Rememberance of things Pabst

One of my favorite lunch spots in the neighborhood was Joe's Superette. Now this was a dirty disqusting joint that I wouldn't allow Lisa to go into because she would never eat the stuff if she saw how Leo kept the joint. As an example he had an old tin of Pastene Peppers that he just refilled but had been in the case for about twenty years since Old Man Joe owned the joint. They made the best sandwiches in the neighborhood by far. It was the site of the famous knife fight a couple of years ago between two connected knuckleheads that I had talked about a few times here. It is also one of the eight places that I have been going to for forty years that closed in the last eleven months.

Now the sandwiches were great but everyone really went there for the prosciutto balls:

You know. Rich creamy ricotta deep fried with chopped up prosciutto. Man they were heaven. You would go in and order them by the dozen. None of the pizzeria's or pork stores could really compete with them because that was where everyone went to get them. I would buy at least 2 dozen prosciutto and a dozen rice balls every time I went in there.

Now they had a good reason for closing. Leo the owner died of bone cancer. He had taken it over from Joe who also died of cancer. Leo used to work for him and bought the store when the old man died. The kid working there wanted to do the same thing but he couldn't get the money together so they decided to rent out the space.

The landlord rented out the space to a Greek restaurant called Avlee. It is very, very good. Tasty Greek food and quite inexpensive. They serve the wine in Mason Jars and the hipsters dig that shit. But we ate there last night and the bill was under eighty dollars for four appetizers, four glasses of wine and two entrees. Let me tell you in Brooklyn that is outstanding.

I enjoyed Mousaka and Greek Fries which are French fries with olive oil and feta cheese. (Lisa let me off the leash for a night). We split a Greek Salad.

The wife really likes the appetizers like the spinach pie that you see in this photo. Her aunt married a Greek guy so she is used to good Greek food because her Italian Aunt learned to cook lots of great Greek dishes.  One of the best appetizers was the dipping plates:

This consists of three different dipping sauces with a bunch of pita. The yougut and dill in the dish with the pita is particularly good. As is the chick pea dip which is the first yellowish one on the other plate. That is what we always order.

We tried to keep a low profile but this was the third time we were there. The owner's wife was waitressing and introduced herself so we told her that we had a store. So she is coming for a bra fitting. Another joint where were are going to be in with the in crowd again. My dream of being anonymous is just going to have to wait. I mean she came over to scold me because I took half of my Mousaka home because I just couldn't eat it all. That is why I know she is a new friend. She felt comfortable enough to tell me what to do.

This is what life is all about. A great place goes away after being in the same spot for over sixty years. A new joint comes in. This time it is great because it is a Mom and Pop restaurant that has the same values that we have. We will be going there to support them as much as we can. Maybe they can stay in the same spot feeding people for fifty years like Joe's Supperette did. I hope so.