Rascal House to Close in April (for real)
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Well the news is in and it ain’t good. After hopes were raised that a plunging condo market would stop the closure of Miami’s famous Rascal House, it appears that the grand deli of Sunny Isles has run out of lives. According to the South Florida Business Journal, it will remain open until the start of April, and then the doors will be shuttered forever.
The restaurant, at 17190 Collins Ave., notified the state that it would lay off 97 employees between April 4 and April 16.
A spokeswoman for Jerry’s Famous Deli, the Studio City, Calif.-based company that owns Rascal House, Epicure Market and Bakery and its namesake restaurant, said the company has notified employees and would absorb as many into its other restaurants as it could.
Sad Sad Times. We tried with our petition, and I appreciate all your efforts. Now all that’s left to do is head down there for one last taste of Florida’s grandest deli, and the last outlet of Wolfie Cohen’s beachfront empire. This was one deli that we couldn’t save. Jerry’s Famous Deli had it in for the Rascal House for some years now, and it seems that little was going to prevent its ultimate demise.
As my friend Ziggy would say, it’s a real shonda.
Here’s a video from my visit over a year ago. It was undoubtedly my last.
Jeff Weinstein: Why Pastrami Is Always More Than Pastrami
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008I got back from vacation last night (it was great, thank you), to an email from Jeff Weinstein, the former Village Voice restaurant critic and New York eating legend. Like most great Jewish foodies in New York, the rebirth of the 2nd Ave Deli got him thinking and writing. His story, “Why Pastrami Is Always More than Pastrami“, in Arts Journal is a witty and wicket writeup that’s less of a review and more of an essay:
I may have had better pastrami in my life, but sitting there I knew that I had crossed the snowy Himalayas and entered a serene, changeless realm where rating didn’t matter. The breastlike softness of the bread as it chews into luxurious fat and the smoky, peppery, irreducible tang of transformed flesh … and then the whole awakened, Mahler-like, by a clarion mustard …
The pleasures of one’s life are supposed to vary, to reflect and refine the protean person you are at each peak, significant time. But the pleasure of pastrami does exactly the opposite, forcing the older you, the older me, to acknowledge we are exactly the same ravenous, curious, sensuous beings we were at our first restaurant table, and will be until the final flecks of yellow and red are wiped from our lips.
Bruni Blowback: Kosher conundrums, Mustard Mayem, and a whole lot of 2nd Ave Deli
Friday, February 15th, 2008
Earlier this week I posted New York Times critic Frank Bruni’s review of the 2nd Ave Deli, which he gave one solid star. Now, as happens with popular restaurants, there was feedback and commentary, but I think even Bruni is astonished at how much this story has generated. So over the past few days, he has been tackling the questions and criticism on his blog.
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2nd Ave Deli - NYT Review and Alan Richman
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Image courtesy of G. Paul Burnett/ New York Times.
It was bound to happen.
They waited for the rush of opening and of Christmas to die down, for the computer system and kitchen to work out the kinks, for Jeremy Lebewohl to get a sense of his new life. But in New York, every deli gets their day, and today, the New York Times came calling to the 2nd Ave Deli. Frank Bruni, the paper’s head reviewer, who is known to be a deli fan, has rolled out a positive (though critical) review of the reopened, and relocated legend.
“IN time, we’d get to the pastrami sandwich, and we’d quibble over its height and quarrel about condiments. Condiments are personal.
The new Second Avenue Deli still has matzo ball soup and pastrami.
But first came the matzo ball soup and the chopped liver.
Already, consensus eluded us.
Ed deemed the entire soup good, while Nora reserved her praise for the perfectly round, snowy matzo ball itself.”
Bruni is referring to Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York, and a lifelong deli fanatic (look for him in my book). Nora is Nora Ephron, the comedic writer who is also a true deli maven, and whose article on Langer’s pastrami is one of the finest odes to deli I’ve read. Bruni brought them, along with food writer Laura Shapiro, to the deli at 33rd and 3rd for a taste of chopped liver, matzo ball soup, pastrami, latkes and rugelach. Like Bruni’s review of Katz’s, it was less a direct read and more of a critical love letter, which split the opinions of the panel depending on their preferences. Such is the problem with reviewing a well known deli in New York: everyone is an expert, and no two mouths can agree.
Meanwhile, it’s earned a full star, which is a fine achievement for a deli.
But wait…that’s not all.
A deli of this magnitude draws the finest food critics in the land…and in the land of New York, they tend to be Jewish and deli lovers. So over at GQ.com, we see Alan Richman weighing in on the reincarnated 2nd Ave Deli as well. His article is dead on.
“Real delicatessens, and 2nd Avenue Deli is one of them, sell homemade meat products with an Eastern European accent. The new 2nd Avenue Deli (it’s on East 33rd Street in Manhattan) fulfills that mandate exquisitely, and, unlike the old place, has added smoked fish. Traditionally, delicatessens never sold fish, but this is a modern delicatessen where the meats sleep with the fishes.”
“The pastrami at the new place is terrific: fattier, spicier, more tender and more beautiful than before. It isn’t the best I’ve ever had, but it’s close. In case you like tongue (and who doesn’t?), the tongue might be the best I’ve ever had. In rounding out the sandwich experience, let me add this: The rye bread isn’t good. You can barely taste the rye flour—pretty much a universal problem today. Everybody wants delicatessen sandwiches on rye bread as long as it bread doesn’t actually taste like rye. The mustard is superb. The sour pickles are very good, the half-sours less so. Skip the corned beef and the brisket sandwiches: boring.”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF ALAN RICHMAN’S ARTICLE
The end is nigh for Ottawa’s Nate’s
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
Smoked Meat at Nate’s in Ottawa.
To those of us deli lovers in Canada, the great lopsided debate of Montreal vs. Toronto, of smoked meat vs. corned beef, is an amusing, and infuriating exercise in local pride. And while most readily admit that Montreal is both numerically and traditionally superior in its deli offerings, the passion shows a love for deli in both of Canada’s major cities. This is important. Unlike the United States to the south, Canada is not a deli rich nation. Yes, there’s a great history in Montreal, and a good concentration in Toronto, but there are but a handful of delis left in Winnipeg, and one or two on the edge in Calgary and Vancouver. This wasn’t always the case. Back in the day, there were delis in Saskatchewan and Edmonton, in Maritime coal towns and northern cities in Ontario. But time has drawn Canada’s Jewish youth to its major centers, and as the communities have shrunk, their delis have disappeared. This is unfortunately the case with Winnipeg, which was once a deli haven, and now only Oscar’s is left in the city. These places need their delis saved in the most dire fashion possible.
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New York News: Friedman’s delayed, Noah’s Ark wins kudos
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008Some quick tidbits out of New York to report.
Just you wait…
Friedman’s Deli, a new kosher delicatessen in Chelsea Market, was supposed to open last week, but now it seems the opening has been delayed until later in the month. We’ll eagerly await this for several reasons:
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Rascal House Update! Condo out/market in/deli still on edge
Monday, February 4th, 2008
I’ve cited the impending closure of Miami’s Rascal House as one of the prime examples of why we need to Save the Deli. For over fifty years the Rascal House has been the premiere Jewish delicatessen in all of Florida, a watering hole for the migratory populations of elderly Jews who swoop down each winter in search of warmth and an early dinner. If you don’t know about the Rascal House, or what is happening to it, have a look at this post from last April, which I wrote shortly after visiting Miami.
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Exclusive Preview: the 2nd Ave Deli
Saturday, December 15th, 2007
Well deli fans, it all comes down to this. On Monday morning, at 6:00 am, the doors of the 2nd Ave Deli will open to the public for the first time. After nearly two years in exile, with much heart ringing and confusion, New York’s Jewish deli world will once again be able to call this delicatessen one of theirs. I have been, I have eaten and I will share my sights and tastes with you.
The countermen are all back and ready to slice
When Abe Lebewohl opened the doors of his small 2nd Ave Deli for the first time in 1954, it was to start a second life. After a youth spent narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Nazis and Soviets, running his deli became Lebewohl’s personal fulfillment of the American dream.
In time, the 2nd Ave Deli came to be known as one of the greatest Jewish delicatessens in Manhattan, a true East Village institution where devoted corned beef hounds worshiped amidst a temple of schmaltz. Now, it rises again, providing a rare second chance for a New York that is rapidly disappearing to turn back the clock.
Deli manager Steve Cohen, with a nice helping of p’tcha…calves foot jelly that is oniony, garlicky, and downright delicious as it melts on the tongue.
When the 2nd Ave Deli unexpectedly shut its doors in January 2006, the loss reverberated far beyond the deli’s customers. Most New Yorkers realized that the 2nd Ave Deli stood for more than just kishke and chopped liver. For half a century, Lebewohl’s deli represented an icon of stability amidst tumultuous surroundings. As the East Village changed character, from Jewish to Latino to hipster, from safe to dangerous to trendy, everyone from Yiddish speaking octogenarians to NYU freshman could rely upon the 2nd Ave Deli as a place to sit amongst friends.
New owner Jeremy Lebwohl (Abe’s Nephew), looks on at his new counter. Though only 25, the soul of a seasoned deli man burns within this young man.
When it closed, the sight of the deli’s neon letters lying on the sidewalk, like bodies at a crime scene, proved to be a watershed moment. History, success, and popularity proved no protection from progress’ march. In New York, even the most cherished institutions could become a Starbuck’s, or in the case of the 2nd Ave deli, a Chase bank branch.
Grievenes: Fried chicken skins, rendered in chicken fat, which are to the deli’s silken chopped liver, what caviar is to creme fraiche.
Certainly this wasn’t unprecedented. Across the city, Jewish delicatessens, which once numbered in the thousands, had been sharply declining for decades. Where once they were found on almost every block of the Bronx, in Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, or Midtown, today there are but a few dozen scattered amidst the boroughs and suburbs. The causes of their decline are well documented; a rise in Jewish affluence and education, a change in diet based less on tradition and more on health and variety, a demographic shift away from New York’s tightly knit neighborhoods to suburbs or sunny havens like Los Angeles or Florida. Places such as Wolff’s, the Rialto, and Ratner’s were 20th century businesses operating in a 21st century world, and they paid the unfortunate cost of change.
Pastrami and Corned Beef, from Brooklyn’s Empire National. The pastrami is Eddie Weinberg’s classic recipe, a wonderful fatty navel cut, cured dark red, and rubbed with just enough pepper to make the meat sing. The corned beef is his too, then cured and doctored further by the 2nd Ave’s kitchen. It’s incredibly moist, subtle, and reeks of roasted garlic.
For the 2nd Ave Deli, the end came from the rapid increase in real estate values, brought about by gentrification. In the span of five years a neighborhood can go from desolate to desirable, with rents increasing tenfold. Family owned restaurants of all ethnic persuasions, whether Jewish, Italian, or Dominican, have little financial recourse to weather such shifts. Landlords opt increasingly for the big pockets of chains and high end dining establishments to occupy their properties. Lattes sell condominiums, latkes don’t.
This is the first gefilte fish I’ve ever eaten that didn’t need horseradish. It actually bursts in the mouth with juice, as though you’ve just plucked a fish from the river that already came in gefilte form. It is the perfect blend between chunky, and firm, sweet and sour, and they swear it actually tastes better than the old 2nd Ave Gefilte.
This is a shame. Visiting somewhere like McSorley’s Old Ale House, Gray’s Papaya, or Peter Luger’s is more than an indulgence in nostalgic kitch. These are the places where the Big Apple connects to its spiritual and physical soul. For many, a breath of sweat soaked air at the departed CBGB’s was their walk in Central Park. To those eating it, a bowl of matzo ball soup goes beyond boiled chicken, vegetables, and dough. It is a fragrant, liquid reality check in a time and place where the pace of life has eroded any sense of perspective. Trendy chains and fine dining cannot fill that void. We need these places to survive, so that we can too.
These rugelach were so dense, and packed with a sort of caramelized cinnamon nut combo, that we couldn’t stop eating them. End to end, the food is as close to deli perfection as one can find.
At the end of the meal, everyone gets a little shot of Bosco chocolate soda. It’s simple perfection like this that’s made this place a legend even before opening.
All this makes the rebirth of the 2nd Ave Deli so uniquely important. Of the timeless institutions that have disappeared from New York’s streets, few, if any, receive a fresh chance at redemption. Expectations are lofty, and the chance of failure remains high. Yet, a success for the new 2nd Ave Deli could very well mark the turning point in New York’s history when everyone stopped, just for a moment, to really smell the pastrami.
Jeremy’s father, Abe’s brother, and the deli’s former owner, Jack Lebewohl…the proudest dad in New York this week.
The 2nd Ave’s Second Coming! (a date is set)
Monday, December 10th, 2007
Get your jaws ready.
The cat is finally out of the bag. Though I’ve known it for some time, and the date has changed at least five times before this moment, it is now official. The Second Avenue Deli will reopen….
wait for it….
Next Monday, the 17th of December, 2007. Mark that day.
The news came by way of New York Magazine, who ran an interview with the deli’s owner, Jeremy Lebewohl.
For the unreconstructed Jewish-food fresser, the second coming of 2nd Avenue Deli—shuttered two years ago after a rent dispute, and reopening next week in Murray Hill—is a culinary event that trumps even the Manhattan debuts of Thomas Keller and Alain Ducasse. Into their vaunted ranks steps neophyte restaurateur Jeremy Lebewohl, the 25-year-old nephew of deli founder Abe Lebewohl and keeper of the kosher-deli flame.
It seemed like the whole city went into mourning when the deli closed. What made it so special?
You have other places in Manhattan that have good deli cases. But our kitchen—and I say this very confidently—nobody can touch. I won’t take away the counters from them, where you can get a good sandwich. But there aren’t that many places where you can get good soup. We have chicken fricassée, goulash, all these things that come from the kitchen. There’s not a single deli in Manhattan that can compare.
Have you changed the menu?
I did not subtract. I only added. Most importantly, I added a full line of appetizing. The people who eat smoked-fish appetizing eat deli meats. It’s the same client base.
Considering all that, is this a good deli moment?
People have asked me, “Do you think opening up a deli filled with fatty foods is a smart thing to do in modern times, when people are on diets and eating tossed salads and all this type of stuff?” I happen to think that now is the perfect climate. If you go to a lot of in-vogue restaurants, you’re going to see pork belly, and barbecue is back in a big way. Food tastes move in cycles. When I was a kid, in my house, in all my friends’ houses, there were all kinds of cookies and Entenmann’s cake and bags of potato chips. That’s what you ate. Then all of a sudden, God forbid you eat anything but a Diet Coke and maybe a crouton if you’re lucky. That’s not the way to live.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE
I can’t stress what this means for the cause of save the deli. The closing of the 2nd Ave Deli was a watershed moment in New York delicatessen history. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, the signal to deli’s devoted masses that the time for action was upon them. You have answered with a roar, that the era of salt and fat and peppery mustard slathered schmaltzy meats is not over. If the closing of the original 2nd Ave Deli was our Bull Run, let this be our Gettysburg. Let us embrace it and show the world that this food is worth preserving and eating and loving.
I’m flying into New York on wednesday, and will update with news about the opening, a preview of the food, and photos from opening day. If you’re in the area, stop by next Monday, fight the crowds, brave the lineup and say hello. I’ll be the shmuck taking notes.
Can’t wait…
2nd Ave Sign up
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
Oh yes my friends, you all know what that is. Rumors are flying left and right about when the new 2nd Ave Deli will open. No definitive word is out yet, though I will let you know that Save the Deli is in close contact with the Lebewohls, and you’ll be the first to know when I do.
Feel it…taste it…the return is coming!
