The Dairy Restaurant (Jewish Encounters Series)

Thanks, book appeared brand-new.

I bought this book for two reasons. I liked the Julius Knipl series a lot and followed it closely when it was first published in the Village Voice. And, I liked the idea of a graphic book about dairy restaurants. Although I haven't been to many of them, it's part of my heritage.I knew what to expect in the drawings. I never really liked Ben Katchor's style (in fact I think it's terrible) but it was a good match with the Knipl series (low-life under the radar person drawn in a scratchy unobtrusive style that befit Knipl). I thought I was buying what would be a clever take on dairy restaurants of New York. Instead I get the whole schmeer of the history of eating by the Hebrews.That might be compelling, and to some extent it is. Katchor makes clever leaps from the ancient to the modern, albeit sometimes much too clever (e.g. making a comparison to the tents of Abraham in the desert to awnings over delis in New York City). But the drawings are just so ugly that it makes the arduous task of the slow walk into the modern almost agonizing. The drawing on page 63 of the open mouth, with tongue sticking out, and bad dentistry (or artistry, or both) on the lower jaw, about to take a bite out of a dripping cow udder over an open flame is something to see. Or not. That's where I had enough.So for now, after a couple hours reading, I'm putting it on the shelf. I expect I'll take it up agains but skip ahead about 200 pages (the book is nearly 500 pages long!) to get the parts about dairy restaurants. And I hope that it will be a little more satisfying. But so far it just leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, head, and eyes.

Just read the first chapters. Very fascinating, so far.

FOR ANYONE WHO EVER ATE IN ONE OF THE OLD DAIRY RESTAURANTS IN NYC THIS IS A REMINDER OF HOWUNIQUE AND ENJOYABLE THEY WERE...THE VEGETARIAN MENU REQUIRED GREAT CREATIVITYDISHES LIKE CUTLETS AND CHOPPED LIVER ,,WITH NO MEAT WERE MASTERPIECES..AND THE SOUPSWERE EVEN GREATER..AND THE SURLY WAITERS ..WHO WERE ALL EASILY IN THEIR 80s WAS A SHOW INITSELF... I WORKED IN A CATSKILL HOTEL IN THE SUMMERS AND LUNCH WAS ALWAYS A DAIRY MEAL WITH ENDLESS SOUR CREAM DISHES...OR EGGS...AND THOSE VEGETABLE CUTLETS WITH THOSEGREAT MADE UP NAMES LIKE "protose steak" OR "delmonico cutlet" SMOTHERED WITH MUSHROOMSAUCE ....SUPERBLY SCRUMPTIOUS..NOW MOSTLY GONE..ALONG WITH THE KOSHER DELITHE BOOK TEMPORARILY BRINGS IT ALL BACK...THANKYOU KATCHOR

I didn't grow up in a Kosher household, but this book can make anybody nostalgic for a good Halavi meal. I bought the book for my 80-year-old dad and he was really pleased with it. Brought back many stories and a couple of old recipes (for example he told me his sister got in HUGE trouble when visiting his great aunt as she asked for a glass of milk with dinner (chicken). He laughed pretty hard thinking of that moment. You know what-- all in all this book is worth at least twice its price as it does the impossible -- brings you back to the "olden days"

Most of the book is the history of Dairy consumption by the Jews in Europe. Only last 1/3-1/4 of the book is about dairy restaurants in the US. I wanted more about NY Dairy Restaurants.

Very interesting, very informative and even amusing at times. I'd recommend this if you're interested in history of NYC, history of Jewish culture, anthropology, sociology, food cultures. Altogether a positive read. Glad I bought it.

I received my copy yesterday. Cannot wait to read it. It is only four years after the last book in the Jewish Encounters Series, Where the Jews Aren't.

Der Katchor-Kenner hat es kommen sehen: der textverliebte Katchor wird eines Tages eine nahezu akademische Abhandlung schreiben, die er allerdings auch dann gekonnt illustrieren wird. Teils realistisch, teils fiktiv - immer wird ein "stell ich mir so vor" pedantisch angemerkt.Wer Katchor noch nicht kennt, wird begeistert sein, und erst recht dann, wenn er eines Tages Katchors alter ego: den Julius Knipl (Immobilienfotograf) kennenlernt, oder Katchors illustre und immer recht nostalgische Studien über den städtischen (NY) Verfall .