By Linda Arntzenius

It's all about food, friends, and family at this quintessential New York deli.

No trip to New York is complete without a visit to Zabar’s on Broadway. Located across Central Park from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, not too far from the Museum of Natural History, it’s the perfect detour on the way home from a daytrip to the city. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is known to enjoy Zabar’s and the late lamented Nora Ephron was a regular. My Manhattan friends swear they couldn’t live without it. And it’s easy to see why. The Zabar family members who run the business roast their own coffees, smoke their own fish (whitefish and cod as well as salmon and sturgeon), pickle their own herring, prepare their own meats (corned beef and pastrami), cook their own dishes and salads, and bake their own bagels, breads and pastries. Besides imported and domestic cheeses and salamis, they also stock an enormous selection of honeys, oils, mustards, and lemonades of every hue and flavor—how enticing does elderflower sound? Gift baskets can be had for all occasions, made to order for the holidays, or just to enjoy on a picnic or for breakfast.

As Zabar’s own website attests, the place “has to be experienced, in person, to truly be understood. You have to see the crowds, hear the banter of our sales help, smell the croissants baking, admire the rich brown hues of our coffee, sample cheese from every corner of the world, enjoy the beauty of hand sliced nova, walk upstairs and see the largest selection of imported copper cookware anywhere...it really is a one of a kind adventure.”

Every word of that is true. Go see for yourselves. On a recent trip, I stocked up on items that can be found nowhere else at prices that are hard to beat.

Zabar’s corner café serves hot Panini and fresh coffee but I opt for a classic hot corned beef on rye with mustard and a sour pickle on the side made for me at the deli counter. I confess, I had been craving the sandwich ever since I saw a demonstration of it being made by a veteran Zabar’s staffer on You Tube. It was on my mind all the way from New Jersey and while walking across Central Park after a visit to the MET. The overwhelmingly over-stuffed meal in your hand does not disappoint. Thus fortified, it’s time to shop.

My favorite Cantal cheese takes me back to past summers in the Auvergne region of France. It’s named after the mountains there and it is, I learn, one of France’s oldest cheeses and comes from cows fed on sweet hay from late fall until spring and then aged for several months. Although it looks a bit like Cheddar, its flavor is tangy and buttery. Yum. Zabar’s has two varieties, one young and one aged. I go for the aged. Don’t be put off by the crusty gray rind, it’s all natural.

Inside the bustling store, recorded voice announcements share the internal intercom and are frequently interrupted by queries like “What’s the price on the Hungarian salami?” followed by a swift response from another store clerk. Zabar’s homey atmosphere is further enhanced while waiting in line, number-in-hand, at the deli counter where the choices of prepared dishes that catch my eye and make my mouth water include boeuf bourguignon (which also comes as a puff-pastry covered pie), duck legs in a smooth velvety sauce, and braised lamb shanks. There are also fresh grains and green salads. With Zabar’s on your doorstep, one need never cook at home, at all, ever.

The elderly lady next to me is buying a half pound portion of a dressed kale concoction. It looks delicious and healthy. “Be sure to give me plenty of dressing,” she tells the counter-hand. He gives all his attention to selecting leaves with a good proportion of creamy dressing. He’s weighing the order and just about to put the lid on when his customer raises a knobby hand: “Just a little more of the dressing,” she pleads, pointing at one particular curled leaf. To his credit, the clerk picks it out and adds it to the container. No sigh, no rolling of eyes, just doing his job. The next customer is exacting the same personal service from her server. “Let me see how you’re cutting it,” she demands. “No, it’s too thin, I want it thicker, thicker,” she responds when shown the slice of juicy roast beef. A further attempt elicits: “Perfect. That’s how I want it.”

At Zabar’s food is serious business. It’s also a joy.

Founded by Louis and Lillian Zabar in 1934, Zabar’s is still a family run business, three generations later. Then it was just a 22-foot-wide store-front along Broadway at West 80th Street. Now it extends almost the entire block and is run by Louis and Lillian’s sons Saul and Stanley as well as their sons, daughters and their cousins. A portrait of Saul and Stanley prominently displayed in the store serves as a reminder of Zabar’s personal story.

“Louis was a real stickler for quality, roasting his own coffee, and personally visiting smokehouses to sample and inspect the fish—rejecting far more than he accepted,” recalls Saul and Stanley Zabar in a joint letter to the store’s loyal patrons marking last year’s 80th anniversary.

“The principles and practices of our founder and father continue to guide us: Respect the customer. Never, ever stint on quality. Offer fair value. And last but not least, keep searching for the new and wonderful,” they say.

Over the years Zabar’s has introduced New Yorkers to foods now taken for granted. In the 1960s, it was French Brie; in the 1970s, it was sun-dried tomatoes and gnocchi. The 1980s saw the arrival of caviar, of which the store maintains a fine selection, or so I’m told by one in the know. The selection varies so it’s best to check the website to see what’s available at any given time (and for prices too), but there’s usually some wild Alaskan red salmon caviar and hand-packed Russian Beluga “Malossol” (slightly salted) caviar.

And while such imported delicacies have extended the variety and richness of New Yorkers’ meals, Zabar’s bread and butter, so to speak, remains the meltingly delicious smoked fish that is still sliced by hand and freshly-baked goods like the traditional rugelach, “our Bubbe’s recipe” according to Saul and Stanley Zabar. Not to mention, the coffee blends that are roasted especially for the store, which sells over 400,000 pounds of it a year. And did I tell you about the (Kosher) bundt cakes and the most sumptuous cheesecake I know: Zabar’s Chocolate Grand Marnier Mousse, which can even be shipped (ditto handmade and gluten free French macarons baked in Brooklyn).

As Saul and Stanley explain: “to succeed as a family business, you have to love each other, and love the business in our case, great food, great service, great prices, great folks. We ask you, what’s not to love?”

THE ZABAR'S BLOG

For dyed-in-the-wool fans, the Zabar’s blog is a source of recipes as well as information on what’s new in the store. There are coupons, too. Chef Tory Avey has delightful snippets of culinary history. Who knew carrots were not always bright orange. According to Avey, the Dutch are likely responsible for the carrot as we know it today, cultivating the color during the 17th century in honor of William of Orange, the king who led the Dutch revolt against Spain and was invited across the English Channel to rule England. Before that, carrots came in yellow, purple and white. “Thanks to the farmers and gardeners who have worked hard to revitalize heirloom vegetables in recent years, we are once again seeing these vibrantly colored non-orange carrots,” says Avey, who recommends roasting them with a mixture of kosher salt and dill for “something truly magical.”

Avey, who writes the two popular cooking blogs: The Shiksa in the Kitchen and The History Kitchen and is the resident food history writer for PBS Food, specializes in adapting historical and vintage recipes for the modern kitchen while telling the stories behind those recipes. She isn’t the only chef whose recipes you’ll find on Zabar’s website. Check out contributions from guest chefs Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, Ina Garten, Jennifer L. Heil, Marcy Goldman, Mark Bittman, Tom Valenti, Tracey Zabar and numerous others.

The blog is a mine of information for cooks, experienced or novice, with comments on traditional holiday dinners given some contemporary twists. The store’s mezzanine floor is devoted to gadgets of all sorts, from upscale coffee makers, French copper saucepans and chef’s knives to pepper mills, even one that is battery operated, has a tiny LED light and needs only a tilt of the wrist to make it work. There are also mini chocolate fondues, egg timers and strawberry hullers. Whatever your culinary need, it can be met here.

STILL SHOPPING

I pick up a container of my favorite Lapsang Souchong (Hu-Kwa) tea. It seems to be difficult to come by these days. When I asked for it in one of those fancy new tea emporiums that sell every sort of fruit-flavored tea imaginable, I was met with a blank stare. It’s a dark tea from the island of Formosa that is smoked over pine branches. It adds an extra dimension to any tea with which it is combined. Still, it’s an acquired taste, so don’t try it neat; way too strong. But add a pinch to another black tea, particularly a good Earl Grey and you have something really special—a fragrant bergamot infusion with a smoky kick.

Next item on my list: bread. Half of it will be eaten by the time I reach New Jersey, so best get plenty. I’m reminded again of those trips to France—out first thing in the morning to the boulangerie for a baguette, or better yet, two, one to eat at home and one to eat on the way there. Zabar’s own rye bread has lots of seeds and a flavor like no other. I buy a loaf of it and another half loaf of a dark crusted wheat bread. And what could be more evocative of summer than honey in the comb.

Loaded with goodies, there’s just time for cup of coffee and a jelly donut before the train back to Jersey, my backpack stuffed to capacity with coffee, goat cheeses, olives, English Stilton, Italian Gorgonzola, Hungarian-style and peppered salami, Petit Saucisson aux Cépes, Russian Coffee Cake, Zabar’s famous Chocolate Babka, Parisian “Comptoir do Cacao” chocolates from Chocalaterie Artisanale, and a two-pound box of Zabar’s Extra Fancy Glazed California Apricots. I say again, Yum!

Zabar’s is located at 2245 Broadway (at 80th Street), New York, NY 10024. For more information and hours, call 212.787.2000, email: info@zabars.com, or visit www.zabars.com.