Ken & Zuke’s to Open

13 Responses to Ken & Zuke’s to Open

1. Nancy Rommelmann says:

   October 17, 2007 at 5:14 pm

   Just peeked in – so cute! And, they have rugelach! I hope the food is great.
2. Cuisine Bonne Femme says:

   October 17, 2007 at 6:07 pm

   I had a bagel there recently and it was pretty kick butt. Also, the pastrami burger. Oh. My. God. A burger, but a really good burger, stacked with pastrami, kraut, a little bit of mayo based sauce and served with tomatoes, lettuce, and house made zucchini pickles on the side. Really over the top, but incredible. The pastrami was as good as it gets.
3. lilhuna says:

   October 17, 2007 at 6:07 pm

   It did indeed “softly” open today, but it’s not quite finished yet, still workman running around. They are supposed to “officially” open next Tuesday. I would suggest waiting until then, or else be prepared for bumpy service.

   The bagels are fantastic though!
4. pdxcity-state says:

   October 17, 2007 at 9:04 pm

   I ate there today and was absolutely blown away. I haven’t had pastrami that good outside of New York City.
5. pdxyogi says:

   October 20, 2007 at 3:41 pm

   Ate yesterday, had the Reuben which was fantastic, service the same. Was not impressed with the knish; it’s nothing like Schimmel’s of NY. The filling was fine albeit too peppery. The dough was too thick and, um, too doughy. Really enjoyed the kugel, was almost as good as what grandmother used to make. They have a huge soda selection, had the huckleberry, which neither tasted nor looked like huckleberry (red???). For takeout got some smoked sablefish which was just about perfect. Bagels are really good, somewhat reminiscent of McZlaw’s PFM ones of yore; hopefully they’ll get the full hang of making them perfectly in a few weeks. I prefer a little thicker, as in Kettleman’s.
   It’s still the soft opening, 20% off through Sunday night. They’ve been busy.
6. FoodJoy says:

   October 24, 2007 at 5:17 pm

   Never have I been so enraged. A New York/Jewish transplant who has worked in delis from Phoenix to NYC since my early teens, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Kenny and Zukes. Never fully satisfied with Kettelmans and completely disgusted by Noah’s, I had high hopes for K&Z’s. Yesterday, my roommate and I headed out in search of, what I hoped, was a bagel Portland could pridefully treasure.
   The first disappointment I faced was the $1.35 per INDIVIDUAL, PLAIN BAGEL! I asked the lovely counter girl, “how? why?” She replied she didn’t know, but perhaps it was because all their bagel were cooked on site all day long. “Uh, ok,” I said to her while secretly thinking that several places make bagels all day on premises and never dare to charge more then .70 cents per plain bagel (even in one of the most expensive cities in the world).
   I expected, after learning of the on-site baking, that my bagel would be warm, fluffy on the inside, and with a nice crunch on the outside…until I saw the bagels.
   Small, dense, and anemic in appearance-my hopes continued to dwindle. As I bit into my bagel, I felt sad and taken advantage of. It was hard, unacceptably chewy, and tasted of yeast. I agree, that “great bagels need neither toasting nor butter. I prefer to taste my bagels first, plain and simple, not toasted, without spreads… but this bagel needed all the help it could get.
   Immediately, I called some bagel experts who tossed out a few possible excuses: Portland’s soft water (although Apizza Scholls and the Grand Central I go to make outstanding pizza crusts and breads respectively), or perhaps at K & Z they skip the essential step of boiling their bagels first.
   Who knows?
   However, what I know is that for $1.35 my bagel better be the best in the country. I will never make the mistake of shelling out that kind of cash for such a shoddy excuse for a bagel.
   The sandwiches might be great, and I am open to trying them. NY style sandwiches are usually stuffed with meat and around the same prices K&Z have them marked as. I anticipate some lovely pastrami and corned beef. I love latkes, pickles, mustard, and I am still willing to taste them all at Kenny and Zuke’s.
   But if the sandwich’s breads are cooked on the premises, like the bagels, I am sure to be waiting even longer until Portland satisfies true Jewish deli lovers’ desires.
   Shame on the $1.35 less than mediocre bagel! Shame, shame, shame!
7. Food Dude says:

   October 24, 2007 at 6:25 pm

   “Never so enraged”? Wow.

   Well, I’ll throw in my .02. My first impression was the bagels are a good deal. My second impression was they have just the right density and flavor. I don’t want them to be fluffy on the inside. They are the best I have had outside of the East Coast.
8. Nancy Rommelmann says:

   October 24, 2007 at 6:32 pm

   $1.35 doesn’t sound so bad to me. Sure, in Brooklyn, my hometown, you can get one for 60-cents, but there’s competition there, a bagel bakery every two blocks. Here, where are you going to find a bagel? I haven’t tried a K & Z, but as the saying goes: what’s something worth? what someone is willing to pay for it.
9. Papaki says:

   October 24, 2007 at 7:31 pm

   Hey, if you’re not happy with the bagels at Kenny & Zuke’s, you can always order some online from H&H Bagels in New York. They charge $60 for two dozen. That’s $2.50 a bagel (though the price does include overnight shipping).
10. pdxyogi says:

    October 24, 2007 at 9:37 pm

    “Never so enraged”? You’ve had an easy and charmed life then!
    In NY there’s tons of competition everywhere and the dense population supports constant production, so comparing prices is silly. But for the record: Reuben at Katz is $15.50, K & Z $11.50. Bagel and cream cheese at Katz (not made in-house) $3.00, K & Z $3.25.
    A bagel fluffy on the inside? Bleccchh. Surely you must be kidding. The top bagels in NY are chewy never fluffy. And of course they boil them.

    And for the record, I’ve publicly lambasted them elsewhere in the past for pastrami that was 2/3 fat. So I’m no shill.
11. sfspanky says:

    October 24, 2007 at 10:13 pm

    One thing to keep in mind is that flour prices have more than doubled in the last year. Bread prices should be going up just about everywhere if they already haven’t.
12. Cuisine Bonne Femme says:

    October 24, 2007 at 10:35 pm

    Me: Lived in town with lots of Jewish bakeries and delis growing up. Lived in NY, 6 blocks from Katz’s (Rivington and Clinton to be precise).

    Spent time in Montreal from the time I was a wee one with most recent visit 2 years ago. Yes, Montreal home of the famous Montreal style bagels, eating lots of bagels.

    Bagels at Kenny and Zukes: Not like most NY bagels, no. But textbook Montreal bagels done right and they way they are supposed to be, and really not that expensive. When was the last time you bought a “real” bagel in NY anyway? Toasted bagel with butter is currently $1.99 at Katz’s not including sales tax. And Nancy’s right, price is relative. If people are willing to pay for them (and it looks like they are, yours truly included), then they are worth it.

    Ah, as the old guys would probably say at the Jewish deli near my house growing up, “Ess, bench, sei a mensch!” Hey, but if you don’t like ‘em you don’t like ‘em.

    Leaves more for everyone else…
13. Food Dude says:

    October 25, 2007 at 12:30 am

    I’m going to close the comments on this thread, since it is already going in the forums. I don’t want split conversations.