Shed a tear...

I haven't really been sure what to write about this week. It’s been pretty hectic and I haven’t been able to sleep (or cook that much.) I’ve mostly been working and going to the gym. Throughout all this however, I have been keeping up with reading my food blogs and I wanted to take the time to mourn the closing of an east village establishment. Kurowycky Meat Products has shut its doors after 52 years.

Although my family and I were never neighborhood regulars at Kurowycky’s we had been going to the shop for years. I still vaguely remember being a little kid and braving the December cold to go to Kurowycky’s with my dad so that we could pick up our The Christmas kielbasa that my mom cooked every Christmas day and the smoked ham we used in our sandwiches.

More recently, as a home cook who enjoys shopping for quality ingredients I’ve enjoyed going to Kurowycky’s and talking to the extremely knowledgeable staff and appreciated that more or less every customer in the store really knew their food. It’s not every day that you can go grocery shopping and get into a conversation with a random stranger about the virtues of good chrusciki, something that me and my family always wolf down whenever it’s around.

I suppose my regret is that I was never able to support this store more than I already have. It’s the small neighborhood stores like Kurowycky’s pump the soul into this ever gentrifying city and it’s disturbing and sad to see an institution disappear.