All over the country, delis are dying. That’s what author and deli expert David Sax contends. That’s what he writes about on his blog, savethedeli.com, and in his new book, Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of the Jewish Delicatessen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24). Chicago is no exception, the lifelong deli devotee says. Its once thriving deli scene is now barely surviving.

By Jackie Burrell
Contra Costa Times

David Sax is out to save an endangered species.

We’re speaking, of course, of Jewish delicatessens, home to the perfect pastrami sandwich. Mmm, savory slices piled atop double-baked rye bread. With a cream soda on the side. And a kishke or two.

Sax spent months researching the decline of the deli, eating knishes from coast to coast. The result — the intriguing and irreverent “Save the Deli: In Search of the Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye and the Heart of the Jewish Delicatessen” (Houghton Mifflin, 318 pages, $24) — hits store shelves next week.

Among the Bay Area mentions: Berkeley’s Saul’s Delicatessen, and San Francisco’s Moishe’s Pippic, Miller’s East Coast and David Apfelbaum’s legendary, eponymous deli. At one point, there were an astounding 16 David’s Delicatessens in San Francisco alone. Now there’s just the original one on Geary.

“He has a menu like no other menu you’ve ever seen,” says Sax. “He writes these incredible dishes. Everything is a story, the history of Jewish food, crazy inside jokes.”