2nd Ave Deli Opens Bar Above Upper East Side Location

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Iconic purveyor of meat sandwiches 2nd Ave Deli has opened a cocktail bar above its Upper East Side location. The new space, called The 2nd Floor, opened earlier this week.

The 2nd Floor offers a menu of deli-inspired bar food including a potato latke stuffed with pastrami and sautéed onions, a meat board and herring served three ways. Cocktails allude to both the delicatessen's Jewish roots with names such as Man-O-Manischewitz and The Shofar.

The 2nd Floor opens its doors at 5 p.m. and stays open until midnight on weekdays and 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Bar patrons can access the upstairs space by a separate entrance on East 75th Street between First and York avenues, according to the 2nd Ave Deli website.

Brothers Jeremy and Joshua Lebewohl — second generation owners of the deli opened by their uncle on the Lower East Side — opened the bar to draw a younger crowd to the deli scene, the brothers told Eater New York.

"When you ask the average young person what a deli serves they say a pastrami sandwich. Whereas you have stuffed cabbage and goulash and fricassee, and people don’t even know what that is anymore," Jeremy Lebewohl told Eater. "In deciding to create this extension of a deli upstairs, we also saw it as a fun opportunity to bring back those ingredients and the idea you can have more than just a sandwich at a deli."

Read the rest of Eater New York's article here.

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