Page 644 - Demo

g p ilA&S Features Ken%u2019s Food BasketBY MARTHA DOGGETT A stroll through Ken%u2019s Food Basket at Abraham and Straus Department Store promises one gastronomic experience after another. The %u201c Basket%u201d comprises a series of counters offering fine chocolates, fresh baked breads and pastries, cheese from 15 countries and full delicatessen service.One can buy foods prepared in the department, such as fresh ground coffee and peanut butter, as well as prepackaged items. Frequently, a chicly dressed salesperson hands out sampk %u2022'f pate or candy.And if you%u2019re having ble thinking of gin ideas uiis iioiiday season, Ken's jusi might be the place to go. %u201c You often run into the problem of what to give someone,%u201d says buyer Ken Luba, %u201c it%u2019s a good solution. Everybody loves food.%u201d The shop, which will celebrate its first anniversary this month, is named for Ken. %u201c But it wasn%u2019t my idea,%u201d he protests.r-. irv-%u2019.r %u2018 in , .... .... 1Favorite among holiday foods are candies and traditional cakes: A & S%u2019s own rum and brandy fruitcakes, plum pudding with hard sauce, shortbread. Chocolate lovers can find solid milk chocolate letters spelling %u201c LOVE%u201d and %u201c NOEL.%u201dChildren will love a gingerbread house imported from Germany or a build-yourown cookie house. For those on your list who enjoy the traditional English afternoon tea, the store has packaged Celestial Seasonings Tea with natural honey. Or from across the sea comes a unique set of Scottish jam and iea.k t u ^ i i u j IU U I .V w m vw am *a*wjrbe pleased by a gourmet basket including pickled herring, crackers, kippers, jams, Danish hams and other imported delicacies. Some 30 different cheese baskets are available during the pre-Christmas season.But Ken%u2019s Food Basket is not just a holiday haunt for many Brooklyn shoppers.If you%u2019re having trouble thinking of giftKen%u2019s Food Basket at A & S.The %u201c Basket%u201d is a place for gourmet chefs to hunt down that difficult-to-find ingredient for their Quiche Lorraine or something slightly exotic to round out a menu.The shop also offers fudge which is made* - flir %u2018 * *' * * ' *(Michael Cuiccioideas this holiday season, go tosuch a wide assortment of breads in one place.%u201dA survey of the bread counter suggests that Luba is right. From the Caribbean comes coconut bread and currant rolls.i w u v la iiwpackaged teas, frozen foods (featuring Haagen Daz ice cream), a colorful and sumptuous array ot pastry, and a selection of breads.\bakeries,%u201d says Luba. %u201cThis is probably the only place in Brooklyn that you can findC-----__________________ ____ _4 %u2018 W in i i u i j f , u u iu a v u c - __U V I UFrance, croissants (which Luba says are the best outside of Paris), and brioches. Some of the more unusual breads to be found are potato bread, chocolate croissants, bread baked in the shape of a' Christmas tree, and half ^ampernickle, half rye loaves.* **0, THE PHOENIX, November 16,1978Ralphie, of Ralph%u2019s Deli in Caroll Gardens, is a permanent part of thecommunity, sharing stories and philosophies.Ralph Busti: NeighborhoodMerchantBY SARA SOLOVITCHThere is a doctor, shrink, philosopher, and chef on the corner of Smith and Union%u2014all crowded into Ralph%u2019s Deli. The store%u2019s owner and namesake, Ralph Busti, is big enough in brains, heart, and at 320 pounds, in girth, to metamorphose into all these personalities and more.%u201cYa gotta be everything in this business Ralph explains in a voice in which you can still detect the old five-pack-a-day habit. He chuckles. \tellin%u2019 me their husbands aren%u2019t what they used to be.%u201d \husbands tell him why,%u201d comments Jeff, his friend and customer who has been listening.Ralph, or Ralphie as he is affectionate called around this predominantly Italian neighborhood, is a workaholic. He%u2019s up at six in the morning to go to his roofing company until four. Matter of fact, 20 years ago he came to fix the roof of Gabriel%u2019s Salummeria and ended up buying the place. The sign is still up. Theresa, his sister, minds the store during the day and Ralph comes in for the graveyard shift. But business is rarely dead. Ralph runs up and down behind the counter, his belly a foot in front of him. %u201c Half a pound of genoa,%u201d he mutters to himself and starts slicing.Everybody who enters greets him by name and he responds to most of them likewise. They%u2019re practically all regulars. %u201c It never ends,%u201d he complains. %u201c The way I move around I hope I%u2019d lose a few ounces.%u201dEverybody knows Ralphie. And practically no one, except maybe his competitor across the street, can imagine Carroll Gardens without him.He has lived and worked here all his life, when it wasn%u2019t Carroll Gardens or Cobble Hill, or any of those fancy, real-estate names, but simply, Gowanis, after thepolluted canal. Not so long ago, \went anywhere in this city and said you were from Gowanis, they thought you were really a gangster, real tough. And we were,%u201d boasts Ralph.H is su c c e ss story, though, is filled with contradictions. Poor boy makes good. Very good. Yet who would know it to look at him? Or to talk with him? His pants hang low about his hips, work pants that he wears for days at a time, knocking around the store. His curly dark hair is rumpled and he is usually nibbling on some provolone or prosciutto, offering a piece to whomever walks in. He runs around so intently that the sweat often drips steadily down his forehead.The 38-year-old store owner appears to have time for everyone%u2014from the little kids who come in looking for free candy to the old women who buy their weekly groceries from this small store, glad to sacrifice A&P selection for personalized service. Ralph complains that the store%u2019s demands deprive him of friendship%u2014but some of his customers .travel across Brooklyn to buy from him. They are his friends.Ralph%u2019s interests range from politics, and religion to scientific phenomena. He subscribes to %u201c Science Digest,%u201d a magazine of facts and theories that fascinate him. He talks in detail of the earth%u2019s axis, of time and relativity, and stops only to answer the telephone which has been ringing persistently.%u201c What are ya talkin%u2019 about? Prices just went up last week! Listen, if ya don%u2019 sharpen your pencil, I%u2019m gonna have to take my business elsewhere. Your ham used to be real good, but it%u2019s gone down. Right. Well, my customers aren%u2019t gonna stand for it.%u201dHe hangs up and waves his hand away with disgust. %u201c Forget about it. It%u2019s a constant battle between the retailers and the wholesalers. What were we talkin%u2019 about? Oh yeah. Well, my family has always considered me crazy, to put it mildly.%u201dNot crazy. Just an original.(Michael Cuiccio Photo)Underberg Food Outfitters supplies a variety of hardware from shoppingcarts to cutlery.BY GARY FREDERICKIf you ever start charging your dinner guests for the meal, you can ring up your profits on a cash register from Samuel Underberg Food Outfitters, the largest supplier of hardware to small Metropolitan New York food outlets.But you don%u2019t have to be in business to buy at the Underberg showroom, 620 Atlantic Avenue. Kitchen items such as cutlery and meat grinders sell to the individual at prices as varied as their selection. A tray can cost $2 to $10 depending on whether it%u2019s aluminum, plastic, or stainless steel. And a knife can range from 50 cents to $35.However, the bulk of Underberg%u2019s sales come from small businesses. He deals very little with restaurants because he would have to greatly expand the stock to accomodate hundreds of establishments.Still, business is good. If you%u2019d walked into a butcher shop or grocery 40 years ago, chances are the meat cutter, scale, cheese sheer and, yes, even the cash register would have been from Underberg.In fact, today, Underberg supplies those grass mats for orange, grapefruit and canteloupe displays.Underberg, originally an installer of walk-in box freezers, started his miniempire on Hanson Place just before World War II. He moved to his present location 20years ago when the building was demolished.His comptroller, Jim M attera, has worked for Underberg for 30 years. %u201c It%u2019s very interesting work,%u201d he said, seated in a small showroom crammed with baskets,carts, trays, scales, knives.......%u201c We%u2019re theonly suppliers of small stuff like this. It%u2019s a specialty.%u201dMattera walked through the building, sectioned off by thick walls and heavy wooden sliding doors. The floors are unpolished planks of wood and at the far end of one stock area is the repair room. Inside is Jim, a white-haired worker with the firm 20 years. %u201c He came with the building,%u201d joked Mattera.Indeed, Jim has worked in the building for 55 years, first with Hills Refrigerators and then Underberg when he bought the building. Jim fixes everything from cutters to shopping carts. He and Mattera recall when one store fished a shopping cart from the river and brought it in to have multitudes of barnacles scraped off. Over one million shopping carts have been supplied by Underberg in the last 20 years.The business hasn%u2019t changed much in 40 years. Other than more elaborate pricing equipment, knives will be knives, and there hasn%u2019t been much change in style of food trays. Maybe with a little luck and a few more shopping carts, Samuel Underberg will be in business another 40 years.(Michael Cuiccio Photo)