Shopsin's General Store is a diner in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, known for its extensive menu and the personality of its namesake chef/owner, Kenny Shopsin. It first opened in the 1970s in the city's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

neighborhood, but is now located in

Essex Market Essex Market (formerly known as Essex Street Market) is a food market with independent vendors at the intersection of Essex Street and Delancey Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The market is known for its many local sh ...

on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

Neighborhood grocery

Shopsin's first iteration was as a neighborhood grocery at the corner of Bedford Street and Morton Street in Greenwich Village. It, the stock and good will, but not the building, was purchased by Kenny Shopsin for $25,000 in 1973, using money from his father. He was undergoing intensive

Freudian psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk the ...

at the time and lived in the neighborhood. The previous owner had prepared and sold

roast beef Roast beef is a dish of beef that is roasted, generally served as the main dish of meal. In the Anglosphere, roast beef is one of the meats often served at Sunday lunch or dinner. Yorkshire pudding is a standard side dish. Sliced roast beef ...

, a practice Shopsin continued.

The restaurant

Shopsin's is known for both its extensive (900-item) menu of unusual dishes concocted by chef/owner Kenny Shopsin, including items such as "Slutty Cakes", pancakes with peanut butter in the middle, and "Blisters on My Sisters", similar to

huevos rancheros ''Huevos rancheros'' (, 'ranch-style eggs') is a breakfast egg dish served in the style of the traditional large mid-morning fare on rural Mexican farms. History The label “ranchero”, refers to the rancheros or vaqueros (cowherds or cowboys ...

, and for Kenny Shopsin himself, described by ''

Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition became ...

'' as "the foul-mouthed middle-aged chef and owner". Among Shopsin's quirks were his specific rules, including that the restaurant would not accept parties of more than four people. "Pretending to be a party of three that happened to have come in with a party of two is a very bad idea," wrote journalist and regular customer

Calvin Trillin Calvin Marshall Trillin (born December 5, 1935) is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist. He is a winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor (2012) and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts ...

. The restaurant and Shopsin were the subject of articles in ''

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'' by Trillin, and of the documentary film ''

I Like Killing Flies ''I Like Killing Flies'' is a 2004 documentary film produced, directed, filmed, and edited by Matt Mahurin. It documents Shopsins restaurant in New York City's Greenwich Village and its owner and head cook, Kenny Shopsin. In 2002 and 2003, Mah ...

'', directed by

Matt Mahurin Matthew S. Mahurin (born January 31, 1959) is an American illustrator, photographer and film director. Mahurin's illustrations appear in ''Time'', ''Newsweek'', '' Mother Jones'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Esquire'', ''Forbes'', and ''The New York Tim ...

. An effort to re-create Shopsin's "Slutty Cakes" was described in a 2009 ''Slate'' article. In 2008, Shopsin wrote a cookbook, ''Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin''. In 2017, one of Shopsin's daughters, Tamara Shopsin, published a memoir, ''Arbitrary Stupid Goal'', about her father, his friend Willy, and growing up at the restaurant. Kenny Shopsin died on September 2, 2018, at his home in the West Village.

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* {{Restaurants in Manhattan Restaurants in Manhattan 1970s establishments in New York City Lower East Side Diners in New York (state)

Neighborhood grocery

The restaurant

See also

References

External links