AT FRANKEL’S IN GREENPOINT, DELI CLASSICS ARE ELEVATED…AND INSTAGRAM-READY

BY MEREDITH NAPOLITANO STETTNER

Open since April, Frankel’s Delicatessen & Appetizing in Greenpoint serves up old school Jewish deli favorites— smoked fish, bagels, cucumber salad, chopped liver, matzo ball soup, turkey on rye, old-style brisket, latkes, pastrami, and chicken salad—with the freshness and kitchen prowess of your latest tiny downtown hotspot. _ is joint, however, is just around the bend from McCarren Park. With light-filled, full-length windows and blue-rimmed white enamel trays, the shop is an Instagram-ready haven for all ages and walks of life, from babies to bubbes, and all of your Williams burgers in between.

“There’s something ritualistic and celebratory about this food, even if it isn’t an occasion. Everybody likes it,” said owner Zach Frankel, who launched the restaurant with older brother Alex (both are Brooklyn residents). The brothers, who grew up on the Upper West Side with a grandfather who was Jewish deli-obsessed, they’d long been in search of a venture to launch together. “We joked for years I should join his band [Zach is of the food world, while Alex is half of Brooklyn synthpop duo Holy Ghost!], and knew that wasn’t gonna happen…but this idea just grew.”

“As a customer, restaurants can be uncomfortable; I hate the vibe of needing a secret code word,” mentioned the young but seasoned Zach, who has worked both front and back of house in his time at Schiller’s, Marlow & Sons, and Jack’s Wife Freda—where he was a chef. “I remember a different form of hospitality where people remembered your name. The places of my childhood would give you a free fruit roll up, and that was exciting for a little kid.”

Newfangled Jewish food and fermented-everything are not on the menu, but authenticity is. The chicken salad is made fresh daily, the smoked fish delivered in whole sides and hand-cut onsite. Sourcing was a distinguishing factor. (“It took us two weeks just to find the right rainbow cookie,” said Frankel.) Bagels are by Baz, cream cheese by Ben’s, seafood from Acme Smoked Fish, and opening was delayed due to testing and more testing of the pastrami. With a streamlined menu designed by Chef Ashley Berman, attention is given to elevated classics.

“We want to treat every dish with respect, like a greatest hits album,” Frankel said.

Uninterested in hiring designers, once the brothers settled on the bones of the space cornering Manhattan and Bedford Avenues (formerly Polonia, and needing serious love), they swapped a wall for a second storefront window, selected pendant lights and fixtures like a large retro clock, and affixed old framed family photos above the counter, along with other accessories, some that stayed and some that went. Within the first 20 minutes of opening, the 1950s turn-o-matic ticket dispenser Frankel had installed as a throwback touch proved to impede the ordering process. With a line down the block, they nixed it altogether and offered coffee to customers waiting. It may have been for the better; even with its mod design, built for digital darling-ness, Frankel’s entire approach has been handson, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“If you put your name on a building, you better be there in every way,” Zach mused.

Frankel’s Delicatessen & Appetizing
631 Manhattan Avenue
718.389.2302 / frankelsdelicatessen.com