Frankel’s

A Brooklyn Deli in the Old Mold

The Jewish delicatessen in New York has spent the better part of two decades in structural decline. Rents gutted the midtown institutions; changing eating habits thinned the customer base; and the craft itself, labor-intensive and low-margin, resisted the economics that sustained other food categories through the same period. What remained were a handful of legacy counters in Manhattan, a clutch of outer-borough survivors, and a newer wave of operators who chose to revive the form rather than update it beyond recognition. Frankel's, at 631 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, belongs to that revival tier. Its presence on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats list for North America in both 2023 and 2024, reaching rank 355 in the latter year, signals recognition inside a serious food-criticism community that treats value and craft as compatible rather than competing.

Greenpoint as Deli Territory

Greenpoint does not carry the same deli associations as the Upper West Side or Katz's block on the Lower East Side, and that is partly the point. The neighborhood's dining character in recent years has organized around small, independent operators working in formats that require craft over capital: bakeries, natural wine bars, specialty coffee. A traditional Jewish delicatessen fits that framework more naturally than it might appear. It draws from the neighborhood first, then from the city's broader contingent of deli-seekers willing to cross the water for something outside the established circuit. That geographic positioning, slightly off the tourist and lunch-rush grid, is also why advance planning matters more here than it might at a larger midtown counter.

Planning Your Visit: What the Hours Mean in Practice

The editorial angle worth dwelling on is logistics. Frankel's is closed on Mondays and operates on a 8:30 am to 3 pm window Tuesday through Sunday. Those hours define a specific kind of visit: this is a morning and midday operation, not a dinner destination or a late-afternoon drop-in. The closing time of 3 pm is earlier than most diners expect from a full-service counter, and the Monday closure means a weekend-only plan should target Saturday or Sunday, both of which fall within operating hours. For visitors building a broader New York itinerary, the timing fits cleanly into a late morning or early lunch slot before the afternoon. Anyone treating this as a spontaneous stop on a walk through Greenpoint should check the day and time before committing the detour.

For context on how the rest of the city's dining scene fits around a visit like this, the full New York City restaurants guide maps the range from counter-service institutions to the four-star tier occupied by places like Le Bernardin and Atomix. The New York City hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide round out planning across a longer stay. The wineries guide is relevant for those extending into the outer boroughs more broadly.

The Deli Form and What Frankel's Represents in It

Jewish delicatessen cooking has a narrow canon: cured and smoked meats, rye bread, pickles, egg preparations, and a handful of hot dishes derived from Ashkenazi home cooking. The craft argument centers on the meats, specifically on whether the pastrami and corned beef are made in-house or sourced, how the smoking and curing are handled, and whether the bread holds up structurally under the weight of a proper stack. Operators who treat these as sourcing decisions rather than production decisions produce a different result from those who control the process. Frankel's, under Alex Frankel, operates in a category where that distinction is the entire reputation. The OAD Cheap Eats recognition does not get extended to counters coasting on brand recognition from a legacy name; it requires the food to substantiate the ranking in a program that covers the full continent. Comparable deli recognition outside New York has gone to operations like Attman's Delicatessen in Baltimore and Brent's Deli in Northridge, Los Angeles, each of which built their standing on meat quality and consistency over decades. Frankel's is operating in that same critical conversation, with a shorter history and a Brooklyn address that keeps it outside the legacy-name circuit.

What to Order

What can be said with confidence: a Jewish delicatessen earns its OAD Cheap Eats ranking through its core cured-meat program, not through peripheral items. The cured and smoked meat preparations, paired with the bread program, are where any serious deli reveals its quality tier. Egg dishes and sides function as supporting evidence. Order from the center of the menu, not the edges.

Reputation and Standing

Frankel's has built its recognition on two consecutive years of OAD Cheap Eats inclusion, a program that functions as one of the more rigorous signals in the accessible dining category precisely because it is critic-driven rather than crowd-sourced. The 2024 rank of 355 in North America, across a continent-wide list, places it in company that extends well beyond New York's own deli scene. That standing is more meaningful than local press coverage because it positions Frankel's against serious operations in other cities, including institutions like Emeril's in New Orleans, format-specific destinations like Lazy Bear in San Francisco, and technically driven tasting-menu operations like Alinea in Chicago, Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg, The French Laundry in Napa, and Providence in Los Angeles. The comparison is not meant to equate formats, but to clarify the significance of continental Cheap Eats recognition: it is a category of its own, evaluated against other serious operators in the same value tier, not simply against other Brooklyn counters.

Planning Reference

Frankel's is located at 631 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 8:30 am to 3 pm. Closed Mondays. No booking method or website confirmed in available data; walk-in is the expected format for a counter operation of this type. OAD Cheap Eats North America: Recommended (2023), Ranked 355 (2024).