Despite the best intentions, New Year’s resolutions seldom last long. Faced with the enticements at Delicacy International Market, resolutions that involve eating less are likely to evaporate.
At first glance, this tightly confined store looks like other urban groceries, with a selection of fresh produce - apples, pears, pomegranates, peppers and whatnot - by the entrance. But step up to the shelves of canned and jarred goods, and the complexion changes. The display has a decidedly Eastern European flavor, with an emphasis on several mushroom species (including king boletes, $12 for a 24-ounce jar), pickled vegetables and cans of fish (notably mackerel, herring and cod liver, from $2.29 to $4).
The owner, Andrey Kaplun, from Ukraine, is justly proud of Delicacy’s deli counter, which occupies a quarter of the shop.
“We cook everything from scratch, like my grandmother did,” he said. That includes a fine range of rye-based breads ($2.50 to $5) and numerous prepared foods, among which the mushroom-and-potato-stuffed pirogi ($1.50 apiece), cheese-filled crepes ($5 a pound) and stuffed cabbage ($6 a pound) are especially popular.
Then there are the assortments of caviar and smoked fish. Caviar runs from pike ($12.50 for a two-ounce jar) to paddlefish ($20 for one ounce) to beluga ($90 for a 125-gram tin), with many others in between. The fish - trout, mackerel, salmon, whitefish, sea bass — costs from $6 to $20 a pound.
Delicacy also stocks a fine array of cold cuts: various varieties of ham, head cheese, half a dozen bolognas and more than 24 salamis (from $3 to $9), any of which can be sampled in a sandwich ($4 to $5), along with a choice of accompaniments.
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