Who Is Eli Zabar?
While the name Zabar is synonymous with smoked fish and the quintessential New York brunch, Eli Zabar envisioned a different kind of food store from his family's West Side landmark delicatessen. Inspired by the food halls and markets of London and Paris, Eli's has become an institution on Manhattan's Upper East Side, directly across town from the store and home where he grew up.
Born in New York City, youngest son of Louis and Lillian Zabar, founders of Zabar's.
Attends public and private schools in New York City.
Graduates from Columbia University.
Opens E.A.T. gourmet food shop and café at 1064 Madison Avenue.
Opens E.A.T. boutique in Henri Bendel's famed "Street of Shops".
Opens second freestanding E.A.T. store in Rhinelander mansion at Madison Avenue and East 72 Street
Begins baking bread at E.A.T. and selling to local restaurants.
Sells Rhinelander lease to Ralph Lauren and leaves Henri Bendel.
E.A.T. Gifts opens next door to E.A.T., at 1062 Madison Avenue.
E.A.T. doubles in size, café becomes a restaurant and begins serving dinner.
E.A.T. Gifts triples in size - it moves into the building next door.
Opens Eli's Bread, a 15,000 square-foot bakery on East 91st Street
Opens Eli's Vinegar Factory, a grocery store and café in what was once New York's last factory for producing mustards and vinegars.
Builds greenhouses on the roof of the Vinegar Factory and begins growing salad greens and tomatoes.
Opens "Across The Street" on East 91st Street with a very market driven menu. The restaurant receives 2 stars from The New York Times.
Introduces Home Shopping Service Definition: home shop (hom shop) v. the art of transforming your grocery list into a boxed order of exceptional quality—delivered directly to your door or (doorman)!
Inspired by the flower shops he loves in Paris, adds a flower shop to Eli's Manhattan.
Opens TASTE Restaurant & Wine Bar next door to Eli's Manhattan
Inspired by his own growing wine collection, opens W.I.N.E & Sprits Shop next door to TASTE.
Launches website www.elizabar.com
Begins annual wine trips to Burgundy.
Begins making ice cream and opens summer ice cream store at Eli's Manhattan
Experiments in chocolate making begin, resulting in a collection of bars and ganache filled bon bons and salty caramels enrobed in chocolate
Adds Kosher Bakery to Eli's Manhattan, selling
European-style kosher breads.
Re-opens the historic Amagansett Farmers Market in partnership with the Peconic Land Trust
Opens the first Eli's Essentials, a "pop-up" grab & go next door to the Whitney Museum of Americian Art.
Opens Eli's Bread and Pastry at Grand Central Market
Across the aisle, opens Farm to Table at Grand Central Market
Bursting with vigor, opens Eli Essentials Grab & Go Shops at:
74th Street and Madison Avenue,
87th Street and Lexington Avenue,
91st Street and Madison Avenue.
People start to ask if he is taking over the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
The number of craft beers being poured around New York make it an obvious choice for the newest Essential's store. 12 local draft beers are available daily. The next generation gets involved. Oliver Zabar can be found behind the bar many evenings.
The success of the wine program at
Eli's Table inspires the addition of a wine bar to the
Eli's Essentials store at 91st and Madison. "As a longtime Upper East Sider, I wanted to open a wine bar for the neighborhood to enjoy great food and great wine in a more casual setting."
Eli's Bread launched it's own
website , making it easy for wholesale customers to view the entire product line.
Thanksgiving 2016 was the last day of business at Eli's beloved Vinegar Factory.
A decision to return the VF to its original manufacturing function and to centralize retail operations at his flag-ship store on Third Avenue prompted the closing.
Just before Christmas, an empty space in Grand Central Market became available and Eli "popped-up" a food centric version of EAT Gifts. Half a way into 2017 it's still going strong.
Eli renovated his Essential store at Lexington & 87: elis Essentials Grab & Go Cafe. Transforms come 5:30pm, into neighborhood wine bar - Bar 87.
Eli partners with Frederique Jules to bring NOGLU from Paris to New York. He is able to offer this exceptional range of gluten free French-style pastries to his customers.
November: Oliver Zabar opens
DEVON NYC.
Eli's opens a new event space to accommodate everyone from adults to tots!
What's Eli got cooking next, you might ask?