Of Hemming and Herring

You enter Orchard Express on the Lower East Side, as if opening the tent flap of a Moroccan souk. Men of indeterminate ethnic backgrounds are hunched over sewing machines or gossiping and laughing both in front of and behind the counter. No matter how many people are clogged into the narrow aisle of the shop, I know I will get my pants marked with a chalk slash and hemmed within a half hour ($5/hem).Which leaves me with time for…a snack! But where to go? Fortunately, Russ and Daughters Cafe is across and a little down from Orchard Express.

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