By Caroline Benveniste
Recently, I was lucky enough to serve on the committee that selects the recipients of the GVSHP Village Awards. This year around 150 nominations were received. The job of the 15-member committee was to select six or seven of those
to receive an award. Doing the math, one realizes that the acceptance rate is below 5%, on par with Stanford.
The committee met twice, once in March and once in April. The nominees were divided into five categories: Food/Bars/Restaurants, Small Businesses, Organizations, People, and Restorations and Buildings. At the March meeting we narrowed down the list to around 35. Those who had made it to the second round were then assigned to committee members for further investigation. I signed up to interview five nominees, mostly in the first category. Many people, myself included, formed little groups to conduct the interviews.
By the second meeting of the committee, all members had submitted their findings. Eight of the nominees had been eliminated, due to their lack of interest or availability. One of my nominees fell into this category.
But choosing the winners from the remaining nominees was difficult; all were worthy. Most people were strong advocates for the nominees they had researched. Hard decisions had to be made. Some of the guidelines we followed were; 1) have awards in each of the categories, 2) strike a balance between East and West Village, 3) consider the timeliness of the award. Finally, after almost three hours, we selected 7 winners. Those were:
East Village Meat Market
Jaffe Art Theater Interior Restoration
Julius’ Bar
Smalls Jazz Club
Steve Cannon
The Strand Bookstore
Save Gansevoort
Only one of my nominees, the East Village Meat Market, was selected. I have happily shopped there for years, and when I saw they had been nominated, I jumped at the chance to learn more about them. To do this, another committee member and I met with Andrew Ilnicki, the store manager.
The store was opened in 1970 by Julian Baczynsky, who is Ukrainian and came to the U.S. in 1949. The store started as a meat market, but quickly morphed into an Eastern European community center. The neighborhood, at the time, had a large Ukrainian and Polish population, and residents were happy to have a store that featured the foods they had grown up with.
East Village Meat Market is mostly known for its smoked meats and sausages. Andrew took us to the back of the store to see how they are made. As we advanced, the smell became intoxicating. In the prep area there are five large German machines from the 1950s—a meat grinder, slicer, mixer, chopper and sausage maker. It is incredible that they are still running, but Andrew explained that they are coddled, as they cannot be replaced. And it is these machines, in large part, that make the sausages so exquisite. There are also two floor-to-ceiling smokers, which use hickory chips. The first step in the sausage-making process is to cure the meat with salt and curing salt for five to seven days. After that, the meat is ground, garlic and pepper are added, and it is stuffed into natural casings (an art in itself!). Finally, the meat is smoked and then placed in a cooling box. Andrew explained that the process is more authentic even than in Poland, where there now exist regulations that require that preservatives be added.
The pork is sourced from the Hatfield Company, which obtains their hogs from small family-owned farms that follow a high level of animal welfare in the areas of nutrition, exercise and living conditions.
Today, the mix of customers is about 25% Ukrainian, 10% Polish, and the rest mostly East Village denizens. On weekends, there is a large table in the middle of the store with prepared foods, which are very popular.
Orthodox Easter is the busiest time of the year; customers travel from far-flung areas to procure the traditional foods they need for their celebrations. During this period, the smokers are running 24/7 and there are lines down the street.
Today, Mr. Baczynsky is 94 years old and still comes to the store every day for an hour. Unfortunately, he will not be able to attend the Awards Ceremony, but you can and should. It is a joyous event that honors those businesses and individuals that make the Village unique.
The 2016 GVSHP Annual Meeting and Village Awards
Tuesday, June 14th, 6:30-8:00 pm
The New School, 66 West 12th
A reception will follow the ceremony. Registration is free but required. To register, visit the GVSHP website. Hope to see you there!
