For more than two decades, Dani Lubnitzki was the resident lounge singer and pianist at Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse on the Lower East Side, where bottles of vodka were served lodged in blocks of ice and the entertainment was as schmaltzy as the chopped liver.
“It’s like a disco with comedy,” said Mr. Lubnitzki, 67, who performs under the stage name Dani Luv.
The restaurant was a home for the musician, who delivered smutty insults to diners’ faces and performed renditions of “Hey Jude” (his version is called “Hey Jew”), “Dayenu” and the Hora six nights a week until the coronavirus pandemic brought indoor dining to halt.
“It was March 14, a Saturday night, we had 300 people on the book,” he said. “And we were left with 40. Somehow it was a fun night.”
The restaurant shuttered entirely in early 2021, forcing Mr. Lubnitzki to take his one-man show — garish and heavy on the shiksa jokes — on the road. He’s been hustling as a freelancer ever since. He held a residency at Edith’s in Williamsburg in 2022, but has mostly relied on one-off gigs: bar mitzvahs, birthdays and house parties.
Now, Sammy’s Roumanian is planning its return, this time at 112 Stanton Street, a few blocks from its previous location on Chrystie Street. The new restaurant will open on May 3, the owner, David Zimmerman, said. Mr. Lubnitzki will be back, too.
He grew up in Israel and moved to New York in 1982 at 25 years old. He later married and moved back to Israel in 1993, but just before he left he landed an unusual, high-profile job as the entertainment for a private party — for Billy Crystal. It was his first appearance at Sammy’s Roumanian. Mr. Lubnitzki and his wife divorced after a few years and in 1998 he returned to New York. A month later he was at the restaurant again, the start of his 22-year-run.
“It was really beshert,” he said, using the Yiddish term for destiny. “It was crazy.”
Mr. Lubnitzki lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens.
STILL DARK If I didn’t work on Saturday, I will wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning and go to Starbucks, or I’ll go to the local diner, Blue Bay Diner, that has the best coffee in the world. And I will have like four or five cups of coffee to get ready for Manhattan’s energy.
I like this little adventure, to wake up when it’s still dark. I usually get a bagel and cream cheese or an omelet, which I feel more comfortable eating here because there’s no bacon on the same grill. I’m not very, very kosher, but when it comes to meat I am.
ALTERNATIVE GREETINGS Then I’ll go to Manhattan to meet friends or Linda, my ex-girlfriend. I’m not a subway guy. I have an S.U.V., a little car I lease, and I take the car. That’s the reason I can’t live in the city. It’s crazy with a car. I find parking on Sundays. Usually I’ll go to the Lower East Side. I get a lot of: “Dani Luv, Dani Luv, what’s going on? When’s Sammy’s coming back?” And people giving me the finger, all in the spirit of fun. I live for these moments. I love it.
SMELLS LIKE MANHATTAN I’ll meet my friends or my ex-girlfriend for lunch, or a late brunch. For lunch, some of our regular spots are The Smith; Pylos, a Greek restaurant; sometimes Little Poland; Veselka; Second Avenue Deli, I love. I was a pescatarian for 13 years, but a year and a half ago I started eating meat again. It’s amazing how the compulsion came back for hot pastrami and stuff like that. I like very Eastern European food — stuffed cabbage — or very Middle Eastern, like spicy fish, shawarma, hummus and falafel. Also just dairy. I love dairy.
It’s like a long Sunday kind of thing: We’re sitting for sometimes two or three hours and talking with musicians or just interesting people. I’m an ex-smoker, so afterward coffee, no cigarettes, but some of my friends smoke. I’m a cigarette-holic. Even though I haven’t smoked for 14, 15 years, I still love the smell. It smells like Manhattan. It registers fun.
JAM SESSION Food kills me; I need an activity right away. I can fall asleep in the restaurant. Usually we then go to someone’s apartment. We may work on comedy or have a jam session. My friends play the saxophone, the flute, the guitar. Some of them are Israelis, some of them American; they’re all great musicians. When we’re really jamming it could go until very late. I have a lot of friends in the city, but in the middle of the week everyone is busy, so if I have a Sunday it’s like a party. I love days — they’re optimistic — but I’m a night person. Basically, everything is upside down.
THE CITY’S SPOILS Some Sundays I’ll go shopping for my six grandkids, especially for kids’ clothes. I go with Linda because I don’t know what to buy. I mean, I know what to buy for me — it’s always a black shirt and black pants. Those days it’s shopping and that’s it. Other days we’ll go to a museum, or get half-price theater tickets and see a Broadway musical or a straight play, which can be very interesting or boring. The city offers so much culture, but it’s because of Linda and other friends who know what’s going on that I get to take advantage.
A DOSE OF OPTIMISM When I get home, the first thing is Netflix. I like very optimistic movies. I no longer have a stomach for violence and all that. I watch sweet movies with good endings and love stories that I wouldn’t necessarily have watched 20 years ago. Some of them are very good; some of them are plastic. I watch a lot of Christmas movies — I’ll fall asleep with a movie on. I will do half a movie, sleep for a couple of hours, wake up and continue. I’m like a Jewish vampire — I live in the night.
I’m 67, but I feel like I’m 30 or 40. It’s crazy. Hopefully I’ll have another 10 years at the new Sammy’s, and my Sundays will be there.
Sunday Routine readers can follow Dani Luv on Instagram @iluvdaniluv.
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