Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Eastern Parkway Dubrow's

I received a great link to a message board where people recalled memories of the Dubrow's on Eastern Parkway. I thought I's highlight some of the comments here, because so little has emerged about this Dubrow's - most of the stories have been about the Manhattan and King's Highway locations.

Walter starts things off by writing:
"Who remembers Dubrow's on Eastern Parkway and Utica Ave...Corned Beef, Pastrami, Chopped Liver, Chopped Herring..great bread and all the seltzer you could drink...I got heartburn just writing about this "delicious" place."

Kath replies: "Dubrow's changed the face of truth in menu laws because it's sandwich salads were not as labeled. The chicken salad had turkey scraps left over from the carving station so they had to call it poultry salad. Tuna was renamed tuna and egg salad, etc. Who cared? We loved them!"

Barbara wrote:"Kings Highway was the one I went to. Great place for people watching. Some of the strangest people I've ever observed were regulars at Dubrow's. Best bagle (sic) with lox and cream cheese for only $1.35 in the mid 70's. I remember being at a rally in front of Dubrow's for Hubert Humphrey when he was running for president in the sixties. Lot's (sic) of celebrities were there and my friend and I were almost trampled in the crowd."

Joe wrote: "how about the waffles?? best i ever had - and the coffee came with cream in little ceramic mugs - the city has lost a lot of good places to eat - the Automat was a great place - to this day i've never had macaroni and cheese or baked beans like they made them."

Another person wrote in: "And besides all the wonderful food you already mentioned they also had a rice pudding or noodle pudding with warm cherry sauce that I loved --something I can't find anymore. I used to love those cafeterias."

Finally, users named Barry and Art Weiss concluded that "The Dubrow's on Kings Highway was better."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Finally, users named Barry and Art Weiss concluded that "The Dubrow's on Kings Highway was better."

My most vivid memories are of the Kings Highway Location, but the ticket dispenser gong was better on Eastern Parkway.

Eve said...

WHAT was the "gong" at the Eastern Parkway Dubrow's? Tell me about that. and how it differed from the other loctions.

Jerry550 said...

Eve,

I only about 4 or 5 when I visited the Eastern Parkway Dubrows. There was a machine near the front door that dispensed tickets with rows of prices on them. When a customer entered he took a ticket from the machine and the unit would sound a gong-like bell. I assume the bell was sort of an early security device which called attention to people who might try to take more than one ticket at a time. The prices on the ticket would be punched by somebody behind the counter with the prices of the items that were purchased. If somebody could take more than one ticket, they could theoretically buy a cup of coffee, have the ticket punched, and then purchase a big meal and have the other ticket punched. You paid when you exited the cafeteria, so a dishonest customer might be able to present the ticket with the punched price of the coffee and just leave the other ticket in his pocket. At least I think that was the reason for the gong. I was in my teens when I went to the Kings Highway location. I vaguely recall that at that time, in the late '60s, there was a person stationed at the ticket dispenser, handing out the tickets. Maybe they discontinued the gong or made it lower in volume because of that.