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Win a copy of Save the Deli

by · October 15th, 2009
Books, Contest, Featured, Food History, Food Writing, Jewish Culture, Kosher

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The deli has been in the spotlight these days thanks to the work of  David Sax.  You  may have read Joan Nathan’s piece in the New York Times about David’s upcoming book, Save the Deli, a call to action to revive deli culture.  Deli has been in most newspapers and on the radio now and is  the talk of the town in a way it hasn’t been since its golden years thanks to one man with a mission.

Early on for the Jew and the Carrot Leah Koenig wrote a post about David’s deli zeal during David’s journey to eat at delis around the world (which he also chronicled on his blog), and now the Jew and the Carrot is eager to announce a deli contest in the book’s honor. The winner will receive a free copy of Save the Deli.

Just leave us a comment on this post about your most memorable deli meal or experience and your name could be drawn to win a copy of his book.  Last day to leave a comment is Thursday October 22nd and the winner will be contacted the next day.

And while we’re on the subject, the Save the Deli book launch will be held this Monday at Ben’s Kosher Delicatessen.  It will be a great time with remarkable deli kitsch.

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17 Responses to “Win a copy of Save the Deli”

  1. Cyn Schoenbrun Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    It’s so wonderful to be able to come to a website that talks about food in the context of how a a (sometimes self) selected group lives it. And now, deli too! Who could ask for more. Kol HaKavod on all your good work.

  2. Daniel Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    My favorite deli memory was at Rein’s Deli in Vernon, CT. I was probably about 8 or 9 years old, and I couldn’t find anything to eat on the menu. I had ordered the macaroni and cheese, but I didn’t like it (it wasn’t anything like the kraft I enjoyed at home…). My father really wanted me to eat something, so he gave me a bite of his corned beef reuben. It was delicious! But as I savored the bite I took, something felt funny in my mouth. I looked down at the sandwich, and there was one of my teeth, siting on top of the bread… Now, this was the first (and only) tooth that I had ever lost on my own, all the rest had to be pulled. Needless to say it was very exciting, and I have been eating corned beef reubens ever since.

  3. Phyllis Hecker Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 8:07 pm

    I live in a town with no KOSHER Deli.
    I have been known to drive two and a 1/2 hours for some good shopping and a kosher corned beef and Pastriami sandwich.
    If you can get one in your town consider yourself blessed!

  4. Gershon Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    Second Avenue Deli, with my wife, her brother and his girlfriend, and friends from abroad. Gribenes. Wonderful, wonderful gribenes. And I didn’t even have to ask for them!

  5. Mindy Shapiro Says:
    October 15th, 2009 at 10:47 pm

    My dad z”l owned a deli/restaurant in Baltimore, where I grew up called the Biddle Griddle. This was back in the 1960′s. I do not remember the food – it was all about the pinball machine.

    Nowadays It is about the food. I have been biking with some guys from the minyans at my shul on Sunday mornings for 15 years- we bike far and wide- but the main goal is the breakfast at a deli.

  6. Michael Says:
    October 16th, 2009 at 7:58 am

    Lipson’s Deli, New Rochelle NY. I walked in during a break between hebrew school classes, meant to order a Hebrew National dog with sauerkraut. A slip of the tongue, and I ordered it with cole slaw by mistake. A deliciously serendipitous mistake.

  7. Helene Rock Says:
    October 16th, 2009 at 5:55 pm

    The most wonderful deli meal I’ve ever had was THE PERFECT PASTRAMI SANDWICH with all the fixings! Nothing beats pastrami and corned beef. I cannot make these. Cole slaw that’s not to tart nor not too sweet is a perfect accompaniment. I also personally like French Fries with my Pastrami Sandwich. And of course, the perfect drink is the egg cream or a chocolate phosphate!!!!! One never needs dessert after such a deli meal!!!!! Alas, I no longer live near a deli. My mouth waters just thinking about it. BUt perhaps, in this day and age of low-fat, non-fat, fight cholesterol etc. Pastrami and corned beef will just be fond memories. Be well! L’Chayim.

  8. Howard R Says:
    October 17th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    I remember going to Bain’s Deli in Philadelphia as a child in the 1950s and 60s. It was wonderful – they had a long counter with people carving corned beef and pastrami, dishing out cole slaw, and punching your card as you went. All the other foods typical of a full-scale Jewish deli were there too, from matzoh ball soup to knishes to anything else you might want. Everything tasted terrific.

    Then a new generation took over the family business. Soon all of the stand-alone delis were gone, and instead the company developed deli stands at food courts in shopping malls and train stations, with a very limited menu of sandwiches and little else. It was never the same as the memory of what Bain’s had once been.

  9. alan mendelsohn Says:
    October 17th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

    Growing up in the 70′s and 80′s, all I knew from personal experience was about the “first kosher” Chinese restaurant, Bernstein’s on Essex Street on New York’s Lower East Side. But I was also so fortunate to have been raised by my maternal grandparents, Harry and Fannie Halpern (may they rest in peace). My grandmother would regale me with stories about when they lived in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, how my grandmother would take 2 trains and a bus to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan to buy deli because it was my grandfather’s favorite….how she used to meet with Shmulka Bernstein himself behind the deli counter and used to buy enough salami and pastrami to feed an army… how the salamis had to be the beautiful, deep red, dried out salamis that hung from the strings in the store windows…and how particular Mr Bernstein was about the quality of his goods. My mothers brother, Arnold, was also famous for stealing those beautiful salamis from the refrigerator once my grandmother brought them home and hiding them under his bed, and how my poor grandfather went looking and occasionally never found them. A time I still dream about sometimes……

  10. Nancy Heller Says:
    October 18th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    During my college years at NYU in the 1980s, the Second Avenue Deli was a favorite.

    One day, myself and my very Jewish looking boyfriend, and my BFF Sharon (also very semitic featured) and her boyfriend – who’s last name was “Rooney” – went to the Second Avenue Deli for sandwiches.

    We were seated around a 4-top. The surly old Jewish waiter took our orders – we all ordered our sandwiches on rye. We chatted and nibbled on the table pickles and noted the mustard and ketchup already on the table, until the waiter appeared with his tray. He placed a sandwich down in front of me. He placed a sandwich in front of Dave. He placed a sandwich in front of Sharon. Last – he placed a sandwich in front of Rooney. None of us had said a word.

    Moments later, the waiter, without a word, deposited a dispenser of mayo on the table, smack in front of Rooney. The other three of us nearly fell out of our chairs laughing – Rooney hadn’t requested mayo, and he didn’t understand what the fuss was all about until we explained.

    What made the moment even more funny than it was, was that this was when Woody Allen’s movie “Hannah and Her Sisters” was playing – and who could forget the scene where Allen, considering conversion to Catholicism, opens his grocery store bad and places on his table a Bible, a Chalice, a loaf of Wonder Bread – and a jar of mayo. The waiter’s deposit in front of Rooney caused the rest of us to channel the Woody Allen moment!

  11. Barbara Says:
    October 18th, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    Another Second Avenue Deli memory:

    Eight months pregnant, I waddle my way up to the counter. The waitress — whose face I cannot recall but whose voice still rings in my ears — takes one look at my belly, points with her pen and says: “you know it’s a girl, dontcha?” I ordered a turkey sandwich with Russian dressing and devoured every last over-sized crumb. She was right, of course!

  12. Stu Shiffman Says:
    October 19th, 2009 at 2:14 pm

    I miss the old neighborhood delis of my youth like Sokol’s in downtown Flushing or the Host in Electchester.

    I remember going to a deli with my grandfather and, while he was going *gesmak* over his stewed calf brains, I have a cup of chicken noodle soup (decanted at the table from a metal cup!), a big “twin” sandwich of hand-cut corned beef and pastrami on egg rolls, a cold Dr. Brown’s Black Cherry soda and a lukshen kugel. Oh boy!

  13. Stu Shiffman Says:
    October 19th, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    Great, now I’m obsessing about pastrami again and I’m trapped in Redmond, WA.

  14. Dena Says:
    October 20th, 2009 at 10:11 am

    How to choose? I think I’ll just go with my most recent — and most surprising — deli experience: Kenny & Zuke’s in downtown Portland, Oregon. It’s a new deli, but it’s fantastic and everything is mouthwateringly delicious.

  15. Suzan H Says:
    November 1st, 2009 at 7:10 pm

    Two summers ago I visited my mother in South Florida and met two friends for a deli lunch. I live in the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and you can’t get any Jewish deli let alone good Jewish deli (I can get good Italian deli although that’s another subject). So when I went to South Florida and bit into my half corned beef and half chopped liver sandwich on rye I truly thought that I had reached nirvana. Boy, I would love one of those right now.

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