Sarge's Delicatessen & Diner

548 3rd Avenue | Murray Hill | built 1910

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1964

    Retired police sergeant Abe Katz opens Sarge's Delicatessen on Third Avenue

    Abe Katz, a retired New York City police sergeant who loved Jewish-style cooking, opened Sarge's Delicatessen and Diner in Murray Hill in 1964, and his family still runs it. By 2019 the dining room still had its Tiffany-style lamp shades, Naugahyde booths and hanging salamis, and the kitchen cured its corned beef and pastrami in house with spice rubs Katz had formulated. The deli is said to be the only Jewish-style deli in the city open around the clock.

    Source: meatpoultry.com

  2. 1990

    Sarge's is the filming location for the documentary My Dinner With Abbie

    The documentary film My Dinner With Abbie, which came out in 1990 and starred Abbie Hoffman, was filmed at Sarge's. The deli later appeared in two seasons of the Food Paradise television series, in 2016 and 2017.

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 2012

    A three-alarm fire tears through Sarge's and the three floors above it

    Shortly before 7 p.m. on a November evening in 2012, fire swept through Sarge's and the three floors above the deli. More than 150 firefighters needed about 90 minutes to bring it under control, and several suffered minor injuries, though no one was killed or seriously hurt. A fire official said the restaurant had suffered severe damage and would not reopen for a while.

    Source: gothamist.com

  4. 2014

    March 6

    Sarge's reopens in a rebuilt building after fifteen months closed

    Sarge's reopened to the public on March 6, 2014, just ahead of its 50th anniversary, after the fire had forced the owners to gut and rebuild the entire building. The return slipped from an early-fall 2013 target because of regulatory hurdles and bad weather. Fourth-generation owner Andrew Wengrover served friends and family the day before and promised nothing had changed; about 99 percent of the staff came back, and the 24-hour menu was unchanged.

    Source: ny.eater.com

  5. 2019

    After two suppliers close in 2018, Sarge's is left as a keeper of rolled beef

    A November 2019 essay in Tablet on the endangered cold cut known as rolled beef reported that two other keepers of it, A to Z Kosher Meat Products and Ben's Best, had closed in 2018, leaving Sarge's. Katz's great-grandson Andrew Wengrover and his father-in-law Steve Thall run the deli, which Thall said makes about 20 pounds of rolled beef a week from recipes Katz's grandparents brought from Eastern Europe.

    Source: tabletmag.com

Further reading

Nearby

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