Beyond Brunch: How Liberman’s Luncheonette Continues a Six Decade Tradition

It stands in the center of Boro Park, a unique spot, serving up breakfast and lunch to patrons who have been loyal to this establishment for decades, as well as to new converts. 

The iconic sign atop the restaurant, located on Sixteenth Avenue and Forty-eighth street, is painted a unique blue color that we don’t see anymore in our age of digital, modern store signs… and a yellow Magen-David-shaped protrusion reads “kosher” in Hebrew. 

Inside the luncheonette, which has not changed much since its early days, Shloimy and Roz Liberman continue the tradition of decades—begun by the senior Mr. Liberman, a”h—of serving Boro Park residents their favorite foods for breakfast and lunch; always fresh, always familiar. BoroPark24 visited with the ‘couple behind the counter’ to hear about the traditions and about this unique spot that has been at this for six decades. 

It was the year 1962 when Tillie and Jacob Liberman took over the Kosher Restaurant at this corner of Boro Park, and began serving up a menu of foods that Jewish consumers loved. “He was a simple, Orthodox man, who was a stalwart member of the Young Israel of Boro Park (which then merged with Congregation Beth El),” recalls his daughter-in-law, Roz. 

As was common in those days, when the children would practically grow up in their family’s establishments, where their parents worked incredibly hard, young Shloimy Liberman internalized the precise methods for preparing the standard fare, such as egg salad, tuna salad, salmon croquettes, etc. “These items have been made exactly the same way for all these years,” the Liberman’s share. 

They soon gained a following: “From Rabbi Schor of Beth El, to Shaya of Texaco gas, a”h, and many other famous Boro Parkers of those days, Liberman’s became the spot for hot coffee, baked goods, and an array of wholesome breakfast and lunch items,” Roz recalls. In 1990, the senior Mr. Liberman passed away, and Shloimy was called up to bat… but he kept things exactly as they were, and that’s how it has remained for the ensuing thirty years. 

“We wake up at four every morning, so we can open at 7:30” says Mrs. Liberman. “Everything has to be made fresh every single day.” Without a doubt, the most challenging day of the year is Erev Pesach, when people are scrambling for some last-minute chometz. 

Anyone familiar with Liberman’s would instantly recognize their coffee, prepared the old fashioned way, in coffee pots. “We have been making the same coffee for fifty years (!), and people like it,” Roz says. 

One thing they would never change is their dedicated staff. “They’re like family.” And again, anyone who has ever visited Liberman’s will recognize the guys behind the counter, assembling sandwiches and flipping omelets with precision, based on years of experience. 

But there is one thing that they would not mind changing: “We have never taken a vacation in thirty years… and perhaps the time will come one day. In the meantime we will continue our dedication to serving the freshest food in the cleanest environment to our loyal patrons.”