Jewish dairy restaurant

[4] Descended from the milchhallen or "milk pavilions" of Europe, they began appearing in the Jewish immigrant community of the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where there were at one time hundreds of dairy restaurants.

[10][11] Dairy restaurant menus include items such as potato latkes, gefilte fish, matzo brei, vegetarian (milkhiker) borscht, kugel, protose (a synthetic vegetable meat substitute), pierogies, milk toast, poppy seed cakes, buttermilk, cheese blintzes and kreplach, as well as American dishes such as scrambled eggs or tuna salad.

[14] As of 2024, B&H is still operating as one of the few, last remaining Jewish dairy restaurants in New York's former Yiddish theater district, and is run by an Egyptian Muslim and Polish Catholic couple.

[18] A restaurant known as Steinberg's on the Upper West Side was beloved by writers and theater people and a refuge for Zero Mostel when he was blacklisted.

[24] In 2022, New York's B&H Dairy received a grant (from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express) to redo its landmark facade.

[31] In 2023, vegetarian restaurants gained a vote of approval by Conservative Judaism's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which incorporates the movement's leniency for cheese made with animal rennet.