Ben's Best: One of the "Dying Breed" of Real Jewish Delis

The Times Ledger has a great article on Ben's Best, one of the last of a "dying breed".  I agree.  I feel lucky to have one of the few real Jewish delis left in the city, right in my neighborhood.  Read the article at the above link.  I don't go there as often as I used to, because high blood pressure and a body of an older age dictate that deli food is not healthy for me to eat anymore.   But I need a "fix" every once in a while.  Recently, a friend of mine wanted good matzoh ball soup, and I couldn't think of better matzoh ball soup than Ben's, so we went.  I am more vegetarian, so I had the mushroom-barley soup and a hotdog [a real no-no for someone with hypertension like myself].  If I had more room, I would have had a square knish and a pastrami and tongue sandwich [I pondered doing takeout but my better judgement prevailed for once].  70-years in business and nothing like Ben's.  When Tung-Shing went out of business, I suffered a definite mourning, but if Ben's ever went away, I would have to sit shiva.

Tandoor

Ate at Tandoor for the first time since they moved to the other side of the boulevard from their location next to Applebee's, where they were for a hundred years.  The space is much smaller, so they are not doing the weddings and parties they were before.  But the space is much more tastefully done as compared to their big two-story space across the street, which was swimming in tired and hackneyed [and tacky] Indian wall decorations that adorn almost every Indian eatery.  There is exposed brick on the walls and modern artwork.  It really looks ike it could be in Manhattan or Cobble Hill in Brooklyn.

Since it was Saturday, I and my friend decided on the $10.95 "brunch buffet" and we were very glad we did.  The last time I went to Sajni 026 [until now, my go-to Indian place], I was disappointed.  I couldn't have wine, because they had either lost [or never obtained] their liquor license -- not even for wine and beer. And the food had no taste; I don't know if they "blanded" it down because we were white Americans, but the dahl had less spice than campbell's split pea soup.

Tandoor restored my faith.  The food was tasty and had just the right amount of heat.  In the buffet, there was salad, tandoori chicken, chicken in spinach, some kind of hollow balls I had never seen, with which we stuffed potato salad and a vinegar sauce, chick-pea fritters, fresh naan brought to the table, lentil dahl, basmati rice and a few other things that escape my memory.  For dessert, there was all the Indian rice pudding we could eat [and we ate a lot of this]. And we ordered merlot and it came in the proper red wine glass [not a given in this neighborhood] and a generous glass at that.  The merlot was not cheap junk  -- it was full-bodied and woodsy.  I will be putting in my review on Yelp and going back there.  I ended up not spending much more than my soup and sandwich at Panera.