Save the Last Salami for Me
Note: This is the first of a 2-part series on restaurants that rock. With the arrival of the High Holy Days tomorrow, I am reflecting on Jewish food and culture. My mother always said I liked the old Jewish ways when it came to food: chopped liver made with schmaltz; matzoh ball soup; a Yom Kippur break-fast featuring noodle kugel, nova, and bagels; marble halvah; herring; and a side of heartache. Now my heart aches for the vanishing Jewish delis across America. In 2023, I wrote that Corky and Lenny’s , a signature Jewish deli whose corned beef was legendary here in Cleveland, had closed. That left Jack’s , which had always had issues with the local health commission and has since shut down, and Davis Bakery and Deli , which is clean but lacks the atmosphere of a great deli. In the glory days of Jewish delis, you schlepped to one of three behemoths that stood in New York City: Katz’s on Houston Street, The Stage Deli near Carnegie Hall, or the Carnegie Deli on 7th Avenue. (The Stage ...
