Save the Deli goes to the White House
Friday, August 7th, 2009
Dear America,
For too long you have struggled in your effort to save the deli. But now, thanks to my friend Sara Kuzmarov, and others, we have a fighting chance. You see, last month I mailed off three advance copies of Save the Deli to the White House. There are several serious deli lovers on the President’s staff who have the power to bring change to DC’s stagnant deli culture. They can inject hope and a new tomorrow to our struggling delis. Bailouts, rescue packages, cured meat reform…all of it is possible.
Am I serious? You betcha. Save the Deli is in the White House, and who knows…perhaps Obama will see it on a desk, crack it open, and do his part. One can only hope.
For the sake of America.
Nora Ephron’s last meal? A hot dog from Nate n’ Al
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
Journalist, author, screenwriter, and director Nora Ephron is doing the rounds to promote her new film Julie and Julia, about the book by the blogger who replicated Julia Child’s recipes over a year, and stole her soul 
In last weekend’s New York Times, everyone’s favorite cougar, Maureen Dowd, interviewed Ephron about food in twenty questions or so. But the last is the best:
Q: What would your last meal be, if you got executed for killing a moody actor?
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Big Friday Roundup
Friday, July 31st, 2009
It’s Friday, I’m heading home to Toronto for two weeks, and that means it’s time for a big assed summer roundup. Get ready!
1. Langer’s Deli will be on the Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” next Tuesday at 9.30 PM.
Be sure to check it out. It’s about pastrami (duh).
2. Evan’s New York Style Deli is reported open in Marblehead, MA. That’s near Salem, or north of Boston, for you landlubbers.
The Friday Feedbag
Friday, July 24th, 2009
Sorry for the lack of posts this week. We’re working hard to make Savethedeli.com even better before the book’s release, and we hit a few hiccups along the way. Up and running now though.
So it’s Friday, erev Shabbos, and that means the roundup of random stuff.
1. Famous Deli and Restaurant in Bucks County, PA has supposedly closed. I don’t know this deli personally, but a recent fan said it was quite good. Owned by Stuart Thomas and Troy Garr since 1986, apparently they recently remodeled, and undoubtedly fell victim of these tough economic times. We’ll say a prayer for the deli’s fans.
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Cool Katz’s pic and more hype
Monday, June 15th, 2009My good buddy Mark Lamster sent me this cool pic today.
I think it’s done on that iPhone app, where you can finger paint. And I think it’s done by artist Jorge Colombo, who did the recent New Yorker cover. It’s available for purchase as a print on 20×200.com, a super cool website where you can get great original art for $20.
Also, another little tidbit. I got more great hyped press that came out of BEA. Vick Mickunas of the Dayton Daily News wrote about the Book Expo of America convention this past friday: (more…)
The Buzz Builds!
Monday, June 1st, 2009So things are moving along as the buzz for Save the Deli builds.
First, this weekend was the Book Expo America, the industry’s giant sales tradeshow, where book buyers meet publishers, and place their orders. My US publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, had their lunches during the conference catered by the 2nd Ave Deli. They did so well, they needed to restock their table, because editors, writers, and sellers were going crazy over the pastrami.
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Hold the Schmaltz! (Rascal House the Final Hours) The Film
Friday, May 8th, 2009It’s been just over a year since the great Miami deli The Rascal House was closed down by greed, haste, and foolishness.
Now comes a film about that final day. Thanks to comedian, performer, and magician Adam Steinfeld (Jewish?), I present “Hold the Schmaltz”.
Marketing Ideas
Thursday, April 16th, 2009Happy end of Pesach to you all (or at least those who can’t wait until tonight). I had pancakes for breakfast, asserting my Reforness fully.
In Toronto this week, having meetings with the publisher about marketing ideas for the book (the US meeting happened a few weeks back). I want to tap into your collective imaginations and see what ideas you all have to help promote the book. What are your thoughts for viral campaigns, guerilla marketing, stunts, events, or other fun things that we can do in October to get Save the Deli into as many hands as possible.
I’m looking for whatever you’ve got. Please email me any suggestions or post them below.
Gourmet weights Smoked Meat vs. Pastrami
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
Katz’s Pastrami (photo credit: christopherfarber.com)
Or
Schwartz’s Smoked Meat
Gird yourselves deli lovers, because a great debate is about to rage up.
Gourmet Magazine (which will shortly publish a story of mine on deli), has a post by famed New York food critic Robert Sistema on weighing Schwartz’s smoked meat vs. Katz’s pastrami, both of which are eaten within hours of each other. This is a taste test of champions. Read on:
My wife, Gretchen, and I recently found ourselves faced with a unique opportunity: to eat the famed smoked meat of Montreal, then travel back to New York and taste our home city’s notorious counterpart, pastrami, all within a few hours of each other. This rare, real-time comparison turned into a pastrami vs. smoked meat smackdown, as we tried to answer the fundamental question: “Which is better?”
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The Secret History of the Bagel
Monday, March 30th, 2009
I don’t talk about bagels much, though I love them dearly, because I try to keep the deli world distinct from the bagel/appetizing world…as it should be. But I have to post about this.
Last week I read a great article by my friend Ari Weinzweig, the guru-founder of Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor. Two years ago Ari took me to Zingerman’s bakehouse, where they were making chewy, crisp, hand twisted bagels similar to those I’ve enjoyed in Montreal. The man knows and loves bagels, and his article “The Secret History of the Bagel“, in the Atlantic’s food pages, is a worthwhile read.
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