NYC Photo Journal: Food Before Thought on The Lowa East Side
An edited painting hanging on the wall in the tiny Odd Fellows Ice Cream on East 4th Street, promises a religious experience.
A pre-theater dinner on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, not far where I grew up and where I went to High School.
This is where poor immigrants once lived and climbed five flights of stairs. The Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, Germans, Italians. Now the cool and trendy are live where the poor once lived, at magnificent, unaffordable rents.
The old store fronts now house trendy restaurants, shops and theaters. The old Yiddish theaters have long-been taken over by the present.
This area has joined the other gentrified, high-rent Manhattan neighborhoods.
Dinner at Ballaro
77 2nd Avenue between 4th and 5th Street
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- looking out on 2nd Avenue
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- funky bar ambience
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- warm faro (a grain) salad with beets, chick peas and mint in olive oil
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- homemade green gnocchi in arugula with four cheeses and truffles
… I mean a tv talk show.
I like the cheeky picture of Ice Cream Jesus.
Incredible how times change in the space of two generations. What is now trendy used to be the underdogs’ dens.
Do you know where the name Ballarò comes from? It is the name of Palermo’s historical market, now also a very popular TV magazine.
Dani, I was hoping you’d chime in. I think the place is Sicilian? great food.
Ice cream Jesus is around the corner.