When I was a little kid living in the Worcester,
Massachusetts area a treasured outing with my grandmother was a trip to
Weintraub’s Jewish Deli on Water Street.
When we moved away, any return trip was incomplete until we had made a
pilgrimage for pastrami and corned beef.
Sometime in the 80s the place was sold and something seemed to
change. The staff that knew my
grandmother by name retired. Quality
seemed to suffer some. I traveled in
search of other delis. Posh Nosh and
Pumpernickles in St. Louis, The Gaiety, Katz’ and Carnegie in NYC, Manny’s in
Chicago all came close to those childhood memories. But somehow my childhood memories of
Weintraub’s was of sandwiches that had just the right amount of meat, not
mountains bigger than my mouth, spicy brown mustard, a commitment to kosher
rules, Dr. Brown’s sodas, and killer half sour pickles. Don’t get me wrong, the NYC delis held up to
their legendary status and Manny’s is amazing, but none of them were
Weintraub’s to me.
That feeling of comfort and tradition is at the heart of the
deli, as described in David Sax’s book, Save
the Deli. Any lover of community and
food, Jewish culture, or traditional mom-and-pop dining will devour this
book. Sax summarizes the history of the
Jewish community in New York City and its Jewish delis and then sets out on a
six week journey across North America examining the state of the deli
today. Along the way he traces numerous
themes in recent American history, particularly suburbanization, gentrification,
the costs of quality ingredients, and the challenges posed by
lowest-common-denominator, mass market chain restaurants. He pulls no punches, essentially telling us
that Florida and the Bay Area have lost all their Jewish deli authenticity,
charm and joy, while Chicago still has passion, but hasn’t yet found the
successful formula to save the deli, and that Los Angeles is the now de facto American capital of deli. He wraps up his North American tour glowing
about the dining in Montreal and bringing us back to NYC with the re-opening of
the 2nd Street Deli. Finally,
Sax travels to Europe where Jewish cuisine takes on an entirely different set
of influences, yielding fascinating results.
I know many people who have no clue what I am looking for
when I say I want a good Jewish deli.
Perhaps they can point me to an Italian or German deli, but have never
set foot in a Jewish one. Maybe their
experience with corned beef or pastrami is little beyond their local grocery
store. These great delis have been dying
for 40 years, but there are a few holding on and even a few opening (you will
have to read the book). Those who grew
up with them and love them must promote them.
David Sax’s book, web page and Facebook page are just what we need. Check them out… http://www.savethedeli.com/
and https://www.facebook.com/groups/2239313755/
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