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Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

Remnant of Under Boardwalk Bar Found in Coney Island

Posted in Food, Food & Drink, history, tagged bar, Brooklyn Beach Shop, Maya Haddad, menu, rathskeller, Under the Boardwalk on January 31, 2012| 12 Comments »

The renovation of stores on the Coney Island Boardwalk has already uncovered the ghost lettering of an arcade and signage for Club Atlantis. The latest discovery is a remnant of one of the rathskellers that thrived under the Boardwalk in the 1940s and ’50s. The menu for the long-lost bar was found on a basement wall by Maya Haddad of Brooklyn Beach Shop, which will soon begin rehabbing the first-floor space formerly occupied by Coney Island Souvenirs.

Vintage Ad: Coney Island Rathskeller for Lease

Decades before the Army Corps of Engineers pumped sand under the Coney Island Boardwalk in the 1990s, rathskellers (council’s cellar in German) were popular with beach goers. ATZ found an ad from 1957 looking to lease an 80-foot Boardwalk frontage with an 80-foot rathskeller below with direct frontage on the beach.

The name of the rathskeller whose menu was rediscovered remains unknown, but its prices appear to date back to the 1940s. Beer and milk were 10 cents, coffee was a nickel. The sandwich menu included hamburger, egg, cream cheese, American cheese, Swiss cheese, Sardine or Salmon, Ham, Salami or Liverwurst, Ham & Egg, and a Western. Could this be the place where the boy in the 1953 movie The Little Fugitive returned soda bottles to collect money to go on the rides?

Brooklyn Beach Shop’s new location next to Ruby’s Bar is in a building that dates back to 1940. The original tenant was Moe’s Fascination, which occupied the upper story until 1965. Brooklyn Beach Shop, a spinoff of Coney Island Beach Shop located behind Nathan’s and in Stillwell Terminal, will feature their own brand of Coney Island-themed clothing and souvenirs. The Boardwalk shop is expected to open in April.

Lost Delights of Coney Island: Frozen Custard

Posted in art, Food, Photography, tagged etching, frozen custard, ice cream, Kohr's Frozen Custard, Reginald Marsh on January 28, 2012| 8 Comments »

Frozen Custard from Photographs of New York by Reginald Marsh. ca. 1938-1945, printed 1976. Reginald Marsh. Courtesy AntiquePhotographics.com

When Reginald Marsh photographed Coney Island as the subject for his artwork in the late 1930s and the ’40s, one could still buy frozen custard for a nickel. The dessert made its debut in 1919 when the Kohr brothers, Archie and Elton, opened a stand on the Coney Island Boardwalk. The nickel treat was a sensation, selling 18,460 cones on the first weekend! Kohr’s Frozen Custard is still in business on the Boardwalks at Seaside Heights and Casino Pier on the Jersey Shore. According to the history page of the company’s website, “After many experiments with the formula, Archie and Elton discovered that by adding eggs to the mix, they got a much more stiff, velvety and creamy product which would melt more slowly.”

Today, Coney Island’s ice cream offerings include Denny’s soft serve and Coney’s Cones gelato, but the frozen custard stands of yesteryear are long gone. You have to go to Shake Shack in Manhattan. Or all the way to Utah, where Coneys Custard and Gourmet Dogs won the “Best of State Award” last year. Their signature custard is named after the Cyclone roller coaster.

Like the Whip ride and the game of Fascination, frozen custard is another delight that first saw the light of day in Coney Island, but can’t be found here anymore. Last year, ATZ proclaimed “Bring Back the Whip!” This year we add: “Bring Back Fascination and Frozen Custard!”

UPDATE, January 30, 2012…

Comments on Facebook and twitter in response to this post have inspired this update: What’s the difference between soft serve and frozen custard?

Wikipedia says: “True frozen custard is a very dense dessert. Soft serve ice creams may have an overrun as large as 100%, meaning half of the final product is composed of air. Frozen custard, when made in a proper continuous freezer will have an overrun of 15-30% depending on the machine manufacturer. Air is not pumped into the mix, nor is it added as an “ingredient” but gets into the frozen state by the agitation of liquid similar to whisking a meringue. The high percentage of butterfat and egg yolk gives frozen custard a thick, creamy texture and a smoother consistency than ice cream. Frozen custard can be served at –8°C (18°F), warmer than the –12°C (10°F) at which ice cream is served, in order to make a soft serve product.”

According to FDA requirements, frozen custard must have at least 10 percent milkfat and 1.4 percent egg yolk solids, but some brands have more. If it has fewer egg yolk solids, it is considered ice cream. Frozen custard has less fat and sugar than ice cream.

UPDATE January 4, 2014:

Rita’s Italian Ice, a national franchise whose tag line is “Ice, Custard and Happiness” will open a store on Surf Avenue at West 15th street in Coney Island.

Frozen Custard, Etching by Reginald Marsh. 1939. Photo via The Old Print Shop

COW-nival Fun but No Cow Pie Bingo at Chelsea Market

Posted in Animals, Events, Food, tagged Chelsea Market, Cow Pie Bingo, dairy farm, game, Ronnybrook on December 11, 2011| 2 Comments »

Banneresque paintings of a two-headed cow and a weight-lifting cow grabbed our attention as we passed by Chelsea Market’s 10th Avenue entrance on Saturday. “COW-nival…Meet the Cows…Learn about Farming…Color the Giant Cow…Cow Pie Bingo and Cornhole.” The fun and games for kids are sponsored by Ronnybrook Farm Dairy, which sells the yummiest chocolate milk, and Edible Manhattan. At the free event, which continues through Sunday, we met and petted two darling calves–Miss Chelsea, a three-week-old Holstein, and Poppy, a two-and-a-half-month old Jersey. The calves were being minded by a young girl whose family founded Ronnybrook 70 years ago. The scene reminded us of a 4-H Club exhibit at a country fair, but we didn’t see anybody playing bingo.

Poppy and Miss Chelsea at Ronnybrook's COW-nival at Chelsea Market, Dec. 10, 2011. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr

Then we learned what cow pie bingo actually is: One or more cows are let loose in a fenced-off area, which has been marked off with numbered squares. Onlookers place bets and the winner is determined by where the cow plops her “pie.” The girl minding Poppy explained that the Ronnybrook calves were too young to play Cow Pie Bingo since they poo only once or twice a day. Cows do it countless times a day, she said. Of course, this greatly increases the odds that the game will have a winner sooner rather than later. Cow Pie Bingo is a popular fundraiser across the country, though probably not coming anytime soon to New York City. Here’s how they play the game at the Carbon County Fair in Rawlins, Wyoming…