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Where Have all the Delis Gone?

by Susan Davis on 20/11/09 at 12:15 pm

Endangered species or on its way to recovery?

It’s been a long time since I set foot in an honest-to-goodness Jewish deli and devoured a hot pastrami sandwich on hearty rye bread.  They were usually served with a cool and crispy sour pickle, and I’d slather on a layer of spicy, brown mustard to tie all the rich flavors together.  Every bite was a little bit of heaven.  Yum!

In addition to the overflowing, meaty sandwiches, I also miss the authentic potato knishes, the matzo ball soup and even the kishke (Jewish sausage — an acquired taste) that appear on traditional deli menus.  All of these delicious delicacies were washed down with Dr. Brown’s cream flavored soda.

Where have all the delis gone?

Those days of growing up in Brooklyn, New York are long gone, and sadly, so are most of the delis.  Many of them shut down or changed into other ethnic eateries, as their clientele dwindled and relocated to the suburbs.  Since moving away from New York City, I’ve yet to find a deli in any of my subsequent hometowns that remotely came close to replicating the savory flavors of New York’s finest.

Hoping to save a culinary tradition

So when I read about David Sax, author of Save the Deli, and his quest to find the ultimate delicatessens in America, I was more than a bit curious about his results.  I also thought, “what a great project … eating your way through the delis of America.  Who wouldn’t like that?”  I secretly hoped that he would be able to locate and identify a deli or two that were less than a day’s drive from my current home.

In quest of the best delis

Sax spent two months traversing the country, visiting the major population hubs of Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Montreal, Cleveland, St. Louis, Denver, Detroit and of course, New York.  He also stopped in smaller cities such as Ft. Lauderdale, Scottsdale, and Las Vegas, to name just a few.  And he even sampled food in Metairie, Louisiana and Ann Arbor, Michigan in search of the perfect deli cuisine.  To ensure his research was well balanced, he also visited delis in London, Brussels, Paris and Krakow, where history indicates delis have their roots.

I was sure that Sax would declare that the best delis were in New York.  After all New York City is the home of Katz’s Delicatessen, the Carnegie Deli and the Second Avenue Deli.  But to my surprise, Sax proclaimed Los Angeles the winner.  New York didn’t even come in second (Montreal did – but what else would you expect from a native Canadian?).   Los Angeles beat out the Big Apple because they had more delicatessens of higher quality, on average, than anywhere else in America.  And these west coast eateries are proving to be more flexible with the changing eating patterns of today’s diners.

The demise of the delis

Save the Deli is a nostalgic look at the culinary cultural icons that were thriving specialty restaurants in the 1940s and 50s, but which have all but disappeared.  At one point, New York boasted 2,000 Jewish delis; today, there are less than two dozen left.  Someone should declare them endangered species – but by whom?  Sax himself said in an interview with The Atlantic that “the lovers of deli didn’t need an obituary; they needed a call to arms. They wanted to save the deli, and ultimately, I did too.”

Reading about the food that used to be so prevalent during my childhood brought back warm and pleasant memories.  Good food usually does that.  My favorite deli was a place called Victor’s in Brooklyn.  They stood out from the rest by serving customers a “shmear” of chopped liver on a piece of rye bread that was to die for – and I don’t even like chopped liver!

The next time you see a deli, don’t just pass by.  Stop in and order a sandwich.   And thank them for their contributions to our food heritage.

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