Len Berk
By Len Berk
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Culture The 16 customers you’ll meet at the Zabar’s lox counter
Outside, the sun peeks out over the high condo buildings and blazes across 80th Street into the windows of Zabar’s. New Yorkers are scurrying up and down Broadway. Mommies stroll by with adorable babies on their backs or in their strollers. When I’m at the window, I wave at the passing kids. Some wave back;…
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Culture The oldest customer at Zabar’s lox counter — the tale of the 105-year-old man
Zabar’s is a slice of life. People scurry from room to room, section to section, walking, looking, seeing, listening, deciding, talking, thinking, tasting. Big people, little people, fat, skinny, tall, short, young and old. They’re all here. I’m watching them. Some of them are watching me. There are as many stories here as there are…
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Culture The sturgeon will see you now — an expert’s guide to smoked fish
Smoked salmon or lox? That is the question. On Sunday mornings in the 1940’s and 50’s, Jewish people lined the streets of New York to get their lox fix from the appetizing stores around at the time. It was a ritual; there had to be lox on the Sunday breakfast table. Why did it happen?…
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Culture ‘Should he sit or should he go’ — a uniquely Zabar’s dilemma
It’s located just behind the manager’s desk in between the two time clocks that are used for signing in and out at break time, lunchtime and arrival or departure time. Customers use it when they discuss problems, order merchandise and inquire as to the location of various store items. Without question it’s in a very…
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Culture Of arms and the sushi man, I sing — a poem from the Zabar’s lox counter
What the devil is that guy doing in my spot? I walk into the store at 7:30 am. It’s my early day; the day I watch the store wake up. I like seeing the store at that time, but I wonder — what’s that guy doing in my spot? As I get closer and closer,…
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Culture ‘May I help you, Mr. Perlman?’ — a lesson from the maestro at the Zabar’s lox counter
So, I was slicing away. I looked up and sitting before me was Itzhak Perlman. Mr. Perlman is a regular at Zabar’s — you know, like Woody Allen’s mother. He’s been shopping here for years. He is held in such high esteem that the store manager assigns one of the sub-managers to walk around the…
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Culture “The end is actually the beginning” — and other life lessons from the Zabar’s lox counter
September 1996. It’s unsettling. You’re over 50, you’re Jewish, you walk into Zabar’s expecting that old time Yiddish flavor behind the counter, but all the lox men are Chinese. Well, almost all: a sprinkling of Hispanics, an African American here and there, and yes, an occasional Jew. What was I to do? So, I sold…
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Culture “She didn’t like it salty” — A tale from the Zabar’s lox counter
Her left arm was securely held by the health care worker who accompanied her. They approached the fish counter very slowly and carefully. With total disregard for who was next in line, she looked me in the eye and spoke. “I don’t want salty” she said in a belligerent tone. “I don’t want salty,” she…
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