Analyzing the NYC Bodega Menu

An exercise in culinary conjecture based on a collection of 30 photos

I was working my way uphill on Metropolitan Avenue from the Lorimer L station one afternoon when I noticed, in addition to some of the old Italian businesses like Metropolitan Fish Market and Nunzio & Sons Napoli Bakery, that there were more bodegas lining both sides of the street than is usual. One of them caught my eye. A line of four upholstered chairs in a dirty shade of aquamarine stood in front, each scribbled with the address of the place: 796 Leonard. When I looked it up online, the lot proved to also be known as 347 Metropolitan Avenue, and the name of the store listed only as “Market Inc.”

But above the chairs was a beguiling bill of fare depicted in 30 faded color photos, providing a delightful thumbnail of a typical convenience store menu at some time in pre-burrito era. I decided it would be fun to analyze the menu like a detective, suggesting the significance of each dish, starting in the upper left-hand corner, and making no representation that the photos display the actual appearance of the food — only its aspirational ideal.

Omelet. Note the French spelling of “omelet,” served, at least in the photo, with a tossed salad. Hard to tell what’s in the filling, though it looks like tomatoes and green peppers, maybe a Denver omelet?

French toast. Littered with fresh berries, this serving includes an extravagant five slices of what must be supermarket white bread.

Croissant with chocolate and strawberry. Here this most French of pastries has been used as a staging area for strawberries and chocolate syrup — too messy to eat standing up, so you’d better sit in one of those chairs.

Macaroni salad. The usual heap of elbows and mayo, but the quantity is so large one wonders how many friends you’d have to recruit to finish it.

Egg salad. Once again a huge quantity, with a spoon planted in the middle, as if to suggest you should eat it plain, rather than on a sandwich in the typical fashion. Without mayo, there would be no bodega food.

Tuna melt. The tuna melt was supposedly invented by accident in the 1960s at a Charleston Woolworth’s lunch counter.

Grape leaves. Unadorned and unaccompanied, maybe these stuffed grape leaves are the result of Greek or Middle Eastern owners. I’m betting Middle Eastern because I can remember a time in the 1990s when the bodegas of Bedford Avenue were owned by Palestinians.

Chicken nuggets. Typical fast food fare of the current era.

Chicken tenders. Isn’t a tender almost the same as chicken nuggets?

Cheese fries. Nobody knows where cheese fries originated, but it is generally agreed that the introduction of Cheez Whiz in 1952 speeded their invention. My guess is New Jersey, where the more elaborate disco fries, also with gravy, have become world famous.

Grill [sic] cheese. A landmark of mid-20th-century diner fare, rendered perfectly in the picture.

Bacon, egg, and cheese . This is deli haute cuisine, but here some ambitious photo stylist has rendered one of the city’s greatest delights into something repulsive.

Croissant with chocolate and panana [sic]. Once again, this dish finds the deli leaning French, and trying to do too much with what are undoubtedly mediocre croissants.

Chicken parmesan. Too short to be an Italian hero, but still consistent with the southern Italian heritage of the neighborhood.

Rice with mixed beans. We might assume this dish reflects the large Puerto Rican population traditionally centered around Grand Street to the south, but a closer look reveals that these are probably fava beans and the squiggles, tahini.

Chicken over rice. This looks like the sort of halal chicken dish, with a hint of curry powder, sold from trucks everywhere.

Chopped cheese fries. Presumably a version of chopped cheese rendered over fries rather than on a kaiser roll or hero.

Falafel plate. With feta and hummus on the side, further evidence of Middle Eastern ownership — you might get something that looks exactly like this at Mamoun’s.

Onion rings. Served with ketchup, and not bad looking.

Potato knish . Also sold from hot dog carts, this is evidence of Jewish influence on bodega cuisine.

Pancakes . These are some very Japanese-looking pancakes.

Egg plant [sic]. This looks like the famous Turkish stuffed eggplant dish imam bayildi (“the imam fainted”).

Ruben [sic] melt. Another Jewish-American dish, though hard to tell from the photo what meat and cheese are being used.

Chopped cheese. The modern bodega classic of chopped hamburger meat and melted American cheese, possibly invented at Yemeni deli Hajji’s in East Harlem over two decades ago.

Chicken Caesar salad. This dish — minus the chicken — was invented in Tijuana, Mexico, and miraculously arrives here largely intact (without the anchovies?) 101 years later.

Falafel. So good, they listed it twice on the menu, this time wrapped in a flatbread.

Cheeseburger deluxe. A classic diner staple in what looks like the half-pound size, with lots of french fries.

Lamp [sic] gyro. Note the use of the word “gyro” rather than “shawarma” as Middle Easterners might do, suggesting Greek inspiration.

French fries & curly & sweet & seasoned. This looks like four kinds of fries (waffle, regular, curly, and steak) on the same platter, an assortment I’ve never seen together before, and maybe not an actual dish but an illustration of the varieties available here.

Beef pattie [sic]. The savory Jamaican hand pie is usually filled with spicy minced beef, also available from local pizza parlors.

This menu demonstrates the breadth of influences that have come to characterize the city’s bodega food. Little is really surprising here, but reassures us of our status as a great melting pot of cuisines, with at least eight nationalities represented. Missing are tacos and other Mexican dishes now common in bodegas. Several offerings suggest Middle Eastern owners, though the stool in the lower righthand corner of the picture mentions Puerto Rican beer.

The original chopped cheese from Hajji’s Blue Sky Deli