HAPPY New Year! Jews worldwide just celebrated the arrival of 5768, and wouldn’t you know it, turns out it’s the Year of the Deli.
Although we use the term “deli” loosely. Today, your WASPy cousin Tinsley is just as likely to be noshing on tongue as your old meshuggeneh Uncle Irving – only she’s dining at WD-50 and her meat’s cooked sous-vide. Where Irving stuffed himself with a pastrami sandwich, Tins is daintily picking at pastrami fried rice at Amazing 66.
That’s not to say, however, that Irving has to sit down with hipsters to get his fix. Come October, the messianic 2nd Avenue Deli returns – in Murray Hill and not on Second Avenue, alas – but still, this is good, no? And the Lower East Side’s Katz’s Delicatessen will celebrate 100 years of serving up pastrami sandwiches and fake orgasms, while the Amsterdam Avenue’s reigning sturgeon king, Barney Greengrass, will have a 120th jubilee.
When the 2nd Avenue reopens it will still be kosher, serving old favorites like cholent, pastrami and corned beef, matzo ball soup. But you can’t go home again – there will be changes.
“I’ve never seen a restaurant that has the same menu two years in a row,” explains former owner Jack Lebewohl. “So it will be the same and there will be changes.”
The first one’s a doozy – his son Jeremy, now at the helm, is adding a full bar menu hoping to attract a broader clientele.
While Bubbe may be turning over in her grave, this kind of cultural melding is actually part of the Jewish deli’s DNA. In a Lower East Side crammed with Italians, Germans and Irish in addition to Jews from all over the world, deli cuisine emerged as a blend of recipes, flavors and techniques that coalesced in America.
And it continues to evolve today. Skip ahead a century, add sophisticated palates, a taste for nostalgia and superstar chefs, and you’ll discover modern appropriations in the most unlikely of places.
WD-50 chef Wylie Dufrense, known for his progressive cuisine, reinvents beef tongue and applies traditional brining methods to his corned duck breast cooked sous-vide, served with a side of crispy thin rye, purple mustard and horseradish cream.
Executive chef Patricia Yeo cures a hankering for Yonah Shimmel’s knishes with her dressed-up variation of mashed Yukon golds and créme fraiche, fried in a spring-roll wrapper, finished with a dollop of American paddlefish caviar which landed on Sapa’s menu when Yeo headed the kitchen. As the chef diaspora continues, Yeo’s mini knishes followed her to the Monkey Bar.
Rememberance of things past is a driving force behind many of these permutations. “I grew up on Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda,” recalls Franny’s owner Francine Stephens. At Franny’s, in Brooklyn, the obscure and hard-to-locate soft drink is made from scratch with simple syrup infused with Greenmarket lovage (wild celery) and either club soda or prosecco – the perfect Jewish-Italian aperitif.
The menu at Borough Food + Drink brings its farm-to-table aesthetic with a chicken and chopped liver sandwich, cream cheese ice cream and softball-size matzo ball soup.
Immigration continues to contribute to the mix of ethnic flavors – Chinatown’s Amazing 66 lists spare ribs and wonton soup alongside corned beef and greens, as well as pastrami fried rice. “The ultimate Jewish dream,” remarks David Sax, founder of savethedeli.com, whose quest is rescuing the endangered delis.
For every archetypal deli staple, there is an updated iteration. Chef Rafael Hasid at Miriam’s creates a sublime halvah mousse, Little Giant spikes an egg cream with Stoli vanilla vodka, while in wintertime, Momofuku’s David Chang supplements his menu with chicken noodle soup.
“The power of nostalgia as a flavor and experience is really strong,” adds Davis. “People see those items and they just think ‘Wow, I used to love that.’ ”
NEW Jewish CUISINE
Little Giant, 85 Orchard St.; (212) 226-5047
2nd Avenue Deli, 162 E. 33rd St. (scheduled to open in October)
Miriam’s, 79 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn; (718) 622-2250
WD-50, 50 Clinton St.; (212) 477-2900
Barney Greengrass, 541 Amsterdam Ave., (212) 724-4707)
Sapa, 43 W. 24th St.; (212) 929-1800
Monkey Bar, 60 E. 54th St.; (212) 838-2600
Franny’s, 295 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn; (718) 230-0221
Borough Food + Drink, 12 E. 22nd St.; (212) 260-0103
Amazing 66, 66 Mott St.; (212) 334-0099
Katz’s Delicatessen, 205 E. Houston St.; (212) 254-2246
Momofuku’s, 163 First Ave.; (212) 475-7899)
Russ & Daughters, 179 E. Houston St.; (212) 475-4880