Mahjong And A Schmear: Author Teaches Game At E Side Bagel Shop

STUYVESANT TOWN, NY — A Stuyvesant Town author is teaching her neighbors mahjong at a First Avenue bagel shop.

Twice a week, Susie Fasbinder meets with students to teach them tricks and tips of the tiles game that had become a staple among Chinese and Jewish communities in the U.S.

She launched the class — which she calls "Mahjong and a Schmear" — several months ago.

Since then, more than two dozen people are on a waiting list for her classes, which run Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. at Ess-a-Bagel on First Avenue and 19th Street for $25 per person, per class. Space is limited to just three students per class, since four total play the game.

She recommends aspiring mahjong players take three classes to learn the "ABCs" of the game.

"The best thing and the cutest thing is when I call people to tell them that we have a spot for them — it's as if I'm giving them the lottery," said Fasbinder, a children's book author who's lived in Stuy Town for about a decade.

For Fasbinder, teaching mahjong to new players reignites a long tradition. She grew up remembering her mother playing with friends. Today, she hopes to make the game mainstream.

"If you live in Manhattan, it's a way of keeping community," Fasbinder, who's in her 70s, said. "I want to re-emphasize that it's no longer your grandma's or your mother's mahjong. It's mahjong for everybody."

On a recent Tuesday at Ess-a-Bagel, a mother and daughter and another Stuy Town neighbor sat while Fasbinder explained the rules card — issued by the National Mah Jongg League each year and showing the winning tile combinations.

Before she taught at Ess-a-Bagel, she ran private classes.

"None of us knew how to play before, so she basically just walked us through [the game]," said Hali Besmertnik, a Kips Bay mother who wanted to pick up a new hobby with friends and invited Fasbinder to teach at her apartment building.

"I think the first class, we learned all of the different tiles and what everything meant. Then we slowly just learned how to play the game."

"She's awesome. She's super patient," Besmertnik added.

Fasbinder plans to grow her budding business.

Beginning September 9, she'll hold mahjong game night every Monday at Ess-a-Bagel. Later this year, she plans to launch a mahjong tournament.