Tag #130618 - Interview #87383 (Carol Margulies)

As a child, before I went to school, I spent most of my time in my uncle’s house. They didn’t have children and enjoyed having me around. Uncle Sandman would take us for a ride in his car and sometimes to the restaurant. There were many Jewish restaurants in Czernowitz to choose from. In the evening, we would go with our aunt [and Sandman] to eat; they were kosher. Friedman’s was particularly famous. They even had music. They didn’t serve meat, only vegetables and milk. They had red beet soup. They don’t eat red beet here [in Transylvania]. We used to, and I taught my wife how to cook it. There was another restaurant called La dracu [Hell’s] [Editor’s note: pun based on the Romanian expression ‘as far away as hell’]. It was really far away, but people still went there. They had various bands playing and you could hear their music from a distance. For a few lei, a carriage would take you there. In the evening, you could go to the cinema or theater. At midnight or 1am, you could still buy hot sausages from people who sold them in the street. They kept them in special carts.