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Categories: Vegetarian, Delis [Edit]
Neighborhood: East VillageAstor Place (6)
8th St-Broadway (R, W)
3rd Ave-14th St (L)
Mon-Sat. 7:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Sun. 7:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
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I didn't like the food that much - eggs kinda burnt, not a fan of challah bread - but for some reason, I really liked the restaurant. Tiny place, very friendly counter staff, awesome choices on the menu. I'd probably go back for dinner or lunch (lots of different kinds of bean soups) rather than breakfast.
Definitely extremely cheap and filling.
Sat at the counter this time with my brother, let me tell you, sitting at the counter and watching my fellow comrades yell at each other in Hebrew in this place is a riot!
I ordered the tuna sandwich on challah which was excellent but unbelievably filling, my brother had the eggs and home fries (great eggs!).
I couldn't eat anything else after that, I kind of stumbled around like a homeless person.
I've never been displeased gorging myself here.
This place is ridiculous!!! Gigantic vegetable Lasagna, huge portions, cheap price, amazing Kosher… Read more »
"The Willy Wonka of Jew Fare"
B&H whips up deceptively simple Jewtown hits, humbly presented in the thinnest sliver of a diner. If you two-top it, be prepared to grab your freshly prepared meal straight off the counter and plop it down with a rattle on your teeny table. Don't stress this detail. It feels joyous to take hold of a plate of pure yes.
The tuna melt, otherwise a sour, watery scare tactic of high school cafeterias everywhere, is nothing short of a celebration of life. Take a bite. It kisses you the way you want to be kissed. Not too wet, not too dry - with just enough tension in the impossibly fluffy challah to keep you locked in for the long haul, as the golden edge meets your tremulous mouth for a forgotten afternoon of love to your undeserving face.
Their cold borscht is a glossy magenta anthem to the savory-sweet goodness of my fellow Ashkenazim. It's poured into a thick ceramic bowl chilled just so, and arrives shot with a welcome spoonful of fresh sour cream. One taste and you're awash in a fragrant, silken beet waterfall.
Now give your chocolate egg cream a few good stirs. Take in the bold, rich brown color. Allow yourself to be enveloped in a sweet and teasing Old Testament mist. B&H egg creams remain the best in the city. You have the ideal balance of syrup and seltzer, leaving you refreshed and spiritually whole. (In the 80s, Veselka was stiff competition, but they've long since lost their way.)
It all tastes so real you'd swear Bubbeh was girdled up in the back of the joint, wrist deep in trout. However to date I haven't seen a Jewish worker anywhere in this establishment. A thorough eyeballing yields neither chi nor horn. But that's fine by me. Carne Latino makes it one tasty meal.
Best of all, B&H Dairy is embarrassingly cheap, service is friendly and fast, there's always a spare chair to rest your shopping (example: whisper-light Parisian jazz shoes from Odin, in the palest shade of gray. It was a sale and I had childhood dreams to reconcile. It's OK, I'll take the shame.) And you can linger forever. So, while you're paging through your novel between bites of sinfully crisp potato pancake and the front windows begin to steam with rain, it's comforting to be tucked safely inside this sanctuary of Matzoh Brie-Nova-Split Pea Blintz B&H heaven. (Especially as Jews don't have Heaven.)
People like this place because it is "authentic" or whatever, but in reality it is really just a super-old dairy restaurant that somehow has survived gentrification and still churns out reliable, greasy classics. Pierogis, latkes, and blintzes are large, cheap, filling, and good; kasha, vegetables, and other "healthy" things, i.e. non-fried starches, are terrible. (I ordered kasha varnishkes without "gravy" [a thick-looking brown goop] and I got a plate of watery, plain boiled kasha and plain boiled noodles-- nothing else! No salt, no oil, no onions, mushrooms, or anything...). Similarly, some of the vegetable soups are unbelievably bland. Oy. Still, where else can you eat a huge, comforting dinner in that neighborhood for $5 or 6?
The challah is certainly tasty, and the service is haphazard if friendly, yet the bread and the matzoh ball soup that I had didn't particularly wow me. I got a sizeable bowl and while filling, it was by no means memorable. My boyfriend got the tuna melt, and while he said it was tasty, he wasn't raving either. This place has a lot of charm to it though, hence a third star, though I probably won't rush to come back.
Not impressed with the way things have gone lately at this very disappointing little hole in the wall. The borscht was tasteless bland and oily. The potato latkes were greasy and thick and lacked any good taste whatsoever . The place appeared to be dirtier than it used to be as well.
Even the challah was awful (stale and unauthentic) It tasted like cardboard with bromates!
The place is a dive, always has been but at least the food used to be decent. Its now run by Mexicans and what does a Mexican know about Jewish fare? Lets be real here. It aint good any more thats for sure !
I've been coming here for over 20 years and could eat here every, single day. They make borscht like mom, the fried potato pierogis are to die for as are the kasha varnishkas, and they have great fresh juices to boot. It's really inexpensive too! Nothing like a home-cooked meal for under 10 bucks. Love this place!
I'm not Jewish or vegetarian. What I am is a West Coaster who doesn't get very good Jewish or Eastern European food at home. The challah bread probably wouldn't be that great on its own, but it's amazing dipped in hot borscht. And the prices can't be beat. If you want a cute place to hang out, Veselka down the street has most of the same dishes, but it costs a few bucks more. Personally, I dug this cramped, dirty restaurant, and think it's cool that the tradition of Jewish dairy restaurants is being kept alive even though I'm not Jewish.
I wish I could remove this entire establishment from it's East Village location and transplant it within walking distance of my home in LA - Mike and the rest of the staff included.
Very yummy breakfast, satisfying portions, really cheap ($4.25 for 2 eggs, home fries and homemade challah bread). The service is great - leave it to these guys, and let me tell ya, they will take care of you, sweetheart.
Didn't try any of their lunch menu items since they serve breakfast ALL DAY, although from what I witnessed the tuna melt is packed HUGE!
Go for a freshly made juice while you're there. They have a large assortment of whole fresh fruits and veggies to chose from and they juice it for you on the spot. Not to mention, they also have a wheatgrass juicer.
These guys do get busy and you might have to squeeze in during peak breakfast or lunch hours. So far, I've had good luck/timing at getting a spot. Nonetheless, it keeps things cozy and adds to the overall warm and delightful experience.
Came here on a Sunday morning around 11am, place was pretty busy but you could still find a few spots on the counter despite all the tables being full.
This place has a pretty extensive menu for being such a small place. I started off with a egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on challah bread. It was pretty good, and cost about $3. I definitely liked the twist of having it on thick challah slices, so I suggest you at least try that out on your own.
Next I got the blueberry pancakes, which were basically stuffed pancakes. These were very basic, but they took something so basic and did a great job of it, all for only $6, for 3 pancakes.
I definitely recommend this spot if you want a quick breakfast spot, in and out in 20 minutes, for cheap. I was stuffed for under $10 at this typical grease spoon.
Not sure if I'd really come here for dinner since it seems like their specialty is breakfast, as are most diners.
Observation # 1
This place is value for MONEY! I don't know if these were recession special prices or what, but $4.50 for a huge bowl of hot borscht and some 3 large thick slices of challah bread? You've gotta be kidding me! The last time I checked, this was still New York City, right?
Observation # 2
The hot borscht is overrated. Sure, it is tangy and beety and starchy and everything, but I've tasted better things in my life.
Observation # 3
The challah bread is awesome. Handsomely buttered, the witty waiter laid the thick cakey slices on the counter and I was thinking, wow, that's a lot of butter. Can't be bad!
Would I return? Yes, if I am walking around and I needed a quick bite. Is it better than Veselka? For small groups, surely. Is it the best food I tasted in my life? No.
Delicious, cheap, friendly, close. Sounds good to me.
I just moved into the neighborhood after having spent years in the West Village and Brooklyn. Reading the reviews of this place--which is just around the corner from me--made it sound like some sort of cheap vegetarian Mecca. Plus one reviewer claimed it was the best challah bread she'd ever had? I love challah bread! So I bopped around the corner.
The décor was very diner-y. Off to a good start. Then I ordered food. That's where the problems began. First, I got dirty silverware. Glad I noticed before I started eating. But forgivable. What wasn't forgivable was the food.
The blueberry muffin tasted like someone had dumped a mix of blueberry Kool-aid into a pound cake recipe and served the results four to five weeks later. But no one promised a great muffin, right? True. The challah bread was, however, worse. It was soggy beyond recognition and was so revolting that I couldn't eat more than a half slice. I probably risked salmonella poisoning even from that.
Attempts to wash it down with what this place calls an "egg cream" just made the situation worse. I guess I should be fair. If what you want is a cloudy glass filled up one third with cold, thick chocolate syrup, one third with what appeared to be skim milk, and one third with semi-flat seltzer--stirred gently for a moment or two and then served--then order up. If you want an egg cream, or edible food, go elsewhere.
I used to tend bar in grad school, and whenever we were counting our tips and happened to come across a $20 bill, we had a little call we would do, it went like this:
Why, hell-OOO Mr Jackson!!!
Mr Jackson, of course, being Andrew Jackson, whose chiseled mug graces the bill. You knew that already, didn't you.
Anyway, I felt like ringing out the Mr Jackson call last night, because that's all it took--including tip--for J and I to totally stuff ourselves at B & H Dairy. Of course, B & H is pretty much the size of my bathtub, so I refrained for the sake of the other patrons, and also for the sake of my dignity.
For $8 each, we enjoyed a carb fest like no other--two large bowls of mushroom barley soup, one overflowing plate of mac & cheese, 4 plump pierogies (actually 6, because they brought the wrong kind first), and what had to be at least half a loaf of challah bread. The food was nothing mind-blowing, but it was fresh and came fast, and was perfectly belly-warming on a cold rainy night. Goodbye, Mr Jackson!
I can't believe I haven't written about B&H yet. I've been spending an unhealthy amount of time there lately, and have rapidly become a devotee.
Though it's a tiny sliver of a place, it seems able, like a room in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, to fit an infinite amount of insatiable people in at any time. There are always seats at the counter to be found.
The food is standard Polish-y diner food, heavy on the vegetarian options, but including meat, too. There are great daily specials that satisfy any emotional eating I need to get done: a bowl of soup and a bowl of cheesy, amazing mac and cheese; spinach and cheese blintzes; the heavenly, heavenly borscht.
The service is inattentive in a very charming way, and I have to admit a deep love of hearing "three fried pierogi, porfa!" yelled to the kitchen. Someone is always eating something that I "promise to try next time I go," but I always wind up eating the borscht.
They open early and close late. A warm and welcoming throwback amidst the crazytown USA that is St. Marks & Second Ave. I. Love. B&H.
Welcome to the Lonely Hearts Club.
Just sit at the counter with the other lone wolves, order a Grilled Cheese Sandwich and a bowl of Tomato Soup ($8.75, including tax), and smile graciously when the B&H guys address you as "Lady." The place is usually only half-full, so feel free to continue to read your book and soak up the greasy spoon atmosphere. When they ask you if you'd like challah bread with your soup, say YES. I refused it for some unknown reason and am still shaking off the (hunger) pangs of regret.
The food is tasty, filling, cheap and heavy on the butter; a perfect diner for the winter months!
The pancakes were delicious and cheap. $5 for 3 pancakes, coffee, and orange juice. Giddyup. Not much seating, though.
I'm not really a fan of being packed into a narrow hallway to eat but I'll make this place an exception. This is probably the best place to get soup in the East Village. Comes with nice pieces of buttered challah bread, it will hold you down for your sick days and the winter months. My personal favorite is their mushroom barley which is thick and moderately salty.
While their soup is quite good, their actual entrees are kind of bland and overpriced. Regardless, i'll return for their soup anytime, it's definitely worth a visit.
Actually ate a full fledged meal here last night. It was awesome! I got the sunday special, which for $8.50 gets me a choice of yummy soup with challah, and an entree. I chose the veggie chilli over brown rice. It's a large portion so i took half home. My friend got the fried cheese pierogies. They were like cake.......so delicious.
The waitstaff is funny/ charming. And the service is quick, sanitation questionable.
Hot Borscht with challahish bread (i like my braided, sorry i'm a traditionalist) so good i can't… Read more »
B&H Dairy offers hardy, tasty vegetarian food at unbelievably cheap prices. The staff are exceptionally pleasant and fast. I always leave the restaurant completely satiated and happy.
Highly recommended: Challah bread french toast, spaghetti with veggieballs, vegetable soup
Not recommended: Veggie burger, pierogies
Although the space is small, the portions are big and cheap.
Pound for pound this place has to be one the best cheap eats in the city. The space is very small with only a few tables on one wall, but it allows for several seats at the "bar" and it's kind of fun to watch them work the griddle from there.
Everything I tried was delicious, but to me the best part of the experience was the soup. I think they make between 6-8 types of soups per day and the three I got a chance to sample were all really good. For my meal I ordered a tuna melt and cup of lentil soup ($8). I also tried some of my friend's vegetable soup which was delicious. My friend ordered the Mac and Cheese and cup of soup combo for $5.50 and I got to sample some. I wasn't disappointed. On the way out I also sampled some of the hot borscht soup which was surprisingly good.
If you don't mind being a little cramped, and are looking for a great cheap place to eat. This is for you.
Dropped by for lunch. I had the mac and cheese and soup combo. It was well worth my 8 bucks, too bad I couldn't finish it. The mac and cheese came in a huge portion and they gave you about a good 4 - 6 slices of bread and it was already buttered too. Another plus. The soup, I had mushroom barley. It was a - ok. Nothing spectacular here but if you're on the look for a cheap lunch and you're hungry. B& H Dairy is your kind of place.
A vegetarian diner?! I love you B&H.
I have been coming here for years. I found it online, before Yelp, when I was coming over from the UK, and needed to know that I could eat a vegetarian breakfast as soon as I got into town.
A proper greasy spoon diner, except with amazing challah, and tasty blintzes. This place is a miracle.
You have to love the wise cracking guy behind the counter. I don't live in New York, but every time I am in town I come here, and he makes me feel right at home, like he'd been waiting for me all along.
Went a couple times for lunch. I've tried both the matzah ball and chicken noodle soups, with white fish sandwiches. This is a totally satisfying experience. The food is delicious, the prices are low, and the staff is cool, but helpful. A definite go see if you're in the mood for quasi-kosher fare.
Not a fan of this popular East Village spot. I love soup, I'm vegetarian, I'm cheap, and yelpers love this place- so I thought I'd be guaranteed a good experience here.
I've given this place 2 chances and after equally disappointing meals will not give it a third . The first time, I dragged my friend and boyfriend here when I was deathly sick- and craving homemade soup. The borscht was lukewarm and bland, and the grilled cheese was made with PAM instead of butter. Plus the whole place looks kind of dingy and like it hasn't been cleaned in a while, which would be fine if the food were good enough to make up for it.
About a year later, I decided to give this place another try. This time, my friend's mac and cheese tasted like it was made with Velveeta (this is the same poor friend I had dragged here a year earlier, oops!). I had the famed challah bread (it tasted really egg-y- i know it's supposed to, but did not enjoy it) and split pea (watery).
My conclusion is that people like this place because it's cheap, but the price is actually not worth the food you get. And the food tastes homecooked because it's all stuff that the average person could make equally as good at home. Just make your own grilled cheese sandwich! Or go to Whole Foods a few blocks away for better, heartier soup at the same price.
Oh man oh man. I've died and regressed to the all white-food stage of my childhood.
Everyone say... "Challah" !!!!
Back in-the-day when Tompskin Square Park was closed boarded up to keep the homeless out and pass a couple of junkies along the way...
We would go to joints like like B & H to get the best borscht in town!
The counter guy Joe would greet us with a friendly "Hello Boss!" 'Coming up Boss" and slap down a pipping, bright, crimson bowl of goodness. And of course challah and buttah.
Now that Joe's in retirement the new guys don't have that rapport
"Oh, you want "bread" and butter w/your soup?"
Yeah -"CHALLAH" and buttah!!!
I miss those days (even though I know things are made mostly from cans)
but
Go there for Nostalgia.
It's only going to go in retirement like everything else these days.
I have one fond memory of going to B&H. It was after pulling an all-nighter to finish a final project. Just after sunrise, we made our way to B&H, the earliest opening restaurant we could think of without being 24/7. We got there and arrived a tad too early. So we waited outside until the owner came to open shop. We ordered a whole bunch of items. I can't quite remember what they were, Challah French toast, pancakes, eggs, and some other odds and ends. Still, I think he was really flattered that people would be waiting outside his restaurant. We got rounds of freshly squeezed orange juice on the house and it was delicious. (This was extremely welcomed since I love orange juice and usually NYC charges an arm and a leg for it!)
Being that early in the day, I think the food tasted fresher than it should have. But it was no doubt good and filling. I can't say that it was spectacular. Still, delis like these are not supposed to specialize in anything. It'd be nice to have a specialty, but I think that B&H does a good job of having a very solid menu all around.
It's definitely worth going to again, if I ever find the time to.
Upsides: Gigantic portions, cheap, great for a pre/post-drinking meal
Downsides: Super tiny space, food kind of bland (for me anyway)
My suggestions:
1. order some soup
2. sit at the bar
Perfect, cheap, fresh and delicious comfort food! The soup was just like my German grandma makes. The pile of fresh, buttered challah bread on the side, was irresistable. The people working there were full of great energy. The place is quite small, but I found a seat alone at the counter comfotrable enough to eat. I can only echo all the positive comments already made on here.
It's cheap. It's good. It's a diner for christ's sake...did I mention it was cheap? Great, fresh squeezed OJ - a shot at a time. The Challah French toast was good too. Had a good time rapp'n with the counter line cooks, I'd go back if I were in the area and needed a breakfast.
ok. i think this place gets a much better rap than it deserves because it's a fairly good vegetarian spot. i mean, at least from what i gathered by the many vegetarians i know and also by the 100 reviews written before this one. but here's the thing: vegetarians don't know a heck of alot about food. because they don't add salty, porky, meaty perfection to their meals, they're operating with less than a full deck. i mean, could you seriously play the best hand of poker of all time if you didn't have any aces in your deck? no. same goes with meat. you might eat a good meal...but is it great? no. meat makes everything better.
i love the look of this diner. it's very Mel's Diner. my grilled egg & cheese on challah with salt and pepper was good. was it great? no. you know what would have made it great?
bacon.
Lentil soup made me sick.
Minus 1 star.
You rock.
You're cheap and easy.
The food is *pretty* good here, as in, the prices are killer which…
Read more »
If B & H were to be likened to a presidential candidate, Mike Gravel comes to mind. So if your dinner funds are depleted, by all means come here. But do not expect a winner.
The space itself is tiny and lacks the cozy comfort of its nearby cheap-eats cousin, Pommes Frites. On my last visit, I had a shake and a bowl of their lentil soup, while my friend tried a salad and the borscht. My lentil soup was somewhat under-cooked. And my friend, not pleased with the borscht, was left chewing on the challah bread that came with the salad.
The bouncing ball analogy would apply quite nicely to my B & H experience. The friendly service notwithstanding, my excitement for B & H was laid to rest very quickly.
Yelp reviews Entering B & H Seating Eating
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B&H is my favorite place in the entire city.
There was a two week period where I came here every single day. My friends know that if they can't get in touch with me, they can usually depend on finding me here. Mike is my favorite guy and he always hooks me up with a little discount (love him!)
I've tried pretty much everything on the menu and my favorites are the soups (I do not like the cold borscht or the tomato,) homefries, green pepper/onion/tomato omelettes, vegetable lasagna, juice made out of 15 different blended fruits, and the applesauce that comes with the latkes.
I mean, the food is a little greasy and heavy, and the coffee isn't the best. So what? Don't come here on a diet and loaded with whiny pretension. It's affordable, they're always attentive and friendly, and the borscht is so, so, so, so, so, so good.
Start off with the biggest hunk of Challah bread you've ever been served, match it with a giant slather of soft butter, and you're on your way. B&H is kind of like a typical hole-in-the-wall midwest trucker diner, only it's a historic landmark for Jewry on the LES. (huh?!)
B&H is old-time kosher... As in, it's not really kosher, but they only serve dairy/vegetarian fare. Pre-rabbinicized kosh, if you will. Been here for something like 60 years?
I brought a friend here for a late-afternoon snack (to tide us over until late-night dinner) and she ordered the tuna melt. Said it was the best tuna melt she's ever had. Our two meals cost less than $15, and we walked out with warm, happy bellies.
PS -- This place beats Veselka's ass.
Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night craving their hot borscht with a dollop of sour cream and a big ass slice of challah. I'll put my coat on to go get a bowl and then I realise I'm in the wrong city. damnit.
This place is great kosher diner food, and the portions are MASSIVE and cheap. I've tried a number of things, but I'm always pretty satisfied with their giant "cup" of soup...it's really big enough to be labeled a bowl, but I'm not complaining! They're always generous with the buttered challah, so for less than $5 you can leave totally stuffed.
The tables are teeny and kinda cramped, so I suggest sitting at the bar. It's more social that was anyways.
I'm also obsessed with the staff..they're all so nice and generous with the portions. And you get to watch them make everything which is always fun. Best kosher diner ever!
"CHALLAH at 'cha boy!," I heard one of the kids yell at his posse' as he walked by me.
"Yes, CHALLAH is what I'm craving," I thought -- and for the best challah bread in the East Village, if not NYC, you gotta get it at B&H Dairy. Yes, it's baked fresh there...yes, they slice it THICK....yes, they give generous pats of butter and yes, it's so soft, almost sponge-like!
This luncheonette looks like it hasn't been redecorated since the '50s and I like it that way!
They feature Ukranian comfort-food -- so you'll get your fix of pierogies, blintzes and meatless stuffed cabbage.
But what puts them above a nearby Ukranian diner (that I also equally love) are the soups! They change daily, but you'll always find the borscht, split pea and mushroom barley soups on the menu. They are incredibly insanely hearty, satisfying and nurturing....a nice touch is they will gladly mix your soups so if you are in adventurous mood, try the lima bean mixed with lentil or the mushroom barley mixed with split pea. Plus, the soups go perfect with the challah bread!
Four stars because of their soups (especially with buttered challah). I usually go for the lentil or mushroom barley. Neither is particularly delicious but they are always dependable and dill-heavy. I love that I can get soup at B&H and know that I won't be met with saltiness.
The potato cakes look like illness but they are quite tasty when you're in the right mood. Nostalgia for sure.
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Ukrainian
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