Inspired by the classic Mel Brooks’ movie, The Producers, Bialystok and Bloom on Clinton Avenue serves the food needs of Rockville Centre and its surrounding areas. Rahul Handa purchased the business 20 years ago from the original owners, and it’s still going strong. Here, Handa explains what it’s like to feed Rockville Centre.
How did you come up with the name?
One of the original partners used to (produce) commercials. He was a Mel Brooks fan. The name was what originally drew me to the business because I was a fan as well. I had actually worked for the guys for a short time. I saw how dysfunctional they were and I said, "Boy, if I could ever run this sort of place, I would run it totally (different)." I went to culinary school for a few years, worked on my skills, worked in some places in the city and Canada, and finally made my move to buy the business from the last partner.
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What are some of your most popular items?
We have a chicken salad, which is a chicken, walnut and dill salad. That’s a huge hit for us. We sell about 100 pounds of that per week.
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What is your busiest time of day?
Lunch time. We used to be more of a breakfast place at our other location. I wanted to be more of a lunch business and it has (become that).
What kind of party platters do you offer?
There are standard party platters that we do, probably about 15 or so. There are things like crudites, cheese platters, antipasto platters and sandwich platters. But that’s a very small percentage of what we do when it comes to catering. I have a 12-page catering menu, plus there’s probably another dozen or so menus that go along with that. We also have people that say, "there’s so much on the website that I’m overwhelmed." I’ll sit down with them and come up with stuff that’s not even on the website.
What can customers find on your website?
They can find seasonal menus and specialty package menus, such as bridal and baby showers, communions and confirmations. There are summer packages where we use only seasonal items and appetizer menus. We’ve gotten to the point where people will have parties using just our appetizers. We do a lot more than people realize. The website in packed with information.
