Israeli sandwich shop Sherry Herring goes belly up against the UWS – Jewish Telegraphic Agency

(New York Jewish Week) The Upper West Side outpost of famed Israeli sandwich shop Sherry Herring closed last week, after less than two years of operation.

Sherry Herring announced its closure in aNo Instagram post from May 31st. We have some important news to share, the post said. Sadly, we are closing the doors to Sherry Herring, our beloved restaurant at 245 West 72nd St. We appreciate your support and the memories we have created together.

The only thing I can say is that I am very sad about our closure, Israeli founder Sherry Ansky told New York Jewish Week when asked why the restaurants were closing. Maybe if I had been there it would have been different, but I had to stay in Israel and I couldn’t be there.

Ansky started Sherry Herring at a Tel Aviv farmers market in 2011, where it quickly became a destination.His signature herring sandwich consists of a fresh baguette, spread with sour cream and French butter, topped with chilli, seeds and tomato juice, onions and shallots and finished with pickled herring.

Ansky came up with the idea of ​​opening an outpost in New York City during the pandemic, sending his son-in-law and business partner, Eyal Amir, to scout a location for the first of what they hoped would be several Sherry Herring stores. They chose the Upper West Side, Amir told New York Jewish Week, because it’s a Jewish neighborhood where our market penetration will be easier.

Sherry Herring opened on West 72nd Street in October 2021 with no sherry and no herring, New York Jewish Week reported at the time. Ansky was stuck in Israel awaiting approval of travel documents, and the herring that would star on the menu was still maturing in brine in the Netherlands. (It finally arrived in mid-December.) The New York menu also included salmon, mackerel and tuna sandwiches.

The first time Ansky saw the line for her shop, I passed out and ran away, she said. I told people to get out! I can not do that.

The restaurant was loved by both locals and globetrotting foodies. Phil Rosenthal, star of Somebody Feed Phil and creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, described the herring sandwich in the Tel Aviv shop as a perfect example of something seemingly simple but a very sophisticated work of art.

Changes had been made to the New York menu and restaurant in the months leading up to the shutdown. In February, they announced a elevated evening menu called Sherry Herring After Dark, which featured various tapas-style dishes and Israeli wine and beer. The restaurant also posted on Instagram that it was hiring on March 5th. Later that month, Sherry Herring lost her kosher certification and indicated to the website Yeah Thats Kosher that they will likely close their UWS location by September.

Instead, the closure occurred several months earlier. The owners decided it would be best for everyone to close, New York restaurants general manager Alex Ben Chimol said when he was reached by phone from New York Jewish Week. Maybe we will reopen another time in a different place.

Sherry Herrings’ May 31 Instagram post hinted at this possibility, stating: While we will no longer be at this location, we were excited for new culinary adventures. Stay connected for updates on our future projects. Text on image reads: See you soon New York.

They made me fall in love with herring and did their best to recreate an old Jewish niche, Uncle Ediks Pickles owner Edward Ilyasov he told New York Jewish Week. We loved their creativity and they brought our pickles from the start. We will miss them!