A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from October 10, 2004
Appetizing Store (“Appy”)
The "appy" and the "deli" both are associated with New York.

"Appetizing stores" sell fish and dairy products.

"Delicatessen stores" sell meats.


New York (NY) Times
F.Y.I.
Appetizing Indeed
By MICHAEL POLLAK
Published: June 27, 2004
Q. The "appetizing store," selling Nova Scotia salmon, lox, sturgeon, whitefish, sable, bagels, bialys and the like, is a vanishing New York phenomenon. The term does not appear to exist outside New York, although obviously these products do. Where does this term come from?

A. It does seem to have a New York flavor, according to the owner of Russ & Daughters, one of the most famous stores of this kind that survives. This smoked-fish emporium at 179 East Houston Street (between Orchard and Allen Streets) was opened by Joel Russ in 1914 as "Russ's Cut Rate Appetizers." (...)

"I think 'appetizing' is fairly indigenous and fairly local to New York," Mr. Federman said. Once, he said, there were 30 appetizing stores on the Lower East Side alone.

7 April 1914, New York (NY) Times, pg. 18:
Lenox Appetizing Store, 154 Lenox Ave.

24 May 1925, New York (NY) Times, pg. XX2:
It was from old Peretz Chalken, retired from his appetizer store, that she learned of a settlement house two blocks downtown from her home where age and education got together for a two-hour session three times a week.

30 August 1995, New York (NY) Times, pg. C2:
I am at the "appetizing" counter of the local suburban supermarket, having ordered a half-pound of Nova.
(...)
I approached the formidable Waldbaum's appetizing counter for the very first time.
(...)
I must admit that from that day forward I've been slightly intimdated when taking my ticket at the appy counter, never knowing whether I'll get an order of embarrassment and humility with my Nova.
JACQUELINE FRANK

OCLC WorldCat record
Jewish cooking in America with Joan Nathan. The smoked & pickled appetizing store
Author: Joan Nathan; Charles L Pinsky; John T Potthast; Andrew Statman; Maryland Public Television.; All authors
Publisher: United States : PBS, 1998.
Edition/Format: VHS video : VHS tape Visual material : English
Summary: In this program, Joan Nathan heads to New York to visit two of the last surviving "appetizing" stores. These stores at one time flourished selling many kinds of pickled and smoked fish. Recipes include pickled salmon and herring with potatoes and onions made by Mark Federman, owner of Russ & Daughters on the Lower East Side. The television series uses food to explore Jewish culture and history in the United States.

Google Groups: rec.humor.jewish
Newsgroups: rec.humor.jewish
From: "Leon"
Date: 1998/12/13
Subject: Diminutives

For those familiar with the Lower East Side, New York, or yore, here are some more:

A woman shopping in an "appy" (for the whitebread eaters, an appy is an "appetizing store", a shop selling fish, cheese and non-meat delicatessen products) asked the merchant, "How much it is a pickle?" The man pointed to the sign and replied "A nickel." The shopper pointed to the smallest pickle and asked, "And how much it is for this pickeleh?". The man replied, "For the pickeleh, a nickeleh."
Posted by {name}
New York CityRestaurants/Bars/Coffeehouses/Food Stores • Sunday, October 10, 2004 • Permalink


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