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.
Sometimes you just want to eat at a diner.
I'm even happy at mediocre diners, but the Square Diner in Tribeca is a good one. And it's a real diner, which unfortunately can be difficult to find in Manhattan. But there's still some out there.
They have fountain drinks and everything. I had a chocolate egg cream.
Throughout my life I haven't generally been familiar with the egg cream. We have been strangers, and that is mostly my doing. I think I've always found the name intimidating: is it like a milkshake, with milk and ice cream, but then they drop a raw egg in it? That doesn't sound appealing.
But an egg cream turns out to be milk, seltzer, and chocolate or vanilla syrup. Whoever came up with the name "egg cream" needed some marketing lessons. Or maybe just wanted all the egg creams to his or herself.
By the way, the Square Diner wonderfully has both the chocolate and vanilla egg cream options. I was tempted to go with vanilla, since I actually prefer vanilla for ice cream and milkshakes these days, but the chocolate somehow seemed more classic and I thought I should try that first.
The carbonated aspect took some getting used to but I really enjoyed it. I'm excited to try the vanilla one soon.
The food there was also terrific.
They weren't stingy with the pickles. Yes!
For me, the best part of a meal is that moment when everything is sitting there in front of you and you know you're about to have all that enjoyment. It's a nice feeling.
You may have noticed from one or two of the photos that I visited this block at night. Part of the reason was that it just worked out that way, but also I thought it would be a nice change and an experiment to see how the photos came out and how the mood of my experience was altered.
I must say I enjoyed the night mood during my visit. Even though the weather was pretty bad, with cold and rain and winds, nighttime in Manhattan can be a special place. It's a chance to walk around practically alone and in peace where so many thousands would be jostling during the day.
The rain can even add to the magical feel and create a dreamy effect in the photos, along with the streetlights' distortions.
Some fog in the sky added to the romanticism.
I remember being younger and listening to The Velvet Underground in my headphones as I walked through Manhattan at night in a cold drizzle, thinking, Now I better understand this music and this city. I imagine it would be like listening to The Doors in Los Angeles or reading Bukowski in, well, Los Angeles.
On the left side of the above photo, I found something oddly beautiful about the big empty construction site lit up at night.
Here are some looks at a thin island called Finn Square, across the street from the diner at the merging of Varick Street and West Broadway.
I assume that stand-alone object is a piece of art, but I'm not fully sure.
There is a Starbucks at the top right of the above photo. It is on the corner opposite the Square Diner on Leonard Street.
Starbucks is a coffee chain that offers regular and espresso coffees, with flavored options for the drinks and also some pastries. They have places to sit and... I just realized that my detailed description of what's in a Starbucks is probably unnecessary.
Along Leonard Street is the Juilliard Building.
Look out! There's a murderous donkey peering out one of the windows! On second thought it's probably just a stuffed animal. Still scary looking, though.
According to an article in The New York Times from 2000, several buildings were combined around that time to form a building of condominiums. It was named after Augustus D. Juilliard (1836-1919) because he and his wife Helen sold dry goods and had a warehouse there. He is the same person who the Juilliard School was named after, which is a school for the performing arts that he was a patron of. These buildings on Leonard Street date back to the 19th century.
Closer to the Hudson Street side of the block are two real estate companies. One is called Douglas Elliman Real Estate, established in 1911.
They had many properties displayed in their windows, but they were lit up so brightly that it actually hurt to look at them. In the photo they just look like rectangular lights. But I guess they know what they're doing since they've been around over 100 years.
On the other side of the street is Warburg, which was established in 1896. Wow, I was impressed by 1911, but 1896 is even better.
Here's the entrance around the corner on Hudson Street:
A little ways up on this building was some interesting metalwork, seen in the lower part of this photo:
I guess the address below wasn't good enough to get its own number:
How sad.
That's about it, here's one last look at the area with the Square Diner and Finn Square:
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