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“Brunch in New York was not a thing…until I came along,” according to Sarabeth Levine.

 

Levine, the “queen of brunch,” has been running her New York City restaurant chain, Sarabeth’s, for more than 35 years.

 

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Sarabeth Levine in the Kitchen of the Sarabeth’s restaurant in the Upper East Side, 2018. (photo submitted.)

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The next time you think of mid-morning gatherings with friends and family while enjoying French toast and eggs Benedict, while sipping on a mimosa, you can thank Levine. Arlene Cohn, 87, from Queens, New York, was blown away after her first brunch at Sarabeth’s 20 years ago.

 

Cohn dined with friends after hearing about this up-and-coming restaurant from a member of her book club. Since then, Cohn has been ordering the same dishes of lemon ricotta pancakes and perfectly seasoned salmon.

 

At the age of 75, this award-winning chef and author is still working hands on in every kitchen she has opened. On most days, Levine wakes up at 6 a.m. in her Upper West Side apartment. She ties a green and pink floral apron around her waist, pulls her newly highlighted blue hair in a ponytail and begins to bake something sweet for breakfast.

 

Even though she is a chef with a multimillion-dollar company, Levine lives simply, as she did before success came her way.

 

Her house is neat and clean, with no dust to be found on anything. A black Steinway piano dominates the living room, which she says she enjoys playing in her free time. She also uses it to lay out snacks for guests to enjoy. The walls are a covered with green floral wallpaper and are dotted with family photos.

 

Levine’s kitchen looks like a gingerbread house would look: rustic with floral patterns, gold accents, honey colored floors, and the perpetual smell of fresh baked goods.

 

When she has guests, Levine prepares one of her famous desserts. On this day, she lovingly baked chocolate chip muffins. They were fresh, hot and gooey on the inside. Take a bite and you will feel like you are floating on a cloud.

 

Walk into the Sarabeth’s Central Park South location and you are welcomed with the smell of fresh ground espresso and brought to a table with shiny cocktail glasses and surrounded by golden armed chairs. 

 

In the restaurant kitchen, Levine is no Gordon Ramsay; no yelling, no banging pots, no cursing. The room is calm and filled with smiles and laughter. This is an environment where everyone feels like a family.

 

Just as in Levine’s home, the kitchens in her restaurants are spotless. Pans, silverware, and ingredients are where they are supposed to be. The chefs seem to be enjoying each other’s company. Easy laughter and conversation take place while they bake.

 

“Come on Levine, when are you going to put down the apron,” teases a chef. While kneading dough, Levine lifts up her head and grins grins. “Never,” Levine says.

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Timeline of the key events in Sarabeth’s history.

 

Now with 5 standalone restaurants in Manhattan and 1 in Florida, 5 are also located in the Lord & Taylor department stores. Worldwide, Sarabeth’s has 12 locations throughout Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Dubai.

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Maps made through Google MyMaps, by Marielle Abrahamson

 

Delicious Development​

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Levine’s success does not follow a typical recipe. Born on the South Shore of Long Island, Levine grew up in a family of seven that loved eating brunch together, because she claims that is all her mother knew how to make. From a young age, she was taught that the value of a meal is the pleasure it brings.

 

As the the the second oldest of her siblings, Levine felt her pressure to find her place in the workforce. After graduating from Long Island University at Post, where she studied business, she held a mix of jobs from a clothes designer to substitute teacher to oral surgeon’s assistant.

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At the age of 32, Levine had two children, Tina and Jennifer, with her ex-husband. As a single mother, Levine struggled between jobs in order to make ends meet.

 

In 1980, Levine worked as an insurance seller. She would cry to her mother on the phone, asking if she would ever become the successful woman she hoped to be. Levine felt envious of her siblings for their accomplishments, but her mother would tell her that it would all work out.

 

“She was right. It just took some time,” Levine said.

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 (Photos by Diana Mara Henry Papers (PH 51). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries)

 

That same year, Levine quit her job to follow her love for baking, born from all of those brunches that her mother made. While she baked with store bought jam, Levine could not find anything that tasted as amazing as her Great Aunt’s (who everyone called ‘Grand-mere’) marmalade, which she loved as a little girl. The flavor was orange-apricot, and the recipe was no longer used after Grand-meres death. Levine persuaded her Great Aunt to share the recipe, which had been a family secret for 100 years. She toiled with the recipe for months until it tasted as she remembered.

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In 1981, Levine met Bill Levine, her husband, who is now 86-years-old, at a singles group. At the time, Bill was working as a contractor for a new cafe in Manhattan and said the cafe needed something that would bring in more customers. “She had just the trick,” Bill said.

 

Levine made batches of the orange-apricot marmalade, packaged it in glass jars with customed stickers and patterned fabric on the lids. 

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Sarabeth Levine and Bill Levine outside of their first restaurant in 1981. (Photo by Diana Mara Henry Papers (PH 51). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries)

 

 

Bill took a spoonful of the marmalade and said “It was the most delicious spread I have ever tasted.” The marmalade was then carried in the cafe and sold out within days. Bill saw this success and knew that Levine could flourish by bringing her product to larger companies.

 

She went to Balducci’s, a gourmet food retailer, and pitched to them why they should sell her marmalade. Balducci's rejected the marmalade, but Levine wasn’t discouraged. She went to Bloomingdales’ retail department where in her pitch, claimed Balducci had an interest in her marmalade, which they did not. A few hours and a voicemail later, Levine’s marmalade caught its first big break when Bloomingdales agreed to carry it. Bill saw the attention Levine was drawing in and suggested she open a restaurant. Now, almost 40 years later, Levine owns restaurants from New York to Tokyo.

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"A Powerhouse"​

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It was not until middle school that Sammi Jo Albucker, Levine’s now 22-year-old granddaughter, realized her grandmother’s fame and success. Albucker recalled Levine visiting her school and teaching her classmates how to bake hamantaschens, the triangular-shaped cookie for Purim, the Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from an evil dictator.

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Bill Levine, Sammi Jo Albucker and Sarabeth Levine at dinner in 2017. (photo submitted.)

 

Levine went into the classroom with flour, a variety of marmalade flavors and a rolling pin in hand. While demonstrating how to shape the hamantaschen cookie into the perfect triangle, she indented the center with her thumb and filled the indentation with a dollop of marmalade. A decade later, Albucker said her old classmates still talk about their baking lesson from Levine. These compliments are among the many reasons Albucker loves bragging about her grandmother.

 

Rebecca Rosen, 22, one of the 30 classmates who watched Levine bake, enjoyed each bite of the cookie. Her favorite piece of the cookie was the jam. “Since that day, I buy Sarabeth’s jam and give them as gifts to friends. It is just so good,” Rosen said.

 

Albucker said Levine is “a powerhouse by working on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter,” and all of the holiest holidays. Levine said she works hard because she believes the second she stops, she fears she will start to age.

 

 

 

Heat in the Kitchen 

 

Levine is an outlier among food celebrities, especially in New York City. She is calm, friendly, does not like the spotlight, and acts as if she isn’t the main chef in the kitchen. Levine said working in the culinary industry is not for everybody. If you are doing it to make an income and not for the passion, quit, she declares. Working in this field is demanding, tiring on the body, and time consuming.  Whether you are cooking, cleaning, in the front of the house, or in the back, every job relies on the customers’ satisfaction.

 

 

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Sarabeth Levine baking shortbread cookies, 2011. (Video by The Daily)

 

Writer Hal Rubenstein, of New York Magazine, admires Levine for her culinary techniques. Rubinstein said there are “those who market flour, yeast, eggs, and sugar should canonize Sarabeth Levine, for no one else does these ingredients so much justice.”

 

Restaurants aren’t just a job; they’re a lifestyle. “I’m 75 years old, sitting at my desk with an apron on, and I forgot to put my hat on. In a few minutes, I am going to go out and roll my rugelach. So, when I don't love baking anymore that is when I’ll lay down the rolling pin,” Levine said.