2nd Avenue between East 7th Street and St. Mark's Place

On this East Village block is a very casual restaurant called B & H. 

You can see on the sign in the front that it is kosher, dairy, and vegetarian. They do have fish items on the menu, but I guess 'vegetarian' has different definitions. 

It's a very small place, with a counter and stools to the right as you walk in and some tables along the wall on the left. In between is the aisle for walking, but it is so narrow that it's impossible not to brush against people as you walk by. Hopefully you just brush against people and not their food too.

I went with an anonymous eating companion (AEC) and here's a look from our table, with AEC observing the shop in amazement and possibly pondering life's deep mysteries as well:

 This is behind the counter near the front of the shop:

Ordering the food was a very informal process. There's basically two guys behind the counter who work on food and one of them also takes people's orders. The whole place is so small that you just tell him your order from wherever you're sitting, then he yells it to the back where the kitchen is. 

You get handed the food from behind the counter, even if you're sitting at a table, or someone at the counter helps hand it to you if that's easier.

I had a tuna salad sandwich with tomato and a spinach knish.

One of AEC's dishes was an egg sandwich:

The food was scrumptious. Our sandwiches both had challah bread, which we agreed was delicious and a good touch. I admit that before I dug in I was dubious about the challah for the sandwich because I thought it might be too soft and flimsy to keep it all together. But it worked and tasted great.

AEC said the challah provided a good "mouthfeel" for the sandwich. I asked if he was jokingly talking about texture and he said that "mouthfeel" was a real food term. Shows what I know. I thought mouthfeel sounded like a British phrase because they sometimes have funny terms like that. Oh those wacky Brits.

After the meal, AEC noticed some peculiarities in their signs out front, such as:

Wow, B & H has been around since the year 194! That's old.

Oh, 1942. That makes more sense. 

Also, this sign at the top seems to indicate that the B stands for better and the H is for health:

So is the name of the place Better & Health? Wouldn't just Better Health make more sense? Many unanswered questions, but I think it adds to the charm. 

It's a very good place, and I heard the ladies from Broad City mention in an interview that they like it, which makes it even cooler. Check it out if you're nearby. 

Next to B & H are 3 more food places:

All 3 have good reviews, so this block certainly has many nice food options. One of the 3 places is Paul's Da Burger Joint, which advertises its award-winning and big hamburgers. It's unclear if these out front are meant to show actual size:

At the corner is Gem Spa, which seemed to be just a corner shop selling lots of tourist and novelty items.

I didn't notice the egg cream mentions on their sign and awning, but we did see this on their door:

We both agreed that this didn't seem like the kind of place that made egg creams. So was the picture randomly showing what an ideal egg cream should look like, just so we know for future reference at other places? We were a bit confused, and kept walking.

Later in the day I looked up the place online and it appeared that Gem Spa actually did make egg creams. I had to try one, especially after my recent foray into the world of egg cream at the Square Diner in my post on Leonard Street.

So I went back the next day, went inside, and the place seemed like a regular deli, with no sign of a place to make an egg cream. Then I asked the guy behind the counter and he said they did make them. Wow, I'll take one. He asked if I wanted chocolate or vanilla and I went with chocolate again. Then he made the egg cream right there behind the counter at the front of the shop. The whole thing was surprising and even startling, but in a good way of course. 

I went outside with the beverage:

I was glad I recently had a manicure so I could pose for the photo. Just kidding. 

This egg cream had more seltzer in it, which created a different dynamic that I think I actually liked more. After two egg creams I suddenly think that I'm a connoisseur.  

By the way, outside one of the Gem Spa doors is one of these things:

Insert 'Big' movie reference here.


On the other side of the street is the Orpheum Theater, which is where the show Stomp has been since 1994.

I remember seeing Stomp there many years ago with family. We had a great time and were rhythmically banging on each other all the way home. If I were a critic I would say, "This infectious show will have you giving it a stomping ovation!"  

Tragically, this block was also the site of a gas explosion in March 2015 that killed 2 people, hurt at least 19, and wiped out 3 buildings on one of the corners at East 7th Street.

There are memorials on the fence for the two men who died, Moises Ismael Locon Yac and Nicholas Figueroa.

It's amazing how fragile life can be. 

Here's a random look at some more places on the block:

As you can see, along with all the food options, there's plenty of non-food happenings here too.

A building on the block has a sign reading, Ukrainian Sport Club. Plus there's this bit of art of one of the corner light posts:

And Google Maps says that a Ukrainian Museum is a block from here. I never knew that the Ukraine had such a big presence in this area. 

Around here there is a lot of street art on light posts, done by Jim Power, known as The Mosaic Man. On our block, 3 of the 4 corners feature light posts full of art. The Ukraine mosaic above is on the corner where the gas explosion occurred. Here are the other sides of that post:

Here's the east side corner at St. Mark's:

And the west corner at St. Mark's:

The mosaics are pretty great and really create a distinct East Village vibe. Hopefully I'll get to some more blocks soon that feature this art. 

That's all for this block. Thanks for reading, and here's a brief epilogue:

After AEC and I left this block, we were hanging out nearby in a store on Broadway and noticed a commotion outside, with sirens and then many people marching down the street. Based on some signs being held up, it seemed to be a pro-Bernie Sanders rally. It was the day of the South Carolina primary for the Democrats. 

It's funny how a rally can just suddenly pop up out of nowhere in New York City. Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, there's no denying what a lively place this is.