Comic Strips, Woodro, Sandwich Competitions, and Deli Arts
Lots to discuss today, so let’s bring out the mixed bag.
1. Kenny and Zuke’s gets a appearance in the online comic strip Squid Row.
Too bad they didn’t order the pastrami.
2. A great review of the Woodro Kosher Deli, in Hewlett, NY by Jeff Eats, a Florida Deli maven.
Let me make this review real simple…this joint, which has been in business for something like 50 years, makes some of the best “kosher-deli” stuff that I have ever eaten. The Woodro which seats something like 150, has a menu packed with appetizers, sandwiches and meat-chicken entrees. A recent “taste-test” had me sampling this joint’s brisket, pastrami, corned beef…not to mention, potato knish, hawaiian chicken salad, matzoh ball soup and roast chicken. Everything and I do mean everything, was absolutely dynamite.
Worth checking out, for sure.
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3. Kosherfest Sandwich Competition
Kosherfest, the giant kosher industry trade show that happens this Oct 27-28, at the Meadowlands Expo Center in NJ, is the place to go for all your kosher food sales needs. This year, they’re putting on a special culinary competition close to our heart:
Watch and learn as chefs prepare their kosher deli sandwich and side of choice at the 2nd Annual Kosherfest Culinary Competition. A panel of industry professionals will judge and decide who takes the title. For more information on entering the competition please contact Vianna DiGristina at vdigristina@divcom.com or 207-842-5583.
I’m interested to see what happens here (though I’ll be on book tour in LA that date). A kosher combo requires more creativity than most (no cheese), and the kosher industry has fallen behind in deli service, as they’ve focused on other, more cosmopolitan foods. Kudos to them for bringing it back.
4. Deli Arts
Finally, I want to write up an incredibly interesting business, that’s undoubtedly delicious.
Daniel Estridge is a New York deli lover, who has long since lived in Massachusetts, where he worked in the high tech industry. A true foodie and consummate tinkerer, his craving for pastrami, corned beef, and other deli specialties led him to curing, smoking, and selling his own brand of gourmet deli meats. Manhattan Deli-Arts is his company, though he also sells out of the site More Flavor Per Pound (which features a great NYPD theme) and the results are quite delicious. As their page says:
Why Manhattan Deli-Arts?
Because we are New Yorkers living away from New York, our project begins with the essential touchstones of early 20th Century New York deli - our Manhattan Deli-Arts™ Collection. Simply put, real New York deli specialties are virtually unobtainable outside New York – and increasingly, even in New York, the real thing is hard to come by. Sure, you can buy pastrami, corned beef or hash in most any market or deli today – but they bear little resemblance to the wonderful tastes and textures from the golden age of New York deli.
Somebody had to step up and save these treasures, and that’s our mission at Deli-Arts.
A few months back I had one of the more interesting tasting experiences of my life. Estridge was in New York for a few hours, and wanted me to taste the pastrami hot. Lacking a restaurant, he improvised, steaming the meat in New Jersey, then keeping it warm in a special compartment in his station wagon. We met just off Union Square, at 7pm, and he opened the car, and the compartment, to steaming pastrami. He sliced it right there on the tailgate, and handed me a piece of gorgeous, juicy, aromatic pastrami.
