savethedeli

Miami's legendary Rascal House will close down this coming Sunday. Bad news for all Florida deli lovers. Where will you go next winter?

Check out iNoodle on Bloor, between Euclid and Palmerston. Opened in the past few months and is a fine fine ramen spot.

It's official, the deli will open next monday, the 17th. Fress on brothers, fress on.

I've seen a fair bit of mango in the cheap places here in Toronto. None of these are Japanese owned by the way...mostly Korean or Chinese or even gaigen. I went to Japan last year and had the chance to see what real sushi tastes like. Nothing like we have here, that's for sure.

Great photos posted by Jason Perlow from Off the BroilerKatz's Pics

Guss's pickles in the Lower East Side (the place with the barrels on the sidewalk) is fighting United Pickle for the rights to the Guss's name. New York Times

These were some harsh reviews, but having eaten there twice in November I can vouch for this place. It's an absolute blast, and if you're strictly eating meats, the food is great. In terms of chopped liver, I'd say it's top five in the country for restaurants and delis. Also, the rib steaks and skirt steaks are great. Go, get wasted, dance, and fress. And don't be stingy with the Schmaltz.

Don't waste money on a "work of art" cake that tastes like stale drywall. I was at a great wedding this weekend, and they just had the local supermarket make their cake for them. Cost less than $200, look good, and tasted like supermarket cake. But i'll take that any day over the $1000 cakes i've had at fancy weddings which I am too drunk to see and taste awful.

Al Langer, the founder of Langer’s Delicatessen in Los Angeles, passed away this Sunday. He was 94 years old. His loss will be felt accross the entire Los Angeles delicatessen community, around the country, and the world. For Al Langer was a pastrami perfectionist and anyone who tasted the fruits of his labors will forever be in his debt. Share your Langer's memories here.

The deli world lost an icon this week with the death of Al Langer, 94, the founder of Langer's Delicatessen in Los Angeles, home to the finest pastrami sandwich in the land. Alef Hasholem

It's not strictly demographic. Brooklyn retains a large Jewish population, but the traditional Jewish eateries are mostly gone. A large difference has been the split that Glatt Kosher created in the past decades, which basically created a very expensive, very niche food for the observant, which many Jews do not eat because of cost and sadly quality.

I'd have to go with: Square potato Knish eaten from NYC street vendor Thin crisp potato latkes with sour cream or apple sauce Proper puffy oven roasted, rosemary flecked potatos cooked in the fat of the animal it happens to be roasting with.

technicalities about where and when aside, does the demise of New York's food institutions stir you? For a city that's known as the unique and historic exception in a nation of chain outlets and fast food, seeing the Gertel's and others replaced by more and more Subway's and Cold Stone Creameries sure saddens me. What are your favorite NYC institutions that have gone by the wayside over the years?

2nd Ave Deli closed...now it's Gertel's Bakery? What next, and where is this headed? Can anything stop the tide of institutions closing down and should they be preserved?

seeing as the fat is where the flavor is, i'd say it isn't the difference. If anything, you're taking taste and moisture away. My guess is the Guiness, but i'm more familiar with Jewish style corned beef and it sounds like you're dealing with the Irish variety boyo.

I just returned from a week in Montreal where I gorged on countless smoked meat sandwiches at Schwartz's, Abie's, the Main, Smoked Meat Pete's, Lester's, Chenoy's, Snowdon Deli, and Deli St. Laurent. I know how it is made (a brisket dry rubbed and smoked in a gas oven), but what I want to know is what the difference is in spicing with New York style pastrami (which is a rubbed and smoked navel). And for that matter which you prefer, though please, only those who have eaten both in the respective cities at reputable institions. Zei Gezunt

Kinsey and Fats have really gone to bat on the intellectual end of this, and I think the answer lies in between. Jewish food, coming from a transient people who lived all over the world, is clearly going to be a variant on those local dishes. However, to say that it isn't a cuisine because it isn't the foundation of those dishes is a belittlement. The Chinese spread their cooking techniques and styles all accross Asia, influencing everything from Thai to Japanese. Because Pad Thai and Gyoza are both variants of Chinese dishes originally, are they not Thai or Japanese? If people (Joan Nathan for example) are basing their careers on it, believe me lads, it qualifies as a cuisine. Is it the same as French, Italian, or Chinese? No, but what is? I'm off to get some soup at a Japanese restaurant run by Koreans...I call it lunch. Ess Gezunt!

Aroma is an Israeli chain that dominated the tiny country, and has been so successful that Starbucks has failed to take root despite several attempts. They just opened their 2nd location out of the country last week, two blocks near my house in Toronto (the other is in New York). Suffice to say that their coffee is fantastic. I'm not a big coffee drinker, but what I love is a good strong espresso with lots of flavor. I find Starbucks et al to be watered down, and their espresso horrendous (drinking it out of a paper cup??)

One of the most interesting experiences I had last year was eating pastrami fried rice at Amazing 66, a Chinese restaurant on Mott St. in New York. The owner was inspired by her visit to the 2nd Ave Deli, and also created a dish of corned beef atop chinese greens. Best of both worlds!

where on the west coast do you live? LA has some of the best delis in the country: nate and al's, brent's, junior's, langer's, factor's, pico kosher....

Before this whole thread gets out of hand, as is the case with anyone arguing over ownership of a culture and identity, let me say that I agree with both camps: -Jewish food is a variation and often direct result of the cultures/countries/territories where the Jewish diaspora lived pre-Holocaust and Israel. Some dishes are no different than that which was local, others evolved beyond their origin to something more easily identifiable as Jewish (matzo balls). -If a Jew considers it Jewish food, bubuleh, you aren't going to do much to convince him/her it ain't Jewish. Once a recipee is passed down a few generations, that ownership is in the heart and soul of those who cook it. You can say my grandmother's recipee for baked rice pudding or sweet and sour meatballs is Hungarian/Austrian (or Bessarabian), but to me it will always be Jewish. So let me try and move this discussion forward before posters break off into various political parties. How would you make Jewish food (loosely defined) interesting and attractive again?

Thanks. My idea is. Now I agree with your point that what savethedeli considers to be Jewish food is Kosher Eastern-European food. Other people also stated that there just happened to be a large number of Jews in that area who adopted the food. And Nathan, I'm completely unfamiliar with the exact rules of the many different branches of Buddhism. All I know is that many Japanese monks are vegetarian and during one holiday in August, one isn't supposed to eat meat. I wouldn't say that the that makes a whole section of Buddhist food though. ← Sorry, but Save the Deli (moi) doesn't consider Jewish food only Kosher Eastern European food. I consider Jewish food that which we have a historical connection to, whether Sephardic, Ashkenazi, or even North American deli. Kosher thai food isn't Jewish food, it's kosher thai. However, if there is a community of Jews who lived in Thailand for centuries (as was the case with the Cochin Jews of India), and their cuisine evolved and had a history, than yes, it's a Jewish food.

This illustrates part of the point I was making... Fried or baked dough stuffed with potato (knishes), crepes (blintzes), buckwheat groats (kasha), meat-stuffed pasta (kreplach), potato-stuffed pasta (verenekes), all the Middle Eastern dishes (hummus, matbucha, harissa, etc.) and many of the ingredients (buckwheat, couscous) are hardly "Jewish" in any intrinsic way. Some of them are simply not Jewish (being either Arabic or ubiquitous in the culture of origin), and many of the others are not necessarily recognizable as "Jewish" unless one is told beforehand (are kreplach in broth distinguishable from tortellini in brodo?). ←

This is an extremely interesting comment, and it's related to a thought that I have frequently, though I don't know if I can explain it. I too am an ingredient-driven person, and I love to buy the freshest seafood and the freshest produce, and cook seasonally. I am one who buys exquisite organic (though not really) Scottish salmon and grills it over wood simply, with the freshest corn and tomatoes the market has to offer on the side. Yet, when I remember my grandmother's comfort foods so fondly and the way she was respected as a cook, I have to remember the great compliment paid her by so many people - "She could take a wilted carrot, a half-rotten onion, and an old shoe, and make you the most delicious meal you ever ate." Well, needless to say, a lot of cooking from olden times was specifically devised to mask food that was going "off", and a lot of the sauces that are traditional to many cultures are specifically "strong" to mask the flavors of the principal ingredients, not showcase them. But what would happen if someone were to cook the traditional foods with fresh, contemporary ingredients? Would we not have even more delicious versions of stuffed cabbage, boiled beef, etc? ←