Guss' Pickles - Why are they moving to Brooklyn?

It seems like Guss' Pickles will be out of the Lower East Side around the end of the year. It will be the end of a 99-year tradition, and another LES mainstay to join the list of mom-and-pop shops that can't pay the new, ridiculously high rent of the neighborhood.

The LES used to be the place for pickles. Guss' dates back to the 1900s, when a Polish immigrant named Isidor Guss opened up a stand. There were vendors all over the place. But with Guss' up and moving to Brooklyn, one of the traditions of Jewish immigrant life is that much closer to disappearing.

Apparently the rent has become too high for Pat Fairhurst, the owner, and the space just isn't big enough for her to brine the way she wants. The other day when I was down there I bought two pickles: a three-quarter sour, and a spicy pickle. Other varieties are half-sour and full-sour. They were both delicious, even though the spicy pickle was so hot my ears started burning. It was a wonderful taste experience.

The gentrification of the Lower East Side has brought along many wonderful eateries, including Il Laboratorio del Gelato, a homemade ice cream stand on Orchard Street, and the Roasting Plant, also on Orchard, a cafe that roasts its coffee beans freshly every day. But what about the shops of immigrant life that have survived the years? There are still a few knisherys and delis scattered throughout the neighborhood, but it seems like the loss of Guss' is just the continuation of an old-world exodus.



Probably the spiciest pickle in New York - maybe on earth.