Food, Home and Style

Jeffrey’s Recession Dinner Makes Ends Meat

During the Depression, Jeffrey Ruhalter’s grandfather would send 20 pounds of ground beef each day to a tent city in New York, to help feed the hungry. “They would mix it with sawdust to feed more people,” Ruhalter said.

Though today’s situation has affected many New Yorkers,  it isn’t quite as dire. , as evidenced by the Recession Dinner the fourth-generation butcher sponsored at the Hotel on Rivington last night. On the menu were homemade ravioli, New York strip steak, and cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery.

But that doesn’t make Ruhalter’s gesture any less generous. He fed 150 people, including laid-off retailers, publicists, journalists, painters and lawyers, charging just $10 for  dinner. His shop, Jeffrey’s Meat Market on Essex Street provided the meat; he got fellow food purveyors to pony up other dishes. The restaurant provided the space and service. Ruhalter made his way around the room, introducing himself to guests and presenting pink roses to the women.

The event cost him “a lot of money,” he said. But he was inspired by the hardship he has seen this year.

“Three weeks ago, a woman came into my store,” he said at the end of dinner. “I know her—she’s like me and you.”

When her credit card was declined, she began to cry. “The look in her face I haven’t seen in so long,” he said, wiping a hand over his eyes. “She said, ‘Jeffrey, if I pay for this, I can’t buy other food.’”

He organized the dinner as a way to give back. Tonight there will be another event at Spur Tree on Orchard Street (for details call 212-477-9977); next month he plans to feed another 500 in seven different restaurants. You can support him by patronizing his shop, at 120 Essex Street on the Lower East Side.

Tags: eating, Food, Home and Style, giving back, Great Depression, Jeffrey Ruhalter, philanthropy