B]Hershel's East Side Deli [quote=rlibkind,Feb 22 2007, 03:45 PM My name is Steven Safern and has come across your blog this evening while going through my e-mails after an exhausting and enthralling week. I would like to tell all those who read this Blog about me as well as our thrust into the Reading Terminal Market. I am the first generation of a family of holocaust survivors from a small town in Poland called Dynow. My father Pincus and his brother were two of only a handful, who escaped the day the Nazi's came into their town took everyone who lived there (the majority of whom were orthodox Jews. My grand-parents owned a small "deli-market" in the town and were very religious. They had 9 Children including my father and his brother all killed that day in October 1939. My father who was born with polio only survived due to his brother Hershel's heroic act of selflessness. Hersh carried my father and hid himself in bushes on the outskirts of the town. And while hiding my father was shot by the German SS troops. Hersh carried him some 100 yards to where the Russian army took them in. In the time being everyone else in the town of Dynow was put into a Church in the center of town where they were all burned to death. Throughout the war the two survived on potatoes and water in Siberia. Miraculously when the war ended they were still alive. After coming to this country in 1946 both my father and his brother settled in New York City's Lower East Side. Hersh went to work at Katz's Deli and my dad would eventually move to Philly. In the 38 years at Katz's Hersh went from being behind the counter to running the restaurant for the Katz family and towards the end as a partner. When I was little we would travel up to NYC and sit all day in the Deli and I was just amazed at all the wonderful food and great atmosphere. From that moment on I too wanted to make people really enjoy the "Jewish" food experience I was raised on. To shorten the story a little, Hershel's East side Deli is the conglomeration of both myself and Andrew Wash who has not only been my college roommate but my best friend for over thirty years. Andy grew up in Brooklyn and came to Philadelphia and played football at Temple University in the mid 70's the glory years as a football team in Philadelphia. He owned his own restaurant for almost 10 years in Fairmount called the Aspen Street Tavern. He had a great following until his landlord forced him out by tripling his rent. Andy's passion is very similar to mine and we hope to bring to the Reading Terminal Market a Unique and hopefully new direction. We are not trying to compete with Famous, the Kibitz Room, or for that matter any other "Jewish" style deli. After three days in business at the Market, I would say that although we may have some warts now, peoples input like the one I am responding to will only make us better and that truly what it is about anyway. We want to give people who visit the Terminal the best product that we can. I am not particularly proud of the comments written here, but will acknowledge that when we are behind a glass sneeze guard with nothing to hide we really do need to do a better job. We will work as hard as we can to bring the absolute best product to Philly and would love to here whatever anyone has to say about us. Today and yesterday I personally asked every customer for their input. To my surprise there was not one negative comment. I only wish there were some as those as a new restaurant we need to make sure were doing the right thing. The Knishes will get better, the "stringy" Corned Beef was stringy due to a cutter not slicing the beef the right way and not because it was a sub par piece of meat, cutting lox the right way takes training and practice and we are working on both. I ask those that read this and write here to feel free to come to me or Andy as we welcome your comments both pro and con. We want so much to give everyone out there an amazing experience when they decide to choose our place to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Also we are trying to do it as affordably as possible, just compare our prices with everyone else. If you want us to be successful and be able to serve the Terminal clientele delicious Jewish cuisine as much as I would like to, please let us know by stopping by, introduce yourself and tell us what you think. I don't have a problem with anyone’s comments, as long as they are constructive. It is easy to rip someone for doing a bad job, but don't judge us on our first couple of days. I've invested everything I have and then some on this Idea of Hershel's. We are going to be around a long time whether you want us to or not. Hopefully you will be with us and help us do better instead of telling everyone we’re no Katz or Famous, after all we never could be, nor could they be us. Comparisons given equal venues are ok but everyone has a choice where they eat and what they eat, and as far as I'm concerned The Terminal has some great venues that we are trying to be one of. I look forward to meeting all of you, and I thank you all your responses. Steven Safern
