Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s, also known as Bernstein on Essex<\/em>, was a kosher deli and Chinese restaurant on Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side.<\/p>\n Located at 135 Essex Street<\/a>, the eatery\u2019s slogan was \u201cWhere kashrut is king and quality reigns\u201d and was the first kosher Chinese restaurant in New York City. It was founded in the 1950s by Solomon Bernstein as a home to both specialized meats and the unique, kosher versions of Chinese delicacies. Substituting veal, beef, and chicken livers for pork, Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s combined two cultures in a manner that had not been done before. Similarly, the waiters wore traditional tasseled Chinese caps instead of yarmulkes, and there was a popular dish named \u201clo mein Bernstein\u201d made with chicken livers.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n As Shira Baruch, a New York Jew who frequented Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s during its lifetime, explained, the juxtaposition of Chinese and Jewish, of the foreign and familiar, gave Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s an exciting yet homey feel. She said in an interview with the author that Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s \u201chad a Chinese menu and a traditional Jewish food menu. It only occurred to me way after it closed that that was so strange\u2026Jackie Mason [Jewish comedian] used to have a whole thing about how you never hear of an Asian person eating gefilte fish\u2026\u201d<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n This combination of these two cultures was convenient to some extent because of the ingredients; \u201cChinese cuisine was both exotic and familiar\u201d because it relied on chicken broth, garlic, onions, and culinary practices that were quite similar to those of the Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe. Moreover, Chinese food aligned with Jewish practice because it does not include dairy products.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Aside from its cultural fusion, Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s was also a place of communal gathering for Jewish people of all ages. As Baruch relayed, \u201cI feel very strongly that it was really about the social\u2026 even though the food was delicious\u2026 it was the place to be, especially Thursday night and Saturday night.\u201d<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Another force that increased the communal feel was \u201cthe regulars.\u201d Rabbi Joshua Lookstein, another faithful Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s customer, remembers \u201cThis older single guy \u2013 a salesman, always sitting in the front room\u2026he was just there, like a regular at any Manhattan diner.\u201d<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Despite its successful reception by the Jewish food community, Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s was sold by the Bernstein family in the early 1990s and closed shortly after.<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> This was, as Lookstein explained, \u201cdevastating\u201d for New York Jews and food lovers, who had created a community around the eatery. \u201cIt was an end of an era.\u201d<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n The closing of Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s was not only a marker of the end of Kosher Chinese food on the Lower East Side, but was also part of a phenomenon that swept the area, described by Ari Goldman in his article entitled \u201cOnly the Subway Stop Remains\u201d in The Jewish Week<\/em>. Goldman relates his Jewish family\u2019s history on the Lower East Side, starting with his four sets of great-grandparents who came to this neighborhood in the late 19th<\/sup> century from Europe. He also tells about schools, restaurants, shops, and the sense of community that he experienced as a child who visited frequently. Now, he writes, \u201cA small Jewish enclave still exists on the southeastern tip of Manhattan island, but it is a far cry from what it once was\u201d because the Jewish establishments have all been converted in some way or another.<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Despite the disappointment portrayed by Goldman and others, New York Jews still reminisce fondly about days at Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s, demonstrating how pervasive its effect was. As Lookstein described, \u201cNowadays, so many kosher restaurants have a variety of styles \u2013 every restaurant has sushi, steak, Jewish-style\u2026 but this was way before that. This wasn\u2019t that. It wasn\u2019t in order to get people, in order to feed diverse families \u2013 they were just a Chinese and Jewish restaurant because that\u2019s what they wanted to do.\u201d And lastly, Schmulka Bernstein\u2019s lovers remember the delicious food: \u201cChinese noodles and duck sauce. Tons of it. I had never had that before.\u201d<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Image Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n Figure 1. http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-tRr-UUo9bZU\/TlH_rPPPbTI\/AAAAAAAAAYI\/fCgPZ3HTEUM\/s1600\/pansit%2Bcanton1.JPG<\/a>. Accessed December 14, 2014. Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n Baruch, Shira. Personal Interview with the author. 14 December 2014.<\/p>\n Goldman, Ari L. “Only The Subway Stop Remains.”<\/a> \u00a0The Jewish Week<\/em>, 26 Dec. 2012. Accessed July 19, 2021.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-tRr-UUo9bZU\/TlH_rPPPbTI\/AAAAAAAAAYI\/fCgPZ3HTEUM\/s1600\/pansit%2Bcanton1.JPG\")
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Figure 2. http:\/\/www.comestiblog.com\/weblog\/2010\/09\/esn-jews-and-food-in-america.html<\/a>. Accessed December 14, 2014.
Figure 3. http:\/\/www.comestiblog.com\/weblog\/2010\/09\/esn-jews-and-food-in-america.html<\/a>. Accessed December 14, 2014.
Figure 4. http:\/\/www.comestiblog.com\/weblog\/2010\/09\/esn-jews-and-food-in-america.html<\/a>. Accessed December 14, 2014.
Figure 5. http:\/\/jewishstudies.washington.edu\/student-writing\/rethinking-the-american-jewish-immigration-narrative\/<\/a>. Accessed December 14, 2014.
Figure 6. http:\/\/www.bkmag.com\/2014\/01\/06\/the-lower-east-side-now-cheaper-than-bushwick\/<\/a>. Accessed December 14, 2014.<\/p>\n