I never had a bubbe, but I do have a safta. She’s small and she’s old and she lives in Israel. Every time I see her, she serves me lots of very simple food on flowery plates that’s she’s had for decades. The schnitzels might not be particularly unique or fancy, but they’re perfect because they remind me of summers on her kibbutz and being a child with no responsibilities. Nostalgia in breadcrumbs. 

This is the feeling that Jeremy Salamon is trying to invoke at Agi’s Counter. A small, cosy spot a stone’s throw away from the modern Jewish ghetto of Crown Heights, Agi’s is a little slice of old-world Jewishness, packaged in a yuppie exterior. The Agi in question is Salamon’s Hungarian grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who left the continent during the Hungarian revolution of 1956, eventually settling in Jewish expat paradise in Boca Raton.

According to Salamon, Agi was a huge influence on him, both culinarily and emotionally growing up and you can tell his fondness for her in the way he has lovingly refreshed classics like chicken paprika and deviled eggs. 

The food at Agi’s hits the sweet spot of small but not too small, fussy but not too fussy. The deviled eggs are largely how you’d expect, but come plated over a dill reduction that invigorates the dish, making it feel light rather than claggy, fresh rather than stodgy. It’s not your grandmother’s cooking, but it harks back to an earlier time, nothing is overcomplicated, it's all thoughtful and well-executed. 

Devilled eggs reinvented

The portions are more than generous, and the food light enough for a sweltering New York summer. There’s a perception that the cuisines of central or eastern Europe is uniformly dense and heavy and pickled, but Agi’s shows how you can bring life where once was stodge – Salamon’s semolina dumplings and morel mushrooms evoking a sort of summertime matzah ball soup and the exquisite shmaltz potatoes, a sort of fat Jewish chip. 

Salamon’s menu is accompanied by an all-Hungarian wine list, not something that would usually fill me with much optimism. But the wines are well chosen and the staff more than happy and able to walk diners through the options and how they compare to more classic varietals. 

Perfect palacsinta (pancakes)

Agi’s is aiming for, and hits that sweet spot between traditional and traditionally inspired, old school and nouvelle. As Salamon told the NY Jewish News, “We’ve had younger folks who say, ‘I get that it’s not authentic, it’s not traditional, but, at the core, I see what’s happening here.’”

And it’s a formula that’s paid off. Agi’s was nominated for a prestigious James Beard award, as well as included in NY’s Michelin guide as a Bib Gourmand, with good reason. It’s the sort of place that while you’re there, you can almost imagine a grandmother insisting you’ve got room, for just one more dish. 

Agis’s Counter (not kosher) is at 818 Franklin Ave., New York, 11225, USA. Executive chef Jeremy Salamon is releasing his first book this September: Second Generation Hungarian and Jewish Classics Reimagined for the Modern Table