After the recent departure of the Sleepy’s mattress store on Delancey Street, the old shadow from the former Ratner’s Delicatessen sign was exposed, triggering many residents’ memories of the Kosher dairy. Thanks to Lo-Down reader Jesse Ash for sending along this poem and the link to a great NY Public Library archive photo of Ratner’s menu from 1987 here:
Ratner’s
Underneath the sleepys awning
There lay a remnant
Of my youth
Onion rolls
Kasha
Mushroom barley soup
Fish
Dessert counter
The parking lot was round the corner
The waiters were old school
Jews of the block
Not the book
They took your order
They chatted us up
We felt like family
We sat close to the back
Williamsburg bridge
Took us to and fro
All good things
Sometimes have to go
Ratner’s was never a deli as far as I know but a dairy restaurant.