Moscow On Hudson, Ave U’s Oldest Russian Deli, Closes

It’s always a heart-breaker for me when an establishment has been around so long that it becomes part of the landscape, then closes before I get around to that promise I made to myself to stop in and try it. Moscow on Hudson at 1920 Avenue U is one of those places.

I used to spend a lot of time on this stretch of Avenue U when I was in high school or visiting from college, and I’d always pass this Eastern European deli and bakery. I knew it was one of the oldest in the neighborhood – certainly one of the first Eastern European places I saw on Avenue U or in Sheepshead Bay generally – establishing itself at its small storefront much earlier than the later bazaars that serve up larger selections on plots with much larger square footage (see: Net Cost Market, Cherry Hill Gourmet, et cetera). I had planned to stop in for some pirozhki or salads or maybe smoked salmon, which I heard they had the freshest in the area.

But, alas, that will not happen. When I walked by last week – fully prepared to keep walking and visit it another day – some construction caught my eye and dragged the storefront out of the landscape and into focus. The gates were down, the innards were out. Moscow on Hudson is no more.