Explore New York City’s eight-best Jewish eateries

Barrels filled with fermenting pickles fill the front of this aptly named shop (Credit: The Pickle Guys) 3. The Pickle Guys The Pickle Guys and Kossar’s (below) deliver a one-two-Jewish punch of deliciousness on the corner of Grand and Essex streets in the Lower East Side. It’s hard to stop by one and not at least peek into the other. An incredible assortment of barrels fill the front of the shop, with each one fermenting pickles of all kinds – tomatoes, peppers, olives and, of course, gherkins. A casual passerby might think they’ve peered into a distillery. Pickles are rooted in the history of Essex Street (which was once known as The Pickle District ), with different shops operating since 1910. The Pickle Guys are the only ones left standing. But just because they no longer have competition doesn’t mean they’ve slacked off. To the contrary, they’re now offering as many options as a Netflix queue. Horseradish pickles, hot sour pickles, bread and butter pickles, half sour pickles, pickled apples, pickled watermelon, pickled pineapple – name a fruit or veggie and they’ve probably pickled it. Most people shop at The Pickle Guys and take their goodies home. But for those who can’t wait, co-owners William Soo, Alan Kaufman and Mike Chu have opened a snack bar next door called Diller where you can crunch into their signature kosher fried pickle. Website: www.pickleguys.com Address: 357 Grand St, New York Phone: +1-212-656-9739 Instagram: @ pickleguys Kossar’s has been freshly baking bialys for generations (Credit: Kossar’s Bagels & Bialys) 4. Kossar’s Bagels & Bialys Part two of the Grand-and-Essex combo is Kossar’s . Their bagels are good for a nosh, but their bialys make Kossar’s stand out on the map. Like Yonah Schimmel’s with its knish, Kossar’s is keeping a centuries-old tradition alive with its bialys – a baked bread roll that resembles a bagel but with a depressed centre usually covered with onions or poppy seeds. The name stems from the Polish name Białystok and followed Jewish immigrants to New York City in the late 1800s. The bialy quickly became a staple of Jewish bakeries in the Lower East Side and throughout the north-eastern US. But over time, they were overshadowed by their much more popular cousin, the bagel. The fact that Kossar’s is holding up this vanishing Jewish culinary tradition makes a visit all the more essential. Who knows how much longer the bialy has before it’s relegated exclusively to cookbooks. Bialy fanatics can rest soundly knowing Kossar’s will continue to prop up their prized attraction. In fact, nearly a century after they opened their doors, they debuted a second shop on the edge of Hudson Yards last year and they’re planning to open a third location in the Upper East Side. Website: www.kossars.com Address: 367 Grand St, New York Phone: +1-212-473-4810 Instagram: @ kossars Gertie’s elevates deli classics in a bright Williamsburg location (Credit: Melissa Hom) 5. Gertie Nate Adler and Rachel Jackson’s Gertie ushers in a new era of “Jew-ish” dining in New York City. It’s got that pintele yid (essential Jewishness) in a modern Williamsburg brunch-and-lunch spot with bright, playful colours and without a hint of nostalgic schmaltz. Gertie elevates deli classics without overcomplicating or deviating too far from the soul of the original. For starters, you can build a sandwich off a bagel or a bialy. The classics kick off with an egg-and-cheese sandwich complete with pickled peppers and hot sauce. Bigger appetites can add mushrooms, bacon, house-smoked ham or brisket. The Best Bialy comes with hot smoked pastrami salmon, dill, caper schmear and pickled onions. Then, The Yenta offers up a whitefish salad with scallion schmear and pickled peppers on an everything bagel. And those are just the classics. Staff favourites include smoked trout with tomato, plain schmear and hot honey mayo on an everything bagel as well as house-cured and smoked ham with melted Swiss cheese, rocket and their signature aioli on a griddled plain bagel. Their cheekily named Call The Lox-Smith sandwich pairs their Acme lox with a pickled beetroot, dill-flavoured cucumbers, a hard-boiled egg and a dill-and-caper cream cheese with tahini ranch on an onion bialy. Website: www.gertie.nyc Address: 357 Grand St, Brooklyn Phone: +1-718-636-0902 Instagram: @ gertienyc B&H is one of NYC’s very last “dairy restaurants” (Credit: Gabi Porter) 6. B&H Dairy  This no-frills East Village restaurant is one of New York’s many unsung heroes of Jewish cuisine. It’s one of the last “dairy restaurants” (an establishment that only serves dairy-based dishes to adhere to the kosher provision against mixing meat and dairy) on 2nd Avenue, and a true hallmark of historical vegetarian kosher food. The wide-ranging menu covers breakfast, lunch and dinner with Jewish staples like matzo brei (matzo sheets soaked in water or milk with eggs) served with apple sauce or sour cream, and optionally, maple syrup; a knish with your choice of potato, kasha, sweet potato, mushroom, broccoli, spinach or a mix of vegetables; and sweet or savoury blintzes (rolled pancakes). Abie Bergson and Jack Heller opened B&H back in 1938, and in 2003, Fawzy Abdelwahed and his wife Ola took over. Although kosher observance has declined among American Jewry over the decades, B&H served as a refuge for observant Jewish immigrants where they knew they could get a kosher meal. Like the restaurant world at large, it’s been a tough few years for B&H, weathering pandemic closures and a robbery. Nonetheless, they continue to persevere thanks in part to their diverse staff, who speak a mix of Arabic, English, Spanish and Polish. B&H embraces its evolving identity, most recently with cheeky T-shirts reading, ” Challah! Por Favor “. Facebook: www.facebook.com/BHDairyKosherRestaurant/ Address: 127 2nd Ave, New York Phone: +1-212-505-8065 Instagram: @ bandhdairy Tsion Cafe fuses Ethiopian and Jewish staples (Credit: Tsion Cafe) 7. Tsion Cafe Many might not realise this, but Ethiopia was home to an ancient Jewish community called Beta Israel that evolved for centuries in isolation from other diasporic Jewish peoples. Beejhy Barhany’s Tsion Cafe brings her story and the history of her people to Harlem. Photographs of Ethiopia by local artists adorn the red-brick wall. The menu speaks to Barhany’s harrowing journey from Ethiopia to Manhattan with brief stints in Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and France before her family finally reached Israel. She spent four years working on an Israeli kibbutz (an agricultural Israeli settlement), where she gained a newfound appreciation for fresh, local ingredients.   Barhany first visited New York City in 1996 on a personal trip throughout the Americas following her service in the army. “I fell in love with the vibration and the diversity of New York City and I wanted to be part of it,” she said. Upon her return, she formed a non-profit devoted to telling the story of Ethiopian Jews that led to her opening Tsion Café. “It was an opportunity to use food as an entry to cultural exchange and introduce the delicious flavours of Ethiopia to New Yorkers.” Barhany envisioned Tsion Cafe as a place where guests could nourish their bodies and souls. That approach is felt the moment you walk underneath the Ethiopian angel hovering over the door. The menu offers a blend of Ethiopian staples, like wot (stews) with ground chickpeas, slowly cooked red lentils or chicken. Dishes like the malawach (a traditional Yemenite Jewish flatbread), and shakshuka (eggs poached in a tomato sauce) hint at Tsion’s Jewish roots. The spiritual and corporal sustenance comes together on select evenings when live music or poetry fills the air (dates are posted on their Instagram). Website: www.tsioncafe.com Address: 763 St Nicholas Ave, New York Phone: +1-212-234-2070 Instagram: @ tsioncafe Agi’s Counter is named after chef and owner Jeremy Salamon’s grandmother (Credit: Agi’s Counter) 8. Agi’s Counter Like Gertie, Jeremy Salamon is part of a new generation of Jewish restaurateurs inspired by their Eastern European ancestors. In Salamon’s case, Agi’s Counter (named after his paternal grandmother) sweeps diners to Hungary with a high-end spin on Old World classics. That’s obvious with a quick glance at the menu: leberkase (literally, liver cheese) made from pork pate with roasted apricot jam, and a fried egg on a soft potato bun. Their palacsinta (rolled crepes) come with fresh cheese, brown butter and toasted caraway. Agi’s bills itself as a breakfast, lunch, dinner and pastry shop focused on ingredients that are local and seasonal. At the bakery, you can find Ferdinand Buns (Hungarian sweet vanilla butter rolls), caraway shortbread cookies and a prune-and-rye streusel coffee cake. Grab a slice of New York-style cheesecake on Thursdays and Fridays as part of their weekly special. Dinner at the 25-seat Crown Heights restaurant starts as early as 17:30, with the menu turning over to a blend of “noshes” (appetisers), mains and sides. It wouldn’t be a Hungarian restaurant without some hot paprika, which you can find in the chicken paprikas a la plancha – a traditional Hungarian stew of paprika, onions and stock with a brined chicken topped with a smoked paprika vinaigrette that mirrors the flavour of the stew. You can pair it with your choice of Hungarian wine, including a selection of whites, reds, rose and even orange wine. Website: www.agiscounter.com Address: 818 Franklin Ave, Brooklyn Phone: +1-718-822-7833 Instagram: @agiscounter (Joe Baur is a food and travel writer who has studied Jewish cuisine – with a focus on Ashkenazi foodways – for several years, publishing stories and recipes in numerous international publications.) —  Join more than three million BBC Travel fans by liking us on  Facebook , or follow us on  Twitter  and  Instagram . If you liked this story,  sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter  called “The Essential List”. 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