To walk-in customers like me, Bassett is also a deli, a pizzeria, and the ostensible source of a sandwich I learned of first on Chowhound: Chinese roast pork, on garlic bread, with duck sauce. In Arthur Schwartz's book on Jewish home cooking — it's both illuminating and amusing, especially if you've never had to give pork a second thought — he described it as "an exquisite example of Jewish crossover food."
It's an example on the verge of disappearing, alas. Adelman's, a Kings Highway kosher delicatessen where a "particularly well done" version substituted "roasted veal for the trayf meat," according to Schwartz, closed in 2013. (See also comments below.) Several Chowhounds, after casting their gaze hither and yon, suggested that home kitchens might be the best hope. For its part, Bassett's does list Asian pork loin on the menu board; the red-rimmed meat, sliced thin, can be heated at your discretion. But my counterman didn't know from garlic bread — prosaic "Italian bread" was the only choice for a hero ($7.25). No duck sauce, either; I made do with lettuce, tomato, and spicy brown mustard.
Also shown, from a vast array of Drake's and Hostess snack cakes: Devil Dogs (99 cents). For what it's worth, these were the same as ever.
Bassett Caterers
1404 Ave. X (East 14th-East 15th Sts.), Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
718-332-9000
www.BassettCaterers.com
