...and delivery!
When I was growing up there were two ways that we ate. Generally my mother cooked or we went out to eat. There was no thought that we would call a restaurant and they would deliver or that we would pick up food that had already been prepared. If we wanted to eat something we went to the grocery and then cooked it. I don't remember any exceptions until my senior year in high school. I was visiting my friend Joni and her mother ordered Italian food for our dinner and had it delivered. That was over forty-five years ago and it is still vivid in my mind. I didn't know that was possible in Hartford in 1968.
By the time I moved to New York in 1975 everyone I knew kept menus from Chinese restaurants and ordered from them. Somewhere between 1975 and today it became possible for just about every kind of food to be delivered. The paper menus kept by the telephone have been replaced by computers and smart phones. In my working days I also found that on the four block walk home from the subway I could buy almost anything I wanted for dinner and avoid cooking after a long day. Takeout and delivery became the mainstay of New York eaters.
You may ask what this has to do with "O." "O" is for Ollies, the closest takeout food shop to my apartment, only a block and a few yards away. It stands between a natural foods store with lots of prepared foods and a vegetarian restaurant, where any dish can be ordered to go. There is also Murray's Sturgeon -- the takeout store with the best smoked salmon -- a great favorite of mine -- anywhere. All to takeout and all on the same block.
Ollies is to the left, but alas, I didn't get a photo.
Murray's window a few weeks before Passover. Note the bottom right and "New York Magazine's" Takeout Guide.
I'm going to do the unspeakable and count this as "M" and "O." I apologize if I have totally confused everyone by switching the order around. I thought about macaron for "M," but I think that's been covered pretty thoroughly in "L" with Maison Laduree. though I did discover a new macaron cafe today just a few blocks away. I think macarons are the fad of 2014.
It was cool but sunny today and I had a wonderful walk through the neighborhood with my friend, Betsy. I found "W," which made me happy, the new macaron store and actually walked two miles. There are lots of spring flowers at the markets and I am so enjoying seeing all of the tulips.
Back tomorrow with "P," which is in a tie with the bagel -- in the Buttercup calculations -- for the most popular New York food. Any guesses?
As always so glad for my visitors and your comments. Take good care and thanks for visiting.
