Where to find appetizings?
Daniel Nester asks via the Facebook:
Is there no place to get appetizing in the Capital Region? Anyone?
In this case he's referring to an "appetizing store." From a definition on the website for Russ & Daughters, a century-old appetizing store in Manhattan:
"Appetizing," as a noun, is a Jewish food tradition that is most typical among American Jews, and it is particularly local to New York and New Yorkers. The word "appetizer" is derived from the Latin "appete," meaning "to desire, covet, or long for." Used as a noun, "appetizing" is most easily understood as "the foods one eats with bagels." Its primary components are a variety of smoked and cured salmon, homemade salads, and cream cheeses.
The plural of these foods is "appetizings" rather than appetizers. Here's a Gothamist article about appetizing stores from a few years back about how the stores were once very common in NYC, but have slowly disappeared -- and the ones remaining have evolved.
So, we suspect there isn't an appetizing store, exactly, in the Capital Region. But we bet you can gather many similar items if you know where to look.
Got a suggestion for Daniel and others looking to nosh? Please share!
photo: Flickr user stu_spivack (cc)
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Comments
Ben & Bill's Deli at Price Chopper in Slingerlands has everything you want. Even good half sours.
... said Larry on Dec 20, 2013 at 12:16 PM | link
Gershons in Niskayuna has everything your looking for, and more.
... said Daniel on Dec 20, 2013 at 12:27 PM | link
Gershon's is the closest thing I've found to an appetizing shop in this region. You won't find any of the less popular, but often times more delicious dishes, but you can get the standard lox, whitefish salad and pickled herring.
... said theshakes on Dec 20, 2013 at 1:29 PM | link
I wholeheartedly second Gershon's, and suggest some Matzo Ball soup with your appetizing.
www.gershonsdeli.com
... said Jeff M on Dec 20, 2013 at 1:48 PM | link
I just had some good whitefish salad from Fin's in Guilderland. And they had hering and white anchovies (do those count) too.
... said Nicole on Dec 20, 2013 at 2:47 PM | link
Nobody said Park Side Eatery. They bring in their smoked fish from Rachael's.
http://www.springfieldsmokedfish.com/types.htm
... said Daniel B. on Dec 20, 2013 at 3:30 PM | link
Love the atmosphere, and friendly nice folks at The Uncommon Ground. Their coffee, and bagels are par-excellence. But , the newest, and most delicious thing is the whitefish salad, OMG. My mouth is doing a happy dance!!!!! Best of all it's only $7.00 a LB!!!!!!
... said mg on Dec 23, 2013 at 12:09 PM | link
Saati Deli in Latham carries some good appetizing items. Their whitefish salad is excellent. They do their best and freshest work, however, with catering platters of appetizing, for small or large gatherings.
Eastern European and Russian grocery shops carry many varieties of smoked fish, some of it the same as those in American Jewish cuisine, and some different.
By the way, I have never in my long NYC lox-eating Jewish life heard the word appetizing uttered in the plural. "I like all kinds of appetizing." Kind of like "barbeque" -- it's a category.
... said nan on Dec 25, 2013 at 5:01 PM | link