Second Avenue Deli facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Second Avenue Deli |
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| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1954 |
| Current owner(s) | Jeremy Lebewohl |
| Food type | Kosher Jewish delicatessen |
| Street address | 162 East 33rd Street (between Lexington and Third Avenues), in Murray Hill, Manhattan |
| City | New York, NY |
| County | New York County |
| Postal/ZIP code | 10016 |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 40°43′46″N 73°59′12″W / 40.72954°N 73.98674°W |
| Other locations | 1442 First Avenue (at East 75th Street), in Upper East Side, Manhattan, NY 10021 |
| Other information |
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| Website | 2ndavedeli.com |
The Second Avenue Deli (also known as 2nd Ave Deli) is a certified-kosher Jewish delicatessen in Manhattan, New York City. In December 2007, it relocated to 162 East 33rd Street (between Lexington Avenue and Third Avenue) in Murray Hill. In August 2011, it opened a second branch at 1442 First Avenue (East 75th Street) on the Upper East Side. In November 2017, it opened a cocktail lounge called 2nd Floor above its Upper East Side branch.
In 1998, the deli won an America’s Classic Award by the James Beard Foundation.
History
The delicatessen originally opened in 1954 on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and East 10th Street in the Yiddish Theater District in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan. By that time, most of the Yiddish theaters of the prior half-century had disappeared. The sidewalk at that location has plaques with the names of about fifty stars of the old Yiddish-theatre embedded into the sidewalk, similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is known as the Yiddish Walk of Fame. Some of the honored stars are Molly Picon, actor Menasha Skulnik, singer and actor Boris Thomashevsky (grandfather of conductor, pianist, and composer Michael Tilson Thomas), and Fyvush Finkel (born Philip Finkel).
The delicatessen closed briefly following the murder of its founder Abe Lebewohl, a survivor of The Holocaust, during a robbery on March 4, 1996. The crime remains unsolved.
On January 1, 2006, new owner Jack Lebewohl closed the delicatessen at its original location in the East Village after a rent increase and a dispute over back rent. (The East Village location later became a Chase Bank branch.) On July 31, 2007, Lebewohl announced that the delicatessen would reopen at a new location in the fall of 2007. It reopened on December 17, 2007, at the Murray Hill location with Jeremy Lebewohl, the nephew of its founder, as its new proprietor.
The delicatessen's specialties include matzoh-ball soup, corned beef, pastrami, knishes, gefilte fish, cholent and other notables of Jewish cuisine. Despite the deli being under kosher supervision, most Orthodox Jews will not eat there because the restaurant is open on Shabbat.
The original restaurant had a separate room decorated with memorabilia of Yiddish theatre actress Molly Picon, including posters, song sheets, photographs, etc. The new location has pictures of her on the walls for approximately one half of the dining area. The deli's original iconic neon sign is now installed in the City Reliquary in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The deli is one of the few Jewish restaurants in the United States that still serves p'tcha (jellied calves' feet). Given the small and dwindling customer base, p'tcha is made to order upon request.
Ranking
In 2013, Zagat gave it a food rating of 23, and ranked it the 9th-best deli in New York City. It is rated 3 in the top 5 delis in New York.
In 2021, the Financial Times ranked it as one of the “50 greatest food stores in the world.”
