The Knish Will Set You Free
Friday, February 11th, 2011What’s Hosni Mubarak to do, now that he’s headed to a breezy exile?
Perhaps he should take a page from former celeb chef Michael Blum, who fell from grace recently, and seek salvation in the knish.
Here’s a great story from the Miami Herald (thanks to Leah Koenig for passing it fwd). Chef Michael Blum’s fortunes rose and fell in Miami, and after hitting rock botton professionally and personally, he’s reinventing himself by selling gourmet knishes. What’s not to love on a day of liberation?
Blum resurfaced in October in an unlikely venue — Hollywood’s Yellow Green Farmer’s Market — with an unlikely product: knishes.
The traditional, kosher-style knish, a staple of delis the world over, is a baked, bun-like pastry stuffed with mashed potato and/or ground beef and/or kasha. Think Jewish empanada.
Just as Michael’s Kitchen devotees “never knew what the wacky chef was going to do next,” Blum said, neither could they predict what they’d find on the knish menu at the market ($2.50 to $6 apiece, depending on the filling).
He might make a Reuben or clam-chowder knish along with vegetarian varieties like spinach-garlic, broccoli-Cheddar and portobello mushroom with truffle oil.
He calls them “the cure for boring knishes. Your grandma’s authentic knish with a chef’s flair.”
READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE
A New Deli in Sarasota, FL
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011For those deli lovers who winter (or live) on the West coast of Florida (aka the Gulf Coast, or, to those in Boca Raton, the Goyish Coast), the pickings can be slim. Sure there’s Too Jays, the large and quite good deli chain across the state, but if you want something haymish, it often requires a drive over Aligator Alley.
Now, residents of Sarasota needn’t go far for their deli fix, thanks to the opening of Pastramis NY Deli in their town. I got the info from intrepid Save the Deli fan and local residents Howard and Alice Rosenthal, who attest to the quality of the meat, as well as the bread. Meat and bread. What else do you need? Mustard, I suppose.
Pastramis Ny Deli
5170 Clark Rd
Sarasota, FL
Phone: (941) 925-3100
50 Years of Bronx sandwiches for Loeser’s Deli
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011
Here’s starting off the year right: Half a century ago, way up in the northwest corner of the Bronx, called Riverdale, a young man of just 17 named Fredy Loeser used some of his bar mitzvah savings to open up a kosher delicatessen. Back then, there were still hundreds of Jewish delis all over the Bronx, and thousands around New York City, and Loeser’s was jumping into a crowded field. What happened to the Bronx since then is the stuff of urban studies legends: Robert Moses put in the Cross Bronx Expressway, the middle class fled to the suburbs, gangs took over, slums grew, fired blazed, and the Bronx burned.
Today, Loeser’s Kosher Delicatessen is one of two Jewish delis left standing in the Bronx (the other is Liebman’s, nearby). So it’s with great pride, and a sense of mazel, that I write today about the milestone Fredy Loeser has achieved. Half a century in any business is admirable. Five decades in the Jewish deli business, in a time when delis are still endangered, is incredible. But fifty years as a kosher delicatessen in the Bronx is an absolute miracle.
All of this is due to the tireless work of Fredy Loeser, one of the last counterman/owners in New York’s Jewish deli business. Fredy is not the type of guy to mince words. He’s a tough SOB, who has fought hard to keep Loeser’s in business. Here’s what I wrote about meeting Fredy for the first time in Save the Deli:
Loeser’s was a relic so well preserved you could suffocate in atmosphere. There were faded family photos, old signs, clippings of political events, and handwritten notes from customers push-pinned to the wall.
“I’m a natural, a switch hitter,” Loeser told me, glaring into my eyes to make sure I heard every word. “I got the best pastrami in New York, the best brisket, the best soup, the best everything.” He had the talk, the look, and the swagger of the consummate Deli Man—a creature disappearing with the deli itself, despite the self-assuredness of their own skills. And when he was done talking with me, he simply said, “Thanks for visiting,” and turned his back. As much as it should have offended me, I was delighted.
Last year, I went back to Loeser’s and found Fredy behind the counter, as always. He was talking with regulars, pushing his deliciously spiced pastrami, and building towering sandwiches for customers that have known him since they were kids. In a world of so called sandwich experts and armchair deli mavens (I’m including myself here), Fredy Loeser is the real deal. He’s a deli man, through and through, and it gives me much pride and joy to wish him, Loeser’s Delicatessen, and all the great deli lovers of Da Bronx, a happy birthday.
Celebrations will be held this Saturday, January 8th, at 12.30 pm. Head on up to the Bronx and check it out.
214 West 231st Street
Bronx, NY
718-548-9735
Pancer’s Deli Sold
Thursday, December 30th, 2010
(Photo courtesy of BlogTo.com)
I’ve heard rumours of this for a while, but now it seems to be confirmed. This is not how I wanted to end my year.
Toronto’s Moe Pancer’s Delicatessen has been sold. Lorne Pancer (grandson of Moe) and his sister have sold the deli, the recipes, and the name to longtime customer Jerry Gould, and his son, Lenny, reports the National Post:
“I feel great,” says Lorne Pancer, co-owner since 1999. “I’m going to take a long vacation.”
Jerry Gould, who missed our appointed meeting time Tuesday, tells me later over the telephone that he has big plans for the place.
“My dad hooked me up and bought me this business,” he says. “I’m absolutely not changing anything with the pastrami or corned beef. I spent a good amount of money for the recipes.” (A story on the wall notes that, for the pastrami, the beef briskets are pickled 5-7 days in a brine that contains pickling spices, garlic and salt, then washed off and cooked two hours in a huge kettle in water, onions and garlic, then baked on a tray with “specific spices.”)
Then Mr. Gould starts listing plans for change.
“I want to feed the next generation,” he says. (The crowd around me includes seniors and young families). “I am going to change a little bit of the décor. I am going to do a weekend breakfast. Do a sports night there. Maybe chicken wings. Put a couple of flat screen TVs and get a bit of a sports thing there.
“Unfortunately there are a lot of old school ways there. The cash area is going to be ripped out and a whole new counter put in for efficiency. The smoked meat could be better. Maybe I can go to Montreal and find a proper smoked meat distributor.”
Lorne Pancer was the first deli man to let me see into the business, and I love him dearly. To him I have nothing but congratulations. Lorne, you’ll be missed bud. Not just by me and my family, but by all Toronto deli lovers.
And to Mr Gould, I say this: You’ve inherited more than a property, you’ve bought a legacy. With that comes responsibility to uphold the traditions. Traditions that go beyond the recipes for corned beef and pastrami. It’s the staff (Wilf, Mario, Lori, etc…), the feel, the sound, the smell, and the atmosphere. It’s the way you treat customers and the way you cultivate those traditions. Toronto’s filled with places to get chicken wings and watch shitty hockey on LCD TVs. What it lacks are tested and loved Jewish delis like Moe Pancer’s. Lost sight of that and we’ll all lose. Keep it in mind, and keep it preserved, and the future will be bright indeed.
A Moment for Mustaches
Monday, November 29th, 2010
Welcome back everyone. Hope the turkey was great.
I’m going to take today to talk about something not entirely deli related: mustaches (or moustaches). These furry creatures have adorned the faces of many fine deli men for many generations. Some of my favorites include the venerable stache of Lorne Pancer, at Toronto’s Moe Pancer’s delicatessen, but there are countless others. Mustaches are old school, masculine, and despite being the furthest thing from trendy, they are dependable and require a strong constitution to sport. They’re the deli men of facial hair, and they deserved to be complimented.
I’m writing this because all month I’ve been sporting my own mustache for the prostate cancer fundraiser Movember. Over the protests of my wife and the mocking porno jokes of my friends, I’ve taken this Burt Reynolds number to Chicago, New York, Scottsdale, the Bahamas, and this coming sunday, on national television. In exchange for the albatross on my upper lip, I’ve solicited donations to Movember.com. All money raised goes toward prostate cancer research, a disease that affects many men, and has taken many great deli men and deli lovers from us over the years.
So please, if you have $10 or $1000 to spare, donate to my Movember page and help those men more manly than I.
Roots of the Deli: A Saveur Feature
Thursday, November 18th, 2010
Friends, behold the glorious photograph above (credit to Landon Nordeman, a king amongst princes). These badass gents are kosher butchers in Budapest, about to turn beef into salamis, sausages, and other tasty treats. It opens my feature in the December issue of Saveur magazine called The Roots of Deli.
This past July, I traveled for eight days in Bucharest, Romania and Budapest, Hungary with photographer Landon Nordeman, searching for the culinary roots of the Jewish delicatessen. We ate in Jewish community centres, old aged homes, butcher shops, kosher restaurants, and private houses, tasting the schmaltzy essence (goose schmaltzy) at the heart of deli’s taste. Highlights included incredible challah, Romanian cabbage rolls, goose liver cooked in goose fat, goose fat matzo balls, and even more goose. We topped it off with the Hungarian poppy seed cake, flodni.
The article focuses on the forces that not only created these foods, but sustain them in Eastern Europe’s dwindling Jewish communities. Consider it an extra chapter to Save the Deli…one that never quite made it into the book. You can’t see it online (Saveur is old school that way), but it’s worth picking up a copy wherever finer magazines are sold. For the goose fat soaked recipes alone! Not to mention Landon’s amazing photographs.
Back in NYC
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
Back in NYC this week, with much happening. Filming a segment about Save the Deli for the CBS Sunday Morning show tomorrow (to air on…you guessed it…Sunday morning), and also going to be doing a talk at the JCC of the Palisades in Tenafly, NJ on Thursday night (come on out).
And eating some good deli…clearly.
Bethesda’s Uptown Deli is open for business!
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Folks, it’s always a pleasure to bring good news to the deli world.
And what’s more of a mitzvah than birth. The new Uptown Deli is open for business in Bethesda, MD. So capital area residents can now head over there for all the fixings (sandwiches, black and whites, Dr. Brown’s, knishes).
Howard Wasserman waits for all your dollars with open arms.
7905 Norfolk Ave
Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 961-5787
Save the Deli wins a Canadian Culinary Book Award!
Friday, November 5th, 2010
Some news from the homeland. I just got back the Canadian Culinary Book Awards, where Save the Deli took home a gold award (actually it’s a big hunk of crystal shaped like an iceberg) in the category I was nominated in (English Special Interest). Thanks to Cuisine Canada, their sponsors, as well as all the folks who came out today to sit through the presentations.
Obama Stokes the Deli Base at Philly’s Famous 4th Street Deli
Monday, November 1st, 2010
Just days to go until Midterm Elections in the US, and with the Democrats lagging in the poles, President Deli himself stopped into one of Philly’s finest to strategize over corned beef at Famous 4th Street Delicatessen:
Obama, who is no stranger to deli, as I’ve chronicled here, ordered a corned beef reuben with potato pancakes, and sweet iced tea. Was the tea a subtle reference to the Tea Party’s impending onslaught at the polls? Probably not, but I’m out of jokes today.
