It was something else recently and
probably something entirely different before that, but once upon a
time, this spot marked a Lower East Side Citadel of
Vegetarian Jewish Gluttony: Ratner's Restaurant.
I was crossing Delancy Street
this morning when I noticed the sign. I was also carrying a half
gallon container of pickles for the upcoming Sedar at my Aunt's
house. From the movie of the same name, for those who remember it.
It has been suggested that along with Katz's Delicatessen which was a few blocks away, Ratner's killed as many Jews as Hitler. That is probably not true. It was probably more.
The onion rolls however were never duplicated.
3 comments:
While Marcia took my wife on Sunday to the shops on the lower East Side, I took my 6 year old daughter to Brooklyn to pick up Marcia's grandmother. All the way to Ratner's, she told us stories of growing up in Russia (the boys from Romania would swim the river), emigrating to America, and working in the then garment district. Most riveting was her story of working across the street from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory when it went up in smoke and over 100 girls lost their lives. We settled in at Ratner's for onion rolls, kasha, matzoh ball soup and waited for the tired women to return from their successful shopping trip.
For some reason Ratners was a favorite place to go
after funerals in my family.
Arlene H.
I used to go to Ratners with a friend. The first thing we did was take the rolls that were brought to the table and wrap them up and put them in our purses. Then we asked for more. I have very fond memories of going there.
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