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(New York Jewish Week through JTA)-Film producer Bakers Schwartz has heard throughout her childhood the story of Bernstein in Essex, which is in the Lower East Side A kosher Chinese restaurant. 

"The way my family talked about it, I think no matter what'Bernstein on Essex Street' is—[it] is just this glowing utopia in the distance," she told the New York Jewish Weekly. "It's kind of like Disneyland."

In some ways-at least among some Jewish New Yorkers-Bernstein is a bit like Disneyland: it's the only kosher Chinese restaurant in the city. 

Today, the options for kosher food are almost endless. Diners can choose from Italy, the Middle East, China, India, etc. But as early as the 1960s and 70s, Bernstein (also known as Schmulka Bernstein's) in Essex was one of the few adventurous kosher restaurants, apart from old world favorites. This is a place where Jewish customers line up for dinner on Christmas Eve and then line up for snacks after dancing in the evening. It hosts family gatherings and business lunches. The menu is very wide ranging from traditional cooked food to Chinese dishes such as egg rolls and lo mein.

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This once-popular restaurant closed in the 1990s as part of a wave of restaurant and corporate reconstruction and renovations-including Ratner's (closed in 2004) and Garden Cafeteria (closed in 1983)-located in the once very Jewish Lower East Side. There is still something about Essex Bernstein, and its yellow and red neon signs are still a source of nostalgia for New York Jews of a certain age.

Thanks to an old advertisement about this place, Schwartz had the opportunity not only to celebrate this place, but also to remember his cousins ​​— yes, the legendary Bernstein turned out to be her cousin — and her family felt that Very proud. 

The ad was filmed at some point in the 1970s. Since its first release on YouTube in 2018 by the independent British archive Kinolibrary, the ad has repeatedly appeared on social media and mainstream media. They also released a four-minute clip taken in a restaurant where the sound has been lost.

"A kosher Chinese meal," the commentator said, because the ad showed a typical day in a restaurant: hot dogs on the grill, men ordering cooked food behind the counter, women eating and chatting while looking at the menu. "A strange and unlikely mixture, yes," the narrator said. "Maybe this is the secret of New York." 

Schwartz grew up in New Jersey and now lives in Manhattan. He discovered this video while studying the Jewish tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas - and immediately recognized Bernstein's name. They are cousins ​​that her family has been talking about. She knew their restaurant was of great significance to the Jewish community in New York, but the movie still surprised and delighted her.

On Monday, Schwartz posted the video on Twitter. "For a project I am working on, I found a 35mm lens of a Jewish Chinese restaurant in my family (by my mom and dad), Bernstein Restaurant on Essex Street," she wrote. 

For a project I am working on, I found a 35mm lens of a Jewish Chinese restaurant in my family (by my parents' side), Bernstein Restaurant on Essex Street. Most importantly, I think @imjasondiamond needs to see this https://t.co/Nwbe1jnlL8

Others shared their excitement when replying to her post. The writer Jason Diamond wrote: "My aunt used to talk about it as if it were the height of all food."

"I was fascinated by this place when I was a kid! We affectionately call it Schmulka Bernstein's, and I always get ribs," another user wrote. 

"Went there when shopping in the city center with my grandparents in the late 60s/early 70s. My grandfather would order a hot dog as an appetizer while waiting for a corned beef sandwich. This is where I learned to fall in love with Cel-Ray !" said the third person.

Bernstein of Essex opened in 1957 at 135 Essex Street. It is run by Solomon Bernstein, who named the restaurant after his father Schmurka, who is in Las Vegas. There is a kosher butcher on Delos Street. In 1959, Schmuerka Bernstein began offering Chinese food, using veal, beef and chicken liver instead of pork in some recipes.

The Bernsteins are cousins ​​of Schwartz's grandmother, and she talks about restaurant owners as if they are celebrities.

"The Bernstein family came to my brother's side like the biggest deal," she said. "When I was a kid, it became a song playing in my mind:'The Bernsteins are here! The Bernsteins are here!'" 

"For me, this is exactly what my grandmother is obsessed with because they are family members," she added, "so it's nice to see that the restaurant is also important to them." 

Over the years, Bernstein’s memory of Essex has existed in various forms, from an article by Bowery Boogie last year, to a feature of the Columbia University "Mapping Yiddish New York" research project, to The empty storefront of The New York Times. Colombian journalism professor Ari Goldman wrote a nostalgic article in the 2012 Jewish Weekly.

Sol Bernstein's niece Michele Clark also wrote a blog about her childhood in the Lower East Side, which focused on Bernstein in Essex .

Today, 135 Essex seems to be occupied by the new American bar and restaurant Sons of Essex. Before that, it was a Chinese meat wholesaler. There are hookah bars, taco shops, dentist offices and luxury apartment buildings in the same block. 

In other words: a strange and unlikely mixture. But maybe this is the secret of New York. 

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