ZABARS

The fascinating mouthwatering story with ten recipes of the immigrant family that created a New York gastronomic legend The most rambunctious and chaotic of all delicatessens with one foot in the Old World and the other in the vanguard of every fast breaking food move in the city Nora Ephron best selling author and award winning screenwriter When Louis and Lilly Zabar rented a counter in a dairy store on 80th Street and Broadway in 1934 to sell smoked fish they could not have imagined that their store would eventually occupy half a city block and become a beloved mecca for quality food of all kinds A passion for perfection a keen business sense cutthroat competitive instincts and devotion to their customers led four generations of Zabars to create the Upper West Side shrine to the cheese fish meat produce baked goods and prepared products that heralded the twentieth century revolution in food production and consumption Lori Zabar Louis s granddaughter begins with her grandfather s escape from Ukraine in 1921 following a pogrom in which several family members were killed She describes Zabar s gradual expansion Louis s untimely death in 1950 and the passing of the torch to Saul Stanley and partner Murray Klein who raised competitive pricing