Exit, Stage Deli

[Smasher_Sloan]

As of midnight on Thursday, the Stage is out of business:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/stage-deli-serves-overstuffed-sandwich-article-1.1211372?localLinksEnabled=false

 

[Webster]

I worked a couple of blocks away for a decade. It was nothing special -- they just double stuffed a sandwich and charged three times as much. My local deli on Avenue J in Brooklyn ran circles around the place.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Never actually stepped foot in the place, but places like that have become so anachronistic. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. People don't go out for long sitdown pastrami sandwich lunches anymore. They hit subway or shake shack or whatever. And the tourists that might have hit that place after a broadway show on the way back to the hotel now go into theme restaurants. I am not sure how good business was, but one thing that is hard to watch right now is how many established restaurants have gone out of business the last 2 or 3 years because they can't make the rents. That area is holding up relatively well, but the upper east side has turned into a ghost town. I don't know enough about the commercial real estate market to really understand it, but there is something that makes it preferable for landlords to keep storefronts empty rather than bring the rents down, because you can walk whole blocks along 1st Ave or 3rd Ave. and even Lex and there are all these empty storefronts that used to have restaurants and shops.

 

[shockey]

I worked a couple of blocks away for a decade. It was nothing special -- they just double stuffed a sandwich and charged three times as much. My local deli on Avenue J in Brooklyn ran circles around the place.

amen, my brooklyn brother... ave. j, ave. m, pick a letter, brooklyn deli's rule!! mom and pop shockey are bringing out the annual chnukah platter in a couple of weeks -- roast beef, turkey, pastrami, corned beef, tongue, rye bread, sides of kasha varnishkas, cole slaw, potatoe salad, knishes, chopped liver, sour pickles... yum... we'll all need our arteries to be unclogged afterward but it's soooooo worth it.

 

[TigerVols]

Never actually stepped foot in the place, but places like that have become so anachronistic. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. People don't go out for long sitdown pastrami sandwich lunches anymore. They hit subway or shake shack or whatever. And the tourists that might have hit that place after a broadway show on the way back to the hotel now go into theme restaurants. I am not sure how good business was, but one thing that is hard to watch right now is how many established restaurants have gone out of business the last 2 or 3 years because they can't make the rents. That area is holding up relatively well, but the upper east side has turned into a ghost town. I don't know enough about the commercial real estate market to really understand it, but there is something that makes it preferable for landlords to keep storefronts empty rather than bring the rents down, because you can walk whole blocks along 1st Ave or 3rd Ave. and even Lex and there are all these empty storefronts that used to have restaurants and shops.

Langer's laughs at your idea that people don't go out for pastrami sandwich lunches anymore.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Bad week for New York delis. Days before the Stage closing, there was a fire at Sarge's on Third Avenue in Murray Hill. Sarge's was close to the Grand Hyatt and open 24 hours, so I'm sure some sj'ers have been there over the years.

http://gothamist.com/2012/11/26/beloved_sarges_deli_ravaged_by_3_al.php

 

[Webster]

Sarge's is a real deli. Mrs. W and I lived in Tudor City when we first moved in together and we'd take people to Sarge's for late night dining or an authentic deli breakfast.

And Shockey, there aren't many places left in the old hood which are what I call the secular Jewish deli. The type of place that has the deli counter in the front and the cheap dining room in the back. Where you get the sour tomato and pickle platter and the ice cream scoop of cole slaw with your meal. And the only soda was Dr. Brown's, including the dreaded Cel-Ray option.

 

[The Big Ragu]

There is nothing on earth that is meant to be a food product that is more disgusting than Cel-Ray soda.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I've eaten at Sarge's many many many times. I was never at the Stage.
Ragu, it's funny you mention the empty storefronts on the Upper East Side. Here in ultra-suburban Lexington, Mass. it's the same thing on our four block long commercial area. Places stay vacant for months, then some doomed entrepreneur starts a frozen yogurt store or something, then it's empty again after six months. We've even had a liquor store go out of business! Only things that last are banks, real estate offices and coffee shop chains.
I have never understood how this works for landlords, but apparently in high-end commercial space, it does.

 

[shockey]

Sarge's is a real deli. Mrs. W and I lived in Tudor City when we first moved in together and we'd take people to Sarge's for late night dining or an authentic deli breakfast.

And Shockey, there aren't many places left in the old hood which are what I call the secular Jewish deli. The type of place that has the deli counter in the front and the cheap dining room in the back. Where you get the sour tomato and pickle platter and the ice cream scoop of cole slaw with your meal. And the only soda was Dr. Brown's, including the dreaded Cel-Ray option.

cel-ray! oh, yes, the mouth waters... where i grew up on ave. h, we actually had a 'real' deli, just as you describe, between coney island ave. and e. 10th street -- grossman's deli.... the grossmans lived in the apt. building across the street from mine. their son was/is, i presume), a year older than i am. was a pretty good baseball player, too. the deli closed permanently around '65, when i was 8 or so, after mr. g sustained a heart attack... became a chinese take-out place. not nearly the same...


re: sarge's, it was in the neighborhood of THE real daily news building *229 e. 42nd street, 'tween 2nd and 3rd).... during my copyboy days i'd often drive the night m.e. home to white plains between 2 and 3 a.m., and would frequently stop at sarge's on the way back to the news' garage to pick up 'lunch' for those of us on the lobster shift... nothing like pastrami sandwiches, knishes and latkes at 4 a.m. breakfast of champions. n.y., n.y., one helluva town!!

 

[The Big Ragu]

I've eaten at Sarge's many many many times. I was never at the Stage.
Ragu, it's funny you mention the empty storefronts on the Upper East Side. Here in ultra-suburban Lexington, Mass. it's the same thing on our four block long commercial area. Places stay vacant for months, then some doomed entrepreneur starts a frozen yogurt store or something, then it's empty again after six months. We've even had a liquor store go out of business! Only things that last are banks, real estate offices and coffee shop chains.
I have never understood how this works for landlords, but apparently in high-end commercial space, it does.

Our only speculation is that the commercial leases in Manhattan are for a few years, and landlords don't want to lock themselves in at reduced rents if there is a recovery. I just don't get it. We walked by this great location today -- I think it is 57th and Park Ave. It was a Barnes & Noble that went out of business two years ago, maybe more, and has stood vacant since. I just don't get it.

 

[TigerVols]

Shockey --

"Lobster shift" is a new term for me. What is it?

 

[Webster]

There is nothing on earth that is meant to be a food product that is more disgusting than Cel-Ray soda.

I told my 7 year old about it and she didn't believe that anyone would make a soda that tasted like celery. We looked it up on the web and she insisted on trying it. When we finally tracked it down, she barely had a sip before she spit it out in the sink and threw out the rest. Good girl.

 

[Buck]

Never actually stepped foot in the place, but places like that have become so anachronistic. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. People don't go out for long sitdown pastrami sandwich lunches anymore. They hit subway or shake shack or whatever.

The idea of New Yorkers going to Subway for a sandwich is depressing.
If that's true, you get what you deserve.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Never actually stepped foot in the place, but places like that have become so anachronistic. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. People don't go out for long sitdown pastrami sandwich lunches anymore. They hit subway or shake shack or whatever.

The idea of New Yorkers going to Subway for a sandwich is depressing.
If that's true, you get what you deserve.

I agree. But I just looked. There are more than 370 of them in NYC. Not sure how many in Manhattan, but they are kind of just there. Someone has to be eating in them.

 

[YankeeFan]

I agree. But I just looked. There are more than 370 of them in NYC. Not sure how many in Manhattan, but they are kind of just there. Someone has to be eating in them.

I used to be blind to Subway, since I never eat there. Then it came up in a conversation, and I started to take notice of them. Holy ****, they're everywhere.

God, I miss a good NYC deli, and I don't mean Stage, Carnegie, or 2nd Ave.

When I lived in Houston and Tampa/St. Pete, I especially missed delis and diners. Thankfully there was a good pizza joint near me in Houston, run by cousins from Queens.

 

[Huggy]

Never actually stepped foot in the place, but places like that have become so anachronistic. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. People don't go out for long sitdown pastrami sandwich lunches anymore. They hit subway or shake shack or whatever.

The idea of New Yorkers going to Subway for a sandwich is depressing.
If that's true, you get what you deserve.

Had a similar thought on my only trip to NYC two summers ago: home of some of greatest restaurants - any cuisines, any price - in the world and there was a crazy lineup at Olive ****ing Garden in Times Square.

 

[Buck]

I grew up in South Jersey, across the river of Philly.
Lots of great Italian delis.

I go back to visit and see Subway all over the place, and I wonder 'Who is eating at these places?'

I live in Central California. I don't have access to real deli - Jewish or Italian.
When I visit back East, all I want to eat is pizza and deli.

 

[shockey]

Shockey --

"Lobster shift" is a new term for me. What is it?

it's virtually impossible to find any official explanation for why iit's called 'the lobster shift' but in the newspaper biz it was used by the many folks who worked frlom late-evening until early morning; for example, my first copyboy shift was 9 p .m.-5 a.m.; i later worked midnight-8 a.m. as one of two reporters for the nydn, in the city that never sleeps as the city. as it was explained to me it was derived from the prime hours for lobster fishermen on long island and in new england to net their most shellfish....

 

[Buck]

I just stopped at Subway while running errands on my lunch break.
As I sat there stewing about real East Coast delis going out of business while East Coasters eat at Subway, I came up with the California parallel.

There is no reason to eat at Taco Bell in California. The worst tacqueria, taco truck or even actual Meixcan restaurant is better than Taco Bell.
No one in California should ever eat at Taco Bell, but they're all over the place.