B&H Dairy celebrates its 80th anniversary tonight

Tonight, B&H Dairy owners Ola and Fawzy Abdelwahed (pictured above) and their many longtime staffers are celebrating the lunch counter's 80th year in business here on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place. (Read details about the celebration here.)

Ahead of that, EVG correspondent Stacie Joy stopped by (during a less-busy time on a recent weekday) to document the cozy atmosphere of the B&H ...





Here's part of New York magazine's recap of the kosher dairy restaurant:

Midweek is more Hopperesque, the profiles of solo diners washed in the sallow glow of the diner’s hanging milk-colored lights. No matter when you step up to the counter, a double stack of sweet-soft challah, schmeared with butter and served on a small Dixie plate, accompanies every order.

Tina Barth has been a regular at B&H since 1965...



Here's a condensed version of B&H's history via Facebook:

It was opened in 1938 by Abie Bergson and Sol Hausman (B&H) and the interior and menu has changed little since. In 1970, Bergson & Hausman sold the restaurant, which since has had two subsequent owners before being purchased May 1, 2003 by Fawzy Abdelwahed, who runs B&H with his wife Ola, who he met when she worked at the Stage Diner (now closed), across the street. (She cleaned his glasses one day, and that was it!)

You can read more about B&H Dairy at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York ... and Off the Grid.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A grand reopening at B&H Dairy