“Comfort (Food) on 2nd Avenue” in the Forward

The great Monteal Jewish guru Leslie Lutsky has again pointed out a fascinating article from the annals of the Jewish press. This one comes from the latest edition of the Jewish Forward, in a beautiful ode to the new 2nd Ave Deli, written by Marjorie Ingall aka the East Village Mamale.

You can link to the article here, but I really want to highlight the concluding paragraph:

A couple of years ago, New York magazine lamented the death of Jewish food in New York City. Most of the appetizing stores, kosher delis, egg-cream vendors, and Roumanian schmaltz-parlors are gone. The magazine noted the ascendance of “Bar-B-Jews” — tribe members who run palaces of pulled pork: Men like Danny Meyer (Blue Smoke), Adam Perry Lang (Daisy Mae), Andrew Fischel (R.U.B.) and Mark Glosserman (Hill Country). But now, the 2nd Avenue Deli is bringing Jewy back. The restaurant is currently being run by 20-something nephews of the original proprietor. Josie’s zayde is gone; he never got to meet Maxie. The Lebewohl family, which owns the 2nd Avenue Deli, has suffered its own losses. But the Deli abides, and it is better than ever. When I bit into my corned beef sandwich, tears sprang to my eyes, mightily amusing my lunch partners.

Amen to that.