 | |
| Industry | Restaurants |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1964 |
| Headquarters | New York, New York, U.S. |
Number of locations | 17 [1] (1970) |
| Products | Fast food German cuisine |
Zum Zum was a New York City based restaurant chain that operated from the 1960s to the 1980s. The restaurants served German cuisine.
The rights were purchased in early 2022 by William Belida, owner of The Salon Group in NYC and is in the process of re-launching with an updated menu and brand focus.
Joe Baum, the president of Restaurant Associates, opened the first branch of Zum Zum in the Pan Am Building in concert with the opening of the 1964 World's Fair. The restaurants were unique in offering only counter seating. The menu included a variety of German wurst and freshly smoked meats. [1]
In Germany many restaurant signs begin with Zum which means To The.
The Zum Zum logo featured a sausage in the shape of the letter "U". [2] It was designed by George Lois and Kurt Weihs in 1963.
New York Times restaurant critic Craig Claiborne wrote about the food: "The Zum Zum's sausages, whether bauernwurst or a frankfurter, are well seasoned and with good texture. The sausage salad, on the other hand, is an interesting idea but disappointing in preparation. Like the restaurant's potato salad, it seems vitally lacking in ingredients that would elevate its character, chopped onion, for example, chopped pickle and more herbs such as parsley. It is too bland for one palate." [3]
When Zum Zum opened a restaurant in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1969, The Harvard Crimson's restaurant critic Esther Dyson described its fare as follows: "Unless you like German food — about five different kinds of wursts — it's best to stick to the frankfurter with sauerkraut, a big juicy hotdog for 35 cents. The desserts, doughnuts, fruit salad, and apple crumbles, are also cheap and good. What Zum Zum does best is breakfast, the standard fare plus apple pancakes, although you have to eat it off pewter plates. A nice filling breakfast with assorted German jams and maple syrup will cost you just a dollar." [4] Dyson also noted that the restaurant did not supply ketchup, "being strictly German," but instead had "china pots of mustard cutely labeled 'Das Sweet' and 'Das Hot'." [5]
Zum Zum was mentioned in the 1974 Jobriath song "Scumbag," which in turn inspired a reference to "Zom Zom's" in the Gary Numan song "Down in the Park." [6] [7]
Zum Zum is also referenced in the 2005 memoir written by Jeannette Walls called “The Glass Castle”. It’s revealed her older sister, Lori, worked there as a server.
The cuisine of Germany consists of many different local or regional cuisines, reflecting the country's federal history. Germany itself is part of the larger cultural region of Central Europe, sharing many culinary traditions with neighbouring countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic. In Northern Europe, in Denmark more specifically, the traditional Danish cuisine had also been influenced by German cuisine in the past, hence several dishes being common between the two countries.
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A hamburger, also called a burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon or chilis with condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish or a "special sauce", often a variation of Thousand Island dressing and are frequently placed on sesame seed buns. A hamburger patty topped with cheese is called a cheeseburger.
Brunch is a meal, sometimes accompanied by alcoholic drinks, taken sometime in the late morning or early afternoon – the universally accepted time is 10am-1pm. The meal originated in the British hunt breakfast. The word brunch is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch. The word originated in England in the late 19th century, and became popular in the United States in the 1930s.
A hot dog is a dish consisting of a grilled, steamed, or boiled sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener or a frankfurter. The names of these sausages commonly refer to their assembled dish. Hot dog preparation and condiments vary worldwide. Typical condiments include mustard, ketchup, relish, onions in tomato sauce, and cheese sauce. Other toppings include sauerkraut, diced onions, jalapeños, chili, grated cheese, coleslaw, bacon and olives. Hot dog variants include the corn dog and pigs in a blanket. The hot dog's cultural traditions include the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
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Currywurst is a fast food dish of German origin consisting of steamed, fried sausage, usually pork, typically cut into bite-sized chunks and seasoned with curry ketchup, a sauce based on spiced ketchup or tomato paste topped with curry powder, or a ready-made ketchup seasoned with curry and other spices. The dish is often served with french fries.
A fish fry is a meal containing battered or breaded fried fish. It usually also includes french fries, coleslaw, macaroni salad, lemon slices, tartar sauce, hot sauce, malt vinegar and dessert. Some Native American versions are cooked by coating fish with semolina and egg yolk.
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Olivier salad is a traditional salad dish of Russian cuisine. Its creation is generally attributed to Lucien Olivier.
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Cricket Cafe is a restaurant in Portland, Oregon. The cafe's slogan is "champions of breakfast", offering the meal throughout the day with additional lunch options. It has received a generally positive reception, especially for its Bloody Marys, vegetarian options, and biscuits and gravy. Previously owned by Dan Bartkowski, the cafe closed unexpectedly in June 2017. Gordon Feighner and Katie Prevost reopened Cricket Cafe months later.
Dockside Saloon and Restaurant, or simply Dockside, is a diner and dive bar in Portland, Oregon, United States. Established in 1986, the nautical-themed, New American restaurant is known for being where incriminating evidence against Tonya Harding related to the assult of Nancy Kerrigan was dumped in 1994.