Comments on: Leo’s and Gleiberman’s in Charlotte

By: Warren

Warren — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 04:02:32 +0000

Deli and Jews that scare good ole boys in Charlotte. Who knew! Awesome. Great read. Love the pics. These are now on my list of places to visit.

By: Sweeper

Sweeper — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:35:40 +0000

I am in Greenville, SC and have been looking for a decent Jewish deli. It may be a 100 mile drive, but I am going. My friend a fellow Schwartz’s Smoked Meat lover sent me this blog and I am Qvelling!!!

By: Anthony Silverbrow

Anthony Silverbrow — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:02:29 +0000

Shouldn’t that be ‘minyans’?

By: Fred

Fred — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:49:06 +0000

When in Charlotte you should go to Katz’s deli in the Arboretum. I have moved back to NY and I miss his outstanding matzoh ball soup and the best whitefish salad anywhere.

By: Ed Finman

Ed Finman — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:26:02 +0000

So I’m the son of the original owner of Leo’s Delicatessen, Leo Finman which he opened in 1948 with my great Uncle, Leo Gottheimer. After his fourth heart attack i sold it in 1968. Lot’s of stories of early Jewish and non-Jewish history between the walls of the store that opened in 1950 on Elizabeth Ave. Not too many memories from the 1948 store located next to the demolished Center Theater on Morehead St at little sugar creek~now part of our greenway that being developed, since i was only four in 1948. One story my Dad told me was that there was no walk-in cooler so he had to make daily trips to the ice house downtown where he stored most of the items in bulk. All products were Kosher, mostly from New York, Chicago, Baltimore & Jersey. He even flew bread in daily even after he finally found a local baker that would bake to his specs. His Mother MInnie was from Lithuania and she started Finman’s Kosher Delicatssen with her husband Alexander in Ybor City, and she taught the bakers how to make the best bread and sweets. Somewhere i have a photo of her holding a six foot challah with heaven knows how many braids in it, but it looked big next to her, and she was a big woman that had eleven kids. I mean somebody had to work the shade grown tobacco farm they had first when they landed in Hartford, Ct in the 1920’s–but that’s another story. My Dad ran the farm where they raised all the cattle & chickens for that deli. No farming in Charlotte, just cooked the corned beef and tonque’s daily; and made lots of chopped chicken liver and schmaltz. Recieved a 55gallon of pickles monthly and tons of other delicacies from around the world~not an exaggeration. My Mother Helen, or as many customer’s called her, MaMa Leo, was in charge of creating the largest wine & cheese selection in the Carolina’s. When i sold it, there were about 2,000 different wine labels, and remember back then California wine was in its infancy. That’s all for now, except it was a fantastic place to be raised~based on the number of sandwiches sold weekly the little place with 52 seats it averaged 400 people a day with Saturday & Sunday being the biggest days by far. People had to wait in line at the door to get their chance to smell the deli aroma’s that soared through the air! Ah,the good ole days!!!

By: Doug Michael

Doug Michael — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:09:06 +0000

Thank you Ed Finman for your interesting recollections. I knew your father, as my father worked next door at Sterling Drug Store. Leo would always give me a cream puff or some other pastry whenever I came in. He was a wonderful, warm, kind person who our family got to know and love over the years. Its too bad they tore down that building. My doctor was upstairs. You could go to the doctor, get your prescription filled downstairs, and then go have a pastry.
Doug Michael

By: Ed Finman

Ed Finman — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 04:03:26 +0000

I think I remember your father, he was a pharmacist right? Seems like i saw of photo of him and my dad at Sterling from the old days? My father and mother were always attracted to people that were warm and nice, so apparently your father met that criteria too.