Kashkaval

Named for a cheese common throughout the Balkans, Kashkaval sports an enticing deli counter and a rustic back room that's quiet by day but often hopping at night. Sadly, the few items I've sampled for takeout were unexciting: ajvar ($6.99 per pound), a spread of roasted red pepper, olive oil, and garlic that was not only mild, but tame; a spicy walnut pepper spread with oil, garlic, and parsley ($6.99 per pound) that, believe it or not, had too much walnutty crunch; and a beef borek ($3.95) surrounded by gummy phyllo.

Kashkaval
856 Ninth Ave. (55th-56th Sts.)
212-581-8282

Comments

[Neighborhood Girl]

I do not recommend ANYONE patronize this establishment, Kashkaval, EVER. The owner, a man named Pando, keeps dozens of cats and kittens locked in the cellar ... they receive no vet care, they are not spayed or neutered
(he refuses to do so, they are sick and malnourished and quite often the kittens escape into the streets of Hell's Kitchen, never to be seen again. This man is a cruel and ignorant abuser of animals. While he claims they are "his family," when he lost his last store (The Ninth Avenue Cheese Store) he dumped all his cats into the alley behind the store and abandoned them there. He does not deserve to be the caretaker of creatures that need attention and someone with a sense of responsibility. PLEASE do not give this man your money. He is a wretched human being.