Home » The deli…

Comments

The deli… — 33 Comments

  1. Los Angeles is now the home of the most and best Jewish Delis, go to Langers for their real ryebread and the best pastrami ever.
    Brents up in Northridge.
    Recently Juniors closed on Westwood Blvd and immediately was replaced with Lenny’s.
    There are others that aren’t that good but are doing a great business.

    New York may be losing it’s delis, but here in LA, everyone eats in them.

  2. Leah: the article, which is from the LA Times, mentions LA’s delis quite prominently.

    I used to like Art’s. Their pastrami sandwich was the best I ever ate.

  3. Try Barry’s in Waban just off Beacon Street, it’s pretty good. The sandwiches are delicious.

  4. I like bagels and rye bread, but sadly, I’ve never eaten at a New York deli.

    What is pastrami, anyway? The word looks Italian. Sometimes I buy it at my supermarket to make sandwiches I bring to work for lunch.

    Anyway, I’m fortunate to live in the Philly suburbs, where you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a good pizza/cheesesteak place.

  5. But don’t despair. Real rye bread will not die out. As long as there’s a demand for it, local niche bakers will rise (get it?) to meet the demand.

    Look at beer. For decades, most American mass-produced beers were bland and ordinary. But in the last 20 years or so, craft brewers have sprung up all over the country, making a bewildering variety of recipes to suit any taste.

  6. This southern boy has always loved rye bread, though from your description, Neo, I’m not sure I’ve ever tasted the real thing. I’m sure I would love it. I do know that most of what passes for rye bread around here is pretty wimpy stuff, about like what’s in your picture there. But some of the grocery stores that bake their own bread occasionally produce something pretty decent.

    Sometimes it seems like everything real in America disappears and then returns as corporate hype around a pale imitation (e.g Cracker Barrel restaurants). Though as rickl says the beer scene is great.

  7. The irony is that high fat deli meat is likely more healthful than what people eat as a substitute for it.

  8. Make your own home-made bagels. There are lots of recipes available on the internet. Boiling before baking is the key.

  9. rickl: Here’s a description of pastrami.

    However, the only good pastrami I’ve ever had has been in New York and Los Angeles. What they call pastrami in other places in not worthy of the name. For example, I once chased after some in Montreal that was reputed to be the real thing (according to guidebooks, anyway), and it wasn’t good at all. And Montreal is a large city with a large Jewish populations, so you’d think they’d have good pastrami.

  10. rickl: oh, and real rye bread already has pretty much died out. I’ve had rye bread in really good bakeries, too, and although it can be a tasty item, it is very different from the real rye bread that was sold in delis in the New York of my youth.

  11. I might believe something Obama says before I believe that is rye bread in that photo. (The pastrami is making my mouth water though.)

    My grandmother (not Jewish) never had any other bread in her house except, whole wheat, rye, or pumpernickel.

    Time to go make a sandwich. hmm . . . egg salad on pumpernickel sounds real good about now.

  12. I don’t know how NY does it. Best bagels on the planet and can’t seem to be duplicated anywhere else. My wife and I stood in line for an hour at a place in Manhattan when we visited. Worth it.

  13. San Francisco never had a good deli but it has a good Jewish bakery, House of Bagels. I used to live a few blocks from it and they had good rye and challah, just like I grew up with. I haven’t been there in a while though. There are other “House of Bagels” down here in Silicon Valley and while they are not perfectly authentic they are a lot more “bagel-y” than what you get at most other places.

  14. Incidentally my great-grandfather owned a bakery and my grandfather met my grandmother while driving a truck for him. I also have a picture of my grandfather at about the age of 12 working in a bakery in Russia with some other kids!

  15. There used to be a deli in Dayton, Ohio, called The Chicago Deli. As soon as a customer sat down, a waitress would bring a plate full of sliced, fresh, homemade pickles. I loved to sit there and eat them while I awaited my Reuben. It might not have been “real” New York rye bread, but it was darned good.
    The place closed about 25 years ago. So did Harold’s in Knoxville. Sad. Very sad.

  16. The reason NYC bagels can’t be duplicated is the water. Water in different locations tastes different due to trace minerals. NYC just happens to have a really great water supply. That said the bagels in Manhattan aren’t bagels anymore, they are fluffy monstrosities that would be illegal to serve at Gitmo under the Geneva convention. Some of the outer borough and suburban shops still make great bialys and bagels but the stores of yore in Manhattan like the one I went to on 14th street, headed by a wizened man who stood about five feet tall on a good day are sadly over.

  17. ART’S Deli on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, Calif. This goy boy had never even imagine eating—YIKES—chopped liver on rye before my first 41-yr ago Art’s Experience. Thought those first bagels I ever saw were lousy looking-tasting donuts…Hey, soooooooo much to learn.(-:

  18. If worse comes to worst, you may have to do it yourself. I’ve never baked bread, but there are lots of recipes online. Here’s one I chose at random:

    New York Deli Rye Bread

    Like I said, I can’t vouch for it. But the picture looks yummy.

  19. Pingback:Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup » Pirate's Cove

  20. Carnegie Deli in Manhattan has the best pastrami hands down (sorry all you Katz’s lovers). Carnegie’s jumbo cabbage roll is not too shabby, either. And their mountain of fresh fried onion rings are a cardio’s (delicious) nightmare.

    Grewilli, I agree with you about NYC bagels. I’m in Queens, and there’s a bagel store 2 blocks away. Really good and chewy salt and everything bagels (my go to bagel test). When I lived in Brooklyn, they also had the real deal bagels. But Manhattan bagels? Crap, pure crap. Oversized rolls, they’re so light and airy. If your jaw muscles don’t get tired of chewing down a bagel, it’s not a good bagel.

    And speaking of bagels, how many have had the ultimate bagel? A salt bagel with a shmear of cream cheese, lox and raw onion. Great way to start the day and keeps the co-workers away.

  21. I guess the Buddah was right saying “Nothing’s permanent”. I remember well, my Irish Catholic mother traipsing me down the block on Dyckman St to the Jewish Deli. There was one in Riverdale I liked too. The Second Ave Deli closed. I guess it’s time for some entrepreneurial go getter to act on these responses and make a nice Deli. In the mean time, let’s learn to bake our own. Now, I’m in Dallas where my fiancé lives. I took her up to the city over Christmas and she asked me “What’s a “Nish” ” instead of Knish. I miss a good Knish.

  22. Now Katz’s has good homemade knishes, not like those disgusting ‘fried’ and reheated street ones.

  23. Next time you’re on the upper east side of Manhattan, try the rye bread either at Eli’s (Eli Zabar’s store at 80th and 3rd) or Orwasher’s (78th just east of 2nd ave). They’re both pretty authentic, to my taste anyway. They’re the only two places I will eat rye bread from.

  24. American food is appallingly bland, and a huge part of the problem is the obsession with fat. Fat provides taste. When the fat level is lowered, the food loses taste, AND, because sugar levels are usually increased to offset the flavour loss, the food is much less healthy.

    Fat is only bad for you if you have a high carbohydrate diet. Carbohydrates, and sugars in particular, are never good for you.

    I find it fascinating that my sister-in-laws from the USA (I have three there) always stock up on corned beef and Nutella when they visit us, in Australia. Apparently our versions are much nicer than the US versions, due to the higher fat content. Since the US version also has an offsetting higher carbohydrate level, our versions are also healthier.

    I don’t eat Nutella myself, but my kids love it. Ironically, we don’t buy the Australian Nutella, but rather get Italian Nutella, which apparently is much, much nicer than our version — and it also comes in awesome looking 5kg (11 lbs) jars.

    Having read Gary Taubes’ book “Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It” in November, I have completely changed views on what food is good and bad from a health perspective. I’ve also lost almost 20kgs (44 lbs) since then.

    Go for the real food.

  25. I don’t know, the bread looks like pretty good kimmel to me. A little over-kneaded before forming, maybe, with a short proof. The crust looks nice. Large gas bubbles in the loaf can make it hard to manage a sandwich, even though they look authentic, so maybe the uniformity is on purpose.

    So long as it’s a real sourdough rye, I’d be happy.

    Looking at the menu, I’m amazed at the size of the portions. My wife and I always split a sandwich at a place like that. Appears to be well worth a visit!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>