Here’s to the Ladies Who Lunch

When Baz Bagel opened around the corner from us in May my wife and I couldn’t wait to celebrate the latest addition to the Jewish food revival on the Lower East Side (Black Seed and the Russ & Daughters Cafe had only opened months before). We took our daughter and ordered a bunch of dishes to share - Nova Scotia lox with scrabbled eggs, fresh bagels and even an appetizer platter.

Like seasoned pros the staff soon brought out a coloring book for our four-year-old. But this one was different, it featured line drawing illustrations of fashionable older New Yorkers; called Advanced Style. Olive was soon hard at work bringing her distinctive rainbow palette to a woman sporting big glasses and a tie and jacket. I said to my wife, “It looks like Elaine Stritch.” She came back, “It IS Elaine Stritch.”

The staff were pleased with Olive’s take on Ms. Stritch and added it to their collection, and since her passing last Thursday it’s hung prominently behind the counter as a memorial to the greatest lady who lunched.