Zabar's

December 1, 2021

Established on New York's Upper West Side in 1934 by Louis and Lilly Zabar, Zabar's initially sold only smoked fish but now purveys cheese, fish, meat, produce, baked goods, prepared foods, kitchen appliances, and a drop-dead amazing chocolate babka. Glazer is a former researcher at the Metropolitan Museum of Art but more importantly Louis's granddaughter, and she tells a family story that includes Louis's escape from Ukraine in 1921 following a pogrom and sneaking into the United States from Canada.

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February 14, 2022
Historian Zabar, granddaughter of the eponymous New York City landmark’s founder, provides a fascinating history of “one of the most famous delicatessens in the world.” Drawing from family archives and interviews, she traces the remarkable story that took off in 1934 with the rental of a counter in Manhattan’s Crystal Pure Food Market dairy store on 80th Street and Broadway. Her fascinating tale follows her grandfather, Louis—who died in 1950, before Zabar was born—from his tumultuous childhood in Czarist Russia, where anti-Semitism ran amok, to his immigration to the U.S. and, later, his decision to sell fish in New York’s Upper West Side, where “German Jews, fleeing Hitler’s Third Reich, could be found having coffee or tea.” Louis’s discriminating taste for smoked salmon resonated with the masses, growing the business into a pop culture icon. After Louis’s death at 49 from lung cancer, the author’s father and uncle took over, and turned Zabar’s into a foodie mecca. It’s a delicious story, however, the organization doesn’t always taste right. Oftentimes the placement of family recipes, included throughout, is puzzling; for example, instructions for making Lilly Zabar’s meat borscht and flanken soup are served directly after a harrowing description of a pogrom in Ostropolia. Nonetheless, the many devoted patrons of this legendary food purveyor will find themselves sated.

April 15, 2022
To borrow a phrase, nobody doesn't like Zabar's, the gourmet-foods retailer located on New York City's Upper West Side. In this charming family memoir, Zabar, eldest granddaughter of Zabar's founder, Mordko Leib Zabarka, documents every chapter in the store's history, both good and distressing, from its inception in 1934 through its international expansion today, along with a goodly dozen of Jewish recipes (latkes, chopped liver, sweet noodle kugel). This history comprises photographs and anecdotes, with tales of celebrities and ordinary people: Leonard Bernstein was denied delivery of Zabar's foodstuffs; an employee's ashes were buried in a store plant (and remain there today). With Zabar's telling comes an education in retailing over the years as well as in gourmet goods, such as partner Murray Klein's famed selling of caviar and Cuisinart food processors below suggested price--with legal ramifications. Sadly, the author passed away in early 2022, not long before this book's publication. Descriptions of the pogroms in Ostropolia, now part of Ukraine, that led Zabar's ancestors to America a century ago are all too reminiscent of today.

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March 1, 2022

The history of Zabar's, the famous New York City "appetizing" store, mirrors the history of the 20th century for many immigrant Jews in the city. Written by the oldest granddaughter of Zabar's founder, this combination business history/memoir begins with the birth of Louis Zabarka in 1901 (in what is now Ukraine) and his surviving a pogrom against Jewish people. He eventually emigrated to the U.S. by way of Canada. Undeterred by a lack of legal status (and the English language), he opened his first store in 1934, at the height of the Depression. When he died 16 years later, he and his wife Lilly owned five grocery stores, a deli, and a wholesale business. Lilly, her two sons and later her grandchildren (including the author) carried on the business in a similar unstoppable fashion. They continued to grow it into the landmark and foodie destination that it is today. Well-illustrated with vintage photographs and filled with stories of growing up in this celebrated institution, each chapter ends with a beloved recipe. VERDICT A deep dive into family lore and history, perfect for Zabar's regulars or those who wish they could be.--Susan Hurst

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.