It was opened in 1938 by Abie Bergson and Jack Heller, who left not long after and new partner Sol Hausman (B&H) stepped in. The interior and menu have changed little since. In 1970, Bergson & Hausman sold the restaurant, which since has had two subsequent owners before being purchased in 2005 by Fawzy Abdelwahed, who runs B&H with his wife Ola, who he met when she worked at The Stage Diner (now c
losed), across the street. (She cleaned his glasses one day, and that was it!)
Together they run the restaurant along with their very loyal staff, many of which have been with them for over 10 years. Leo has been at B&H for 30 years! Fawzy and Ola consider their employees and customers to be B&H Family. B&H is located across from the historic The Orpheum Theater (home to "STOMP"). Years ago, this part of Second Avenue was known as the Yiddish Broadway. In 2017 B&H Dairy was honored with a Village Award by the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation. Over the years, B&H has fed generations of East Villagers, from hippies, bohemians, NYU students to actors, including Shelly Winters, Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Jack Klugman, and more recently, Nicole Kidman and Helen Mirren. Sarah Silverman is a huge fan, used to live in the building next door. Lily Tomlin lived upstairs in the 1960s. Take as seat at the B&H counter during a busy lunch hour and experience not only lovingly made traditional Easter European comfort food–from matzo brei to blintzes, pierogis, cabbage rolls to great soups, and their own challah bread–but the NYC melting pot in full swirl, as, in just one order shouted behind the counter, one can hear Arabic, English, Spanish and Polish. B&H is true living New York City history. As Florence Goldberg (daughter of Abie Bergson) told the Vanishing New York blog, "The store was (and still is) more than a place to eat, it was a happy place where friends got together to trade stories about their workday and their families.”
(No one is sure when the "Better Health" “B&H” sign was added, but it's been up since at least the 1940-50s, if not well before. According to Florence, "Sol Hausman coined the phrase 'Better Health'.”
