Posted on 12/22/2006 10:09:46 PM PST by Stoat
<<< making a note to visit the Bronx ASAP :-)
I think that it may have been Clemenza who told me that most of the old Italian bakeries around NYC are now staffed by Russian immigrants, many of whom don't know the trade and don't know how to cook the Italian pastries so well.
Very sad.
Well the gubmint has either "socialized" or legitimized all their big money makers -- gambling, pay day loans,numbers, etc. etc. etc.
Ethnic food is usually an immigrant profession in NYC. When a group has been in NYC for 75 or a hundred years they start to move away from the restaurant or bakery business, giving it up to more recent immigrants.
So all they have left is prostitution, drugs and bagels then?
Sounds like rough times for the Gambinos.
I see. I suppose that means that the original Italians who started those businesses have found something more lucrative to do, which is great.
But you say that there is still good Cannoli to be found in the Bronx. Do you have a favorite spot that you might want to recommend?
...and bagels are a loser. A couple of years ago all these little alumninum carts started popping up around Manhattan during morning rush hour. They sell hot coffee, bagels, donuts, pastry, and to be truth, they ain't bad. The deli owners were (and are) furious.
Thanks all the same, but I have fortunately lived in tandem amongst the phenomenon that most of you enjoy from afar, in romanticized format, of course. I'll tell you this: Scorsese has done a fine job in nailing it.
Any of the little bakeries on Arthur Ave. are good. There's one on the corner, but can't remember it's name starts with a "P"
Immigrants follow a pattern in NYC. They hit town, open small businesses, drive cabs or go into crime. One or two generations later, their kids or grand kids are in sports or entertainment or work for the city. And their kids go to college and move to Long Island or Westchester or LA.
Just don't ever try telling them that Mafia is an Arabic word. It freaks them out.
Veneiro's on 1st Avenue in the low 'teens is very good.
Good atmosphere. The food isn't as good as it used to be. As I get older, none of the food anywhere is as good as I remember it.
I'll bet...the carts have some real advantages...go where the business takes you, you don't have to pay rent on a building, you don't pay for electricity, plumbing or sewer (although I imagine that the licenses for those carts are not cheap)
...and the carts are only there a couple hours each day. They're off-loaded from trucks around 5:00 or 5:30 and are gone by 11:00.
And with hours like that, they don't have to pay lots of staff either...just one person per cart, probably. Very smart.
I was sent to repair their espresso machine in '85. No sooner did I remove the top, but a 5 foot electric bolt leapt upwards to the ceiling, freaking out all alike.
"Ah!" I said, "I think I see the problem!"
Somehow the phrase "leave the guns, take the couscous" don't cut it ;^)
According to this list, the only businesses on Arthur Avenue that begin with a P are Pasquale's Rigoletto Restaurant, Paychex, and Peters Meat Market
If none of these places are the one that you were thinking of, then maybe the list is out of date.
It doesn't matter though, I was only thinking wishfully. It's going to be a long time before I can visit New York, I think (sigh)
and in the meantime I'm stuck in Seattle, which has exactly one (LOUSY) "italian bakery". It's staffed by neighborhood kids who don't know anything and care even less, and whenever I ask them if they have cannoli they are out.
What kind of Italian bakery is always out of cannoli??
((((sigh))))
Crime has almost always been an immigrant profession in NYC. Obviously, some of the second and third generation get "left behind" in the "old neighborhood," but they're generally viewed as throw backs.
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