Thursday, October 27, 2011

An appreciation: Yonah Schimmel's dumbwaiter

Stopped by Yonah Schimmel on Houston the other day... always a pleasure...


The dumbwaiter has been in operation for more than 100 years...


How many other dumbwaiters are still in use in NYC bars/restaurants? Old Town has the oldest in operation... Are there others?
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13 comments:

  1. starzstylistaOctober 27, 2011 at 8:16 AM

    There was one at Hip Hop Chow on 2nd between 7 & 8. That place wasn't great, but I liked the concept.

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  2. AnonymousOctober 27, 2011 at 8:52 AM

    I stopped in for a farewell knish before I left Manhattan. Cost me almost $10 for 2. Don't think I'll be back, dumbwaiter or not.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 27, 2011 at 9:31 AM

    Fun dumbwaiter at Sun Sai Gai (Kai?) at baxter and canal st. Its weird because when you sit down the food comes from the dumbwaiter, but when you get it to go, it comes straight from the gnarly dude chopping meat at the front of the store. Great Char Siu bao also...

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  4. MelanieOctober 27, 2011 at 9:35 AM

    We had a dumbwaiter in my house in Brooklyn..but we never used it.

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  5. BagelGuyOctober 27, 2011 at 10:41 AM

    I wanted to put a dumb waiter in my store in the worst way so we could have the raw dough sent up to the bakers. We did a lot of research and had to pass. For some reason, things are really expensive now days.

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  6. marjorieOctober 27, 2011 at 10:47 AM

    i had been under the impression that yonah schimmel's knishes were overpriced and not very good. am i wrong? i last had one in the early 90s!

    growing up in a ramshackle edwardian house in
    RI, we had a little box that opened from both sides next to our back door. it was used for milk delivery. by the time my parents moved in in the early 70s, no milk, but they did use the window to have the Seltzer Man drop off and pick up the bottles thru out my childhood. good times.

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  7. blue glassOctober 27, 2011 at 11:23 AM

    a long island hardware store owner told us his son had won yonah shimmel's in a poker game (that was some 20 years ago).
    their knisches were never great but the room is comfortable and old world.
    i think B&H used to have a dumbwiter in the back a long time ago.
    our building had the openings for a dumbwaiter when we first homesteaded it. we wanted to keep it but it would have cost thousands to fireproof and rebuild it, almost like installing an elevator (without a motor). and then new elevator regulations came into effect and the dumbwaiter would have required major alterations. we used it to haul supplies on ropes through the shaft to the 6th floor for a few years and then closed up the hole.

    congratulations grieve on your mosaic recognition.

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  8. SpikeOctober 27, 2011 at 1:52 PM

    George On Jane has one.

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  9. AnonymousOctober 27, 2011 at 3:34 PM

    During prohibition, my Grandmother lived above a speakeasy. When the place would get raided, all the liquor bottles would be sent up the dumbwaiter to my grandmother's apartment where she would hide them.

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  10. AnonymousOctober 27, 2011 at 7:38 PM

    There is, or was, a sort of dumbwaiter in The Cloister on East 9th, where the food would come up on a tray level with the floor. I would rather eat off the sidewalk than eat there...

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  11. EV GrieveOctober 27, 2011 at 7:51 PM

    @ anon 7:38

    I've never met anyone who likes the Cloister...

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  12. AnonymousOctober 28, 2011 at 10:34 AM

    Keens Steakhouse has a working dumb waiter but it's not visible to the public. It's mainly used for set up and breakdown of their upstairs function rooms but rarely for food as dumb waiters are always very cold.

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  13. KimberlyOctober 29, 2011 at 1:13 PM

    Quite a few Chinese restaurants use dumbwaiters, so they're still around in the 'hood of Chinatown.

    ReplyDelete

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