Of Hemming and Herring

You enter Orchard Express on the Lower East Side, as if opening the tent flap of a Moroccan souk. Men of indeterminate ethnic backgrounds are hunched over sewing machines or gossiping and laughing both in front of and behind the counter. No matter how many people are clogged into the narrow aisle of the shop, I know I will get my pants marked with a chalk slash and hemmed within a half hour ($5/hem).Which leaves me with time for…a snack! But where to go? Fortunately, Russ and Daughters Cafe is across and a little down from Orchard Express.

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When in Holland Have a Haring (Sandwich)

The chef and I traded bites, and my paling paled beside his haring. I got food envy, and I immediately forgot my obsession with eel broodjes in favor of a new food fixation; sandwiched in a brown or white roll, two large pale pinkish slabs of just slightly brined raw herring were layered with crisp sweet pickles and diced white onion. It is a genius trifecta of taste, and I ate one every day of our five day trip.

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