slowly, but steadily emerged for me in my adultage. These days, I thoroughly enjoy the range of smoked fish available in Gotham. Well, I do make an exception for herring, which I find inedible.

Photo from Russanddaughters.com

A few years ago, I walked into Russ and Daughters on Houston Street. I'd never stepped inside before that day: two rental stints on the Lower East Side never included this oddly-named business. Eventually, I concluded this was by far the best place in New York to obtain smoked salmon, sturgeon, whitefish, and other indefensible, but entirely delightful luxuries. (My favorite is a wonderful, seasonally available Danish smoked salmon.)

This background encouraged me to read today's brief New York Times profile of Russ and Daughters' Nepalese fish slicer. Now, if you think New Yorkers are opinionated about smoked fish, they definitely double down on their opinions' velocity when the subject turns to the art of slicing. Let's just say some people are very particular about how their fish is cut. I'm not quite so fussy, but I do see the point.

The profile is a genuine New York story. Yes, the slicer really is from Nepal, and no, he's not Jewish. He does, according to the story, speak some Yiddish. He comes across, all in all, as a real mensch.

Vanishing New York: H&H Bagels Closing Upper West Side Store

H&H Bagels, the product that epitomized a way of life in New York, closed its Upper West Side store this week. H&H's doom was presaged in May 2010, when its owner pleaded guilty to grand larceny. Earlier this year, there were hints in the air that H&H would vanish. And now it's gone. The New York Times noted the closing in today's online edition.

While the dowdy, no-frills shop served genuinely fresh, hot bagels, it was always more than a store. H&H represented a way of living that celebrated the City's, and especially the Upper West Side's, heart and soul. H&H had New York attitude. It didn't offer any service beyond putting bagels in a bag, and the store didn't offer any type of preparation, such as toasting. Nada: H&H was strictly a cash-and-carry operation.

Sometimes, I would visit H&H and bring to my New Jersey home bagels I could trust. Around my area, bagels resemble the shape of tires from Fred Flintstone's car. Unfortunately, the faux bagels are about as tough as Fred's tires. That just wouldn't do.

H&H will continue to have a City presence, thanks to its more factory-like venue on West 46th Street opposite the Hudson River docks. However, the atmosphere and the neighborhood just aren't the same. H&H's vanishing act leaves New York with a diminishing number of venues where its urban, and specifically Jewish, personality remains vital and even compelling.

Two holdouts that come to mind are both on the currently fashionable Lower East Side. One is Kossar's Bialys on not so soignée Grand Street. Not only do I enjoy Kossur's bialys, I appreciate that the store has made no concession to time or contemporary taste. The other refusenik is Russ & Daughters, the celebrated ne plus ultra for all who enjoy smoked fish. That includes me.