How to Cure a Hangover

B&H Dairy

127 2nd Ave. (betw. 7th st. & St. Marks pl.)

212-505-8065

When a friend came to me last Tuesday complaining that a Sunday drinking bout still had her out of commission, the answer was clear: a brisk walk from the Garden District to the East Village and a bowl of vegetable soup with challah ($3.80) and a stack of potato pancakes ($4.60) from B&H Dairy. There may be better soups in the city, though I haven't had them, but surely there are none that can so quickly take one from headache-wracked and queasy to the height of one's powers.

What is their secret? Who knows. There are no special ingredients in this soup, just fresh onion, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes and the usual seasonings. The wonderfully moist challah is made on the premises, but nothing obvious accounts for its restorative powers. And while the mystery of the potato pancake is plain-B&H serves them as thick, solid slabs, rather than as coarse crepes-one can't explain how something so heavy can sit so light with someone overcome by the powerful effects of too much Jim Beam followed by too much Old Crow followed by too much Old Granddad.

While this is just a guess, I suspect B&H's healing powers can be attributed partly to very old, very well-seasoned grills and boilers, partly to conscientiousness in making simple food well and in making it appeal to the stomach rather than the eye, and partly to the womb-like confines of the restaurant itself, which isn't much more than nine feet wide and can seat perhaps a dozen at tables no more than a foot and a half from the counter. Having someone friendly place a bowl of soup on a counter and leave it to you to wrestle it over the head of a kibitzer onto your table can cure even the most soused among us.

Whatever the reasons, the effects of B&H are undeniable; I've yet to see anyone leave the place unhappy. There are plenty of places in town where one can get a good meal, arranged delicately and served in lovely surroundings; plenty of places also serve a good sandwich or whatever and wear their shabbiness as something to be proud of. To my knowledge, however, none can absorb a two-day hangover.