Jewcy Blog Post #1 “Funny, It Doesn’t Taste Jewish”
Monday, October 12th, 2009
All this week I’m going to be blogging over at Jewcy, the Jewish meta blog who supported Save the Deli all those years ago. Check out post #1.
Funny, It Doesn’t Taste Jewish…
What Makes a Jewish Delicatessen Jewish?
I get asked about Jewish delis dozens of times a day from people all over the country, and the world. They ask about the best places for corned beef, or knishes, or matzo balls. They inquire about delis that they once ate at, whether in New York or Newfoundland, and whether they are still around, still tasty, still lorded over by the funny waitress with the beehive hairdo. I was recently even asked which Jewish delicatessens have gay owners (my answer: None that are out enough for me to mention).
The one question that gets me most often is the simplest. What is a Jewish Deli? The answer should be simple, but it’s not. Because a Jewish delicatessen means certain things to certain people, and other things to others. It varies by city, country, and religious orthodoxy, and what suffices as sufficient to one eater may not be to another. It’s as intricate a question as “What makes a Jew?”, but without the foreskin to prove it.
I first got asked this in January 2007, by a United States customs officer, at the frozen border separating Ontario from Michigan.
“Where are you headed?”
Well, I’m driving around the country for two months, researching a book.
“A book about what?”
About Jewish delicatessens.
“You mean like Italian delis?”
No, no, Jewish delis. You know, corned beef, pastrami, etc…
“Like Irish delis?”
No, Jewish.
“You sure it isn’t Irish?”
I’m sure.
“Whatever. Enjoy your stay.”
Fact is, we Jews don’t have a monopoly on deli. The word “delicatessen” itself is French/German, and every culture, from the Italians to the Vietnamese, have their own place that sells sandwiches, cold cuts, and pickled things.
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Share your deli stories with NPR
Friday, October 9th, 2009
NPR’s All Things Considered, which is going to air a story about me and the book on Tuesday, are deli crazy.
After a stellar lunch at Ben’s Best yesterday with host Robert Siegel, producer Julia Redpath Buckley, and photographer Greg Miller, they just aired a sweet promo on air.
But they’re going one step further. They want you to send in your deli stories, and post your deli photos. See below. And here.
This week in New York, Robert Siegel spoke with David Sax, author of Save the Deli, for an interview slated to air on All Things Considered next week.
For his book that will be published Oct. 19, Sax traveled around the country looking for authentic Jewish delicatessens, which are not easy to find these days.
Sax’s love for deli food has been passed down to him from his late grandfather, who ignored doctor’s orders and went straight to his favorite Jewish deli after a hospital visit.
Because Sax can’t be the only one with an interesting deli story to share, we want to hear yours. Write to us at deli@npr.org — or leave them in the comments section below.
And, if you don’t like writing, upload photos of your favorite deli, deli worker, deli item, or site where your favorite deli once stood to Flickr.
Step 1: If you’re not a member yet, join Flickr. It doesn’t cost anything, though if you want to use it to share a lot of photos — i.e., hundreds or thousands — you may want to purchase a Pro account.
Step 2: Upload the pics you’d like to share and tag them nprdeli. (If you’re having trouble uploading, consult Flickr’s help guide.)
And that’s it; you’re done.
“The 10 most underrated delis in NYC” NY Daily News
Friday, October 9th, 2009NY Daily News Oct 9, 2009
Click here to see the article in full size. nydailynews.jpg
Atlantic Food Blog #4 “The Search for Real Rye”
Thursday, October 8th, 2009Food.TheAtlantic.com October 8, 2009
Anyone with even the faintest knowledge of construction knows that a house is only as good as the quality of its foundation. You can build golden McMansions to the sky, stock them with plasma screens and granite countertops, four-car garages and modernist furnishings, but if the foundation is shaky, you might as well be living in a tarpaper shack. So why should a sandwich at a Jewish delicatessen be any different?
There’s a crisis in the Jewish deli, and it starts at the bottom: the rye bread. Simply put, most of the rye bread at delicatessens around America is not worth the effort it takes to chew. Of all the ryes I tasted in my global research into Jewish delicatessens, none were more disappointing than the supposedly legendary New York rye. The bread at such landmark delis as Katz’s or the 2nd Ave Deli is a disgrace, and the delis’ owners readily admit to it. The crusts are limp, the centers dry, and there is hardly any yeasty aroma to account for. It falls apart under any real stress, leaving you with a handful of greasy meat and mustard. If the finest musicians in the world shine on the stage at Carnegie Hall, doesn’t the finest pastrami in New York deserve a canvas to make it sing?
Real Jewish rye, made with a large percentage of coarse rye flour, hasn’t existed for years in New York. Most so-called “rye” is made from white flour, tossed with a few caraway seeds, and diluted with just enough rye flour to legally call it rye bread. The change came about during the postwar era, when white flour became cheaper, and easier to preserve, than rye flour. Industrial bakeries, such as Levy’s, hooked many on the taste of a packaged, pasteurized rye bread with their famous slogan “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s Real Jewish Rye.” That the bread paled in comparison to traditionally-baked loaves wasn’t the point. It was hip, it was cheap, it could last longer. Jewish eaters followed suit. As independent Jewish bakeries succumbed to their larger, industrial competition, quality rye bread disappeared from delicatessens. (more…)
Toronto Star “Birthing pains last a month at Caplansky’s”
Thursday, October 8th, 2009Corey Mintz spent a month eating at Caplansky’s to write his admittedly biased review of the place in today’s Toronto Star. But it shows. There’s love, but there’s also tough words. And I’m proud to say I get a mention and a shot of me stuffing my fat face. The video is particularly great. I find the line, “If I were Chinese and there were only 4 Chinese restaurants in Toronto, I would be incredibly excited for a single new Chinese restaurant…and that’s what’s happening here,” to be one of the most poignant things anyone has written about the appeal of delis in this day and age.
Birthing pains last a month at Caplansky’s
by Corey Mintz. October 8th, 2009 thestar.com
As a critic, I should not be at Caplansky’s on opening day. No restaurant should be judged on its performance that soon.
But this is a unique situation. These people are practically family. I met owner Zane Caplansky when he catered my grandmother’s shiva. Giulia Mandel, one of the managers, is the younger sister of my closest friend Max. Years ago, I dated Vishanti Moosai, the other manager. No fake moustache is going to afford me anonymity in this place.
Also, this is my last review and it’s my pleasure to go out on a personal note, so I’m here on opening day, Sept. 5, and almost every day thereafter, to bring Star readers an intimate view at the bumps in this – or any new restaurant’s – road.
On top of all that, since Zane closed his original location inside the Monarch Tavern, I am hungry for smoked meat.
So are many others, as evidenced by the hundreds who show up the first day. (Toronto food writers and fans – yours truly included – seem to have conspired to build opening-day excitement to a fever pitch.)
A legion of inexperienced servers tries desperately to placate the hordes. With the computers broken and a staff that barely knows each other’s names, a fire breaks out in the kitchen.
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We’re #1 (in Meats)
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009Yes kids, we’re #1. Both as the top emailed story on NYTimes.com and on the Amazon list of Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Cooking by Ingredient > Meat, Poultry & Seafood > Meats
Number one in Meats!
Hazzah.
NY Times “At Jewish Delis, Times Are as Lean as Good Corned Beef”
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009Today, in the New York Times, Save the Deli!
Many thanks to Joan Nathan for this one. To thank her, buy one of her amazing cookbooks. Also, she wrote an accompanying recipe for kishke in the Times. There’s also an amazing New York Times video of Hobby’s Delicatessen. Click here to see it.
photo by Richard Perry/NYT
HOBBY’S DELICATESSEN & RESTAURANT in downtown Newark may have lost much of its more traditional clientele over the years, but it has held on to tradition. The corned beef and the tongue are cured for 14 days in stainless steel bins in the basement. The salamis hanging on the wall look as if they’ve been drying there, their flavor intensifying, since the Brummer family bought the place in 1962.
Samuel Brummer and his sons, Michael and Marc, even make their own matzo ball soup and potato pancakes.
But in Newark, as in so many cities, holding on has been tough for delis.
“In 1945, there were 12 delis in Newark,” said Samuel Brummer, 86. “Now we are only two.”
Old customers moved on, but new ones keep them going.
“Our clientele used to be 10 percent black and 75 percent Jewish,” he said. “Now it is 50/50.”
David Sax, a 30-year-old freelance writer, listened and nodded. Many delis are seeing more African-American customers.
“In many ways, deli owners in places like Detroit or Chicago have told me, they are better deli clients than Jews,” Mr. Sax said referring to African-Americans. “They accept it as it is. Take a corned beef sandwich. A Jewish customer will say, ‘I want the corned beef lean, from the middle of the brisket,’ because their grandfathers did. It’s like Jews going to a Chinese restaurant. They love it for what it is and they are better clients because of it.”
Mr. Sax loves delis for what they are and mourns the loss of so many of them around the country. For the last two years he has been writing the blog Save the Deli celebrating great delis and chronicling their demise. And this month Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is publishing his book “Save the Deli,” an account of his journey of discovery through the world of delis, from New York to Toronto, Detroit, Miami and Los Angeles; London, Paris and Poland.
After digging into a sandwich of fresh roast turkey, with juicy white and dark meat carved off the bone, at Hobby’s, we headed to some Jewish delis clinging to old ways that stretch back a century. (more…)
Eiran Harris: Montreal’s Human Deli Encyclopedia
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
A few months back I wrote a tribute to Eiran Harris, a great deli lover and scholar from Montreal. Some might have thought this a bit strange. Why did he deserve praise, say, when deli owners haven’t even received the same tribute.
Now you’ll see.
After years of research, working closely with Mr. Harris, my friend Lara Rabinovitch has posted an extensive interview with the master in the journal Cuizine, chronicling the history of smoked meat and delicatessen in Montreal. Prepare to learn a lot.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH PODCAST
Lara Rabinovitch: This is July 27th, 2009. We are at the Jewish Public Library Archives in Montreal. My name is Lara Rabinovitch. I am a PhD Candidate at the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and the Department of History at New York University. I am here with Eiran Harris, who will now introduce himself.
Eiran Harris: My name is Eiran Harris. I am the Archivist Emeritus of the Jewish Public Library in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of this narrative is to provide an accurate chronicle of the renowned Montreal-style Jewish smoked meat which has been enjoyed by millions of hungry consumers from all over the world for more than one hundred years.
Lara Rabinovitch: So, Eiran, what were the origins of Montreal-style smoked meat?
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Double Chai for Mill Basin Kosher Deli
Monday, October 5th, 2009
There are special anniversaries in Jewish life, and aside from the Bar Mitzvah age of 13, none is more important than those related to the number 18…the Hebrew number Chai, which also means Life.
This month, Mill Basin Kosher Deli, one of Brooklyn’s last, and best, Jewish delis, celebrates a double-chai birthday, turning 36 years old. Mazel Tov!
You can read more about my visit to Mill Basin Kosher Deli here. I last went about a month ago, after surfing Rockaway. That hit the spot, lemme tell you.
As part of their celebrations, they’ve teamed with with Save the Deli to offer something special to their customers.
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Happy “Special” Birthday Ruth Wilensky
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Yesterday I wrote about a great deli man. Today, I’ll toast a great Deli Woman. Possibly the greatest of all.
Tomorrow, Oct 3rd, Ruth Wilensky, of Montreal’s venerable Wilensky’s Light Lunch, has a very significant birthday. How significant? So significant I have sworn not to reveal the number, but let’s say it ends in a 0 and most of us only dream of getting there. So happy birthday to you Ruth! (more…)
