I Left my Blintz in San Francisco

Deli Men of the Golden Gate

Los Angeles, CA

Finally out of the misery of winter and into sunny So-Cal. Just went for a run along Venice beach, with the sun, surf, and sandpipers reminding me that I’m a good few thousand miles from home. In a few hours I’m setting out for the first of many interviews at some of LA’s finest delicatessens, but for now I want to talk about my day in the city by the Bay.

San Francisco’s Jewish community has never been a heavy hitter in terms of North America. Still, it is decent sized enough to warrant a good deli scene, though like Chicago that has failed to come together over the years. The pickings are slim, though I managed to check out three places run by three different generations of deli men, all of whom warrant a visit when in the Bay Area.

My tour was led by David Katznelson, a born and bred San Fran yid (don’t ever call it Frisco or he’ll kill you), deli maven, and also a legend of the music industry. A more generous, enthusiastic, gregarious, and hungry accomplice I couldn’t find…gracias Sr. Katznelson.

1. Miller’s East Coast West Delicatessen

Though it’s only been open a few years (since 2001), this place has the smell, feel, and look of a tired and timeless joint. Chalk that up to owner Robby Morgenstein, a transplanted Baltimore/Long Island Deadhead who comes from serious deli stock (his family owns Miller’s and Attman’s in Baltimore). With his goofy grin and antics laden demeanor, Morgenstein has created a fun, family friendly, neighborhood place complete with all the rich shtick and counterman antics that you’d expect.

We caught Morgenstein at a very crucial time…the day before he took over the sole ownership of his deli after several years splitting with partners (not always on best terms). Now, with his deli set to return to his own hands Robby informed us that he was going to buck the trend, and move the menu back more toward the traditional end…eschewing the chicken curry wraps his previous partners wanted. What a blessing to hear this from such a young, enthusiastic owner…it really gives hope that the tide of deli assimilation is not inevitable. Delicatessens can be successful by doing what they’ve always done…serving home cooked, high quality Jewish food. If they want other foods, that’s what other restaurants are for.

Luckily, Morgenstein backs up his dreams with a great product (the culmination of his family’s deli heritage and his professional culinary training).
-the Rachel Reuben, a classic grilled pastrami reuben on rye that had Katznelson tearing in like a starved hound
-beautifully light matzo ball soup with a real haymish look and taste to it
-stellar rugelach, packed with nuts and sugar crystals that both crunch and melt in the mouth somehow…godsent

You can tell this place is neighborhood by the characters as well. Besides yoga moms and local dog owners you get eccentric supermodels who call in orders giddily, “…a pastrami sandwich improves my love life…tee hee…”, and quality mensches like Mr. Herb Hirsch, a Chicago native and true deli fan who comes in nearly daily and orders items that don’t even exist on the menu. Here’s his plate of franks n’ bean…another Herb creation.

“It’d be a shame if there wasn’t a place like this in town.” And this guy is a Manny’s fan!

Miller’s East Coast West Delicatessen
1725 Polk Street, San Francisco
415-563-3542

2. Moishe’s Pippic Delicatessen

I used to live in Rio de Janeiro, and though I had my fill of fruit juice and meats on a stick, deli was not the beach food of choice. But the industrious spirit of the Carioca knows no bound, and when former Rio Jewish native and banker Joe Sattler decided to open a delicatessen twenty years ago, he had more than an inkling of what he was doing. Still, when he first opened, the Hayes Valley was a scary place, rife with crime and crack…hardly the ideal spot for a Jewish deli. But then the great earthquake of 89 came along and the expressway that backed onto the place was deemed unsafe. For many months constructions crews worked at shoring up the concrete, then tore it down, and the hardhats all went to Joe for lunch. Soon the expressway was gone, housing prices went up, and Moishe Pippic’s became a local fixture.

Though the inside is packed with Chicago memorabilia, there’s nothing Chicago about the place except the Vienna hot dogs (a nod to Bob Schwartz). And if you look closely, there’s a Ronaldinho poster wedged amongst the Sox, Cubs, and Bears stuff.

Katznelson and I only got to taste two things at Moishe’s Pippic, which were both outstanding.
-a matzo ball soup of deep yellow perfection with matzo balls that are specially prepared by boiling them in the packaged Manischewitz stock, then finished in Joe’s homemade soup. The result is perfect…matzo balls that walk that delicious fine line between light and dense.

-creamy, shmaltzy chopped liver, flecked with bits of egg and onion, and served with a whole matzo cracker…the passover way and the way I first came to love the sticky spread

If Joe ever moves back to Rio and opens a deli in Ipanema, I’ll man the place.

Obrigado o grande mosso Sattler!

Moishe’s Pippic
425- A Hayes St, San Francisco
415-431-2440

3. David’s Delicatessen

Few things grind my gears like deli ignorance by residents of a city. When I met people from San Fran, so many of them said “there’s no good delis in our city”, or “I don’t know any good old time delis”. Listen up San Francisco! David’s Delicatessen has been around for 55 years! It is as old school deli as you can get, the food is great, the atmosphere truly classic, and it’s run by one of the smartest, funniest, and truest deli men I’ve met thus far. You have no excuse!

David Apfelbaum came to San Francisco shortly after the war. He was born in Lodz, survived the Nazis, came to New York, proposed to his wife over the phone, and then hopped a bus west when the weather got too hot. Out of a small button store he built San Francisco’s oldest delicatessen, sawing wood on the street for a month while the customer demand grew. Over the years he befriended politicians, journalists, actors, businessmen, and sports stars, all of whom came to hold court at his restaurant. At one point he had up to sixteen locations and claims to be the first to make bagel chips in America. Now approaching 80, he speaks in soft tones with with a wit as sharp as ever, shlepping around his art-deco counter style place in downtown San Fran.

Little has changed since then. The formica wraparound counter is the same, the vinyl swivel stools are too. The sandwich menu is permanently embossed on the wall in brass letters.

The side room retains its theatre age feel, and the food is as haymish as ever. His menu is a masterpiece of comedic writing…all penned by David himself. Jokes that he tells in the restaurant then get incorporated into the menu. Here’s a sampling:

“A good Jewish deli telescopes time (thru a thin haze of schmaltz) back to a youth ago innocence, back to 2 Jews 3 opinions 4 political parties 5 pledges 6 testimonial dinners, and the promises of career and amour…A good Jewish deli dispels vagueness, networks befuddlement, lubricates the funny bone - keeps our metaphysics warm.” — from the takeout bag

“Meat or Cheese Blintzes: We could tell you that a blintz is chopped meat or cheese rolled in thin dough and fried. But this is like describing Man as a featherless biped. Descriptions in both cases are futile. Each is deliciously and eluctably more.”
-from the menu

Beffuddlement??? Eluctably??? This is Shakespeare. By far the funniest, smartest, and most appealing deli menu I’ve ever seen. Keep your celebrity sandwiches…David’s is a thinking man’s menu.

And the food…while the pastrami was very good (nice and fatty, well steamed), it was the above mentioned blintz that won my heart (and stopped Katznelson’s). Usually these are little cigars filled with lukewarm cottage cheese, warmed briefly, and then topped with jam. David’s blintz was as described above “eluctably more”…whatever that means. It was more a crepe than anything…flatter and thinner and wider than other blintzes but with a buttery crunch at first bite that rendered the rest gone in a heartbeat. The dollops of sour cream and warm blueberry preserves mixed together in a way that can be described as pure love. It was the best blintz I’ve ever had.

Then came the latke, a crisp cake with a golden crust and moist, almost creamy insides. I’ve eaten a lot of latkes in delis and most are the paperweight variety, but David’s was light…not too oily, and just splendid. It too disappeared before our eyes.

Then the sauerbraten, a brisket stewed in a thick gravy with raisins and spices. it was tender and juicy and warmed our souls as the rain lashed down outside.

Finally a scoop of chicken chopped liver, which tastes not at all livery, and actually very chickeny. This would be the perfect chopped liver to break someone in on, especially slathered on David’s in house baked corn rye (the best I’ve had since I left the midwest).

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that David’s is a huge bakery as well…cranking out 85 pastries every single day from chocolate dipped macaroons to hamentashen, almond horns, fresh ryes, bagel chips, chocolate cakes…a whole gamut which is currently being devoured by my friend Marni, Jordan and his roommates here in Venice Beach.

The sad thing is that time has forgotten David’s, and the generation who ate there has moved on. This is a San Francisco institution on par with the great delicatessens, and it should not be left to wither. All of march David is rolling back prices for his 55th anniversary special…so there’s no excuse not to stop by, have a fress, and take a box of baked goods home for someone you love. And check out the great website!

www.davidsdelicatessen.com
474 Geary, San Francisco
415-276-5950

To note: there were two fairly new delis that I did not have the chance to try due to time and scheduling conflicts.
-Saul’s in Berkley: this is an establishment in the “Gourmet Ghetto”, and was started by a former cook from the venerable Chez Panisse, that organic temple of New American cookery headed by the legendary Alice Waters. It’s supposedly quite good, though I can’t speak for it myself, but check it out yourself and send in your feelings.
www.saulsdeli.com
1475 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94709
510-848-DELI

-California Street Delicatessen: Brand spanking new and relatively swish, this deli finds itself in the heart of the freshly renovated San Francisco Jewish Community Center. With its frosted glass, Dean and Deluca style open cake display, and retro look it marries the classic deli feel with a contemporary edge. I can’t speak about the food, though it looked good, but what a blessed location…I remember the JCC in Toronto used to have a deli inside as well, but when they renovated it, they replaced it with a Second Cup, Falafel place and Bubble Tea shop. I’d kill for a knish after the shvitz!
www.californiastreetdeli.com
3200 California St.
San Francisco, CA
415-922-DELI
*What’s with all the DELI extensions?

DS

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 8:36 pm and is filed under Deli Men, Area Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.