PODCAST A flavorful walk through the Lower East Side, exploring the neighborhood’s most famous foods.
Join Tom as he experience the tastes of another era by visiting some of the oldest culinary institutions of the Lower East Side. From McSorley’s to Katz’s, Russ & Daughters and Economy Candy — when did these shops open, who did they serve, and how, in the world are they still with us today? He explores the topic with author Sarah Lohman of the Four Pounds Flour blog.
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A groovy bite: How has Katz’s Delicatessen managed to last so long? This picture was taken in 1975 but it could have easily have been taken today with a black-and-white filter slapped over it.
(Photo by Edmund Vincent Gillon, 1975, courtesy Museum of the City of New York)
Another timeless classic — McSorley’s Old Ale House, in a photo taken by Berenice Abbott, 1937. (Ms. Abbott would have been one of the only women even allowed into McSorley’s in 1937!) How has this bar managed to stay open — and look virtually the same for over a century?
The Russ and Daughters interior before a renovation that widened the store.
A potato merchant in the Lower East Side. It was because of the proliferation of these peddlers that the city eventually opened the Essex Street Market in the 20th century.
Tom, recording on the road at McSorley’s Old Ale House, being a day drinker!
For more information on guest host Sarah Lohman‘s upcoming book Four Pounds Flour, check out her website.
And for more information on the history of a few of the locations mentioned in the show, check out these other Bowery Boys: New York City History podcasts:
PODCAST: McSorley’s Old Ale House
Bowery Boys Greatest Hits: Back to Katz’s Delicatessen
1 reply on “A Culinary Tour of the Lower East Side”
Fun little review of the neighborhood I live in and where my grandfather grew up 100 years ago. But why did you leave out Yonah Schimmel knishes???