Ever in motion, seemingly always changing for the worse, New York City is defined by a shimmering palimpsest of ethnic cultures making faint but indelible marks on the city’s fabric, with even the firmest imprints in danger of someday vanishing beneath the pile. This means that the previous generation’s culinary traditions are perpetually in the midst of being washed away, a process witnessed most recently with the staggering disappearance of pizzerias from Manhattan over the last decade, with classic diners, donut shops and coffee spots displaying an even more marked decline. On the same chopping block sit Jewish delis and appetizing shops, once ubiquitous clearinghouses for culinary tradition that have by now been whittled down to a few choice holdouts. These stalwarts include the Upper West Side’s Barney Greengrass, which as far as I can tell is the last one still serving a once-common Old Man food: Heads and Wings. This is fitting for a place that opened in 1908, and has maintained the same prime Upper West Side location since 1926. Heads and Wings is one name for the collars and fins of Gaspe Nova, also known as “Collars and Flegals,” which get smoked to a golden brown hue. I’ve always been a fan of breaking down leftovers to conserve the best hidden bits clinging to the carcass (my yearly Thanksgiving night turkey deconstruction has become a cherished tradition), so digging into these definitely scratched an itch.
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The coded language of snacks, sandwiches and seasonings, in NYC and beyond.
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