It is worth noting the shuttering of two kosher New York landmarks: 2nd Avenue Deli, a 50-year-old institution in the East Village whose neon sign was taken down last January; and the dairy restaurant Ratner's, open from 1905 to 2002, which proudly served cheese blintzes to Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Robert Kennedy. Mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky held court in the back, and Ratner's served as the watering hole for celebrities such as Al Jolson, Walter Matthau and Groucho Marx. What drew in the mostly lunch crowd to its Delancey Street location were the mouthwatering onion rolls, vegetarian chopped liver and vegetable cutlets. Ratner's traditional soups and blintzes (as well as deep-dish pizza) live on in the supermarket freezer case.
There is history in the kosher-style New York triumvirate of the Carnegie Delicatessen & Restaurant, Stage Deli and Lindy's, all on Seventh Avenue. At Carnegie, which opened in 1937, there are super-size sandwiches that draw such a crowd you can wait on line for an hour to get a seat. Their cheesecake, now in stores across the United States, is legend (but so are Lindy's and Junior's in Brooklyn). At Lindy's, which opened in 1921, you can reminisce about Damon Runyon writing Guys and Dolls in his private booth; at Stage Deli (also opened in 1937) you can see where The Beatles sat the night they first performed on The Ed Sullivan Show. And, of course, Walter Winchell wrote his columns while sitting in each of these delis.
To get to Junior's you have to cross the bridge to Brooklyn to the store that was founded by Harry Rosen and is today being tended by the family's third generation.
Some of the oldest establishments in downtown Chicago, San Francisco and Detroit closed their doors when the Jewish population moved to the suburbs. But even as some places closed retiring waiters and waitresses who worked for 30, 40 or 50 years, new ones open.
In California, the most recent is D.Z. Akin's Delicatessen, which serves kosher-style fare to San Diego's burgeoning Jewish community. Opened in 1985, this deli and restaurant with Formica booths and a noisy, busy atmosphere has great chopped liver.
Another relative newcomer is Zingerman's Delicatessen in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which opened in the mid-1980's; their breads and meats are renowned not just in the Midwest but throughout the United States. For a college town, the kosher-style Zingerman's run by Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw stands out as the place for local University of Michigan students to get their pastrami fix.
Then there are the other two guys Jay Brown and Mark Jay Katzenberg who started out with a small deli in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1981, and fittingly name their eatery TooJay's Original Gourmet Deli. Today this versatile restaurant has grown and is dispensing delicious kosher-style comfort food (deli, brisket, pot roast, liver and onions and matzo ball soup) in 23 outlets throughout the state.
One cannot speak of Jewish gastronomy without mentioning the products that were, and still are, a part of the lure and lore. There would be no egg cream without Herman Fox's U-bet Chocolate Flavor Syrup. When Louis Auster created the egg cream at his candy shop in Brooklyn in 1890, the name was his witty way of describing the richness of his drink, which has neither eggs nor cream, at a time when few could afford the luxury of either. So popular was this cocktail of chocolate syrup, seltzer and milk in the 1920's that syrup wars broke out among competing brands that wanted to be associated with the sweet drink.
Then there is Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray soda. Originally called Celery Tonic, it is made with celery seeds, sugar and seltzer. It was developed in 1869 by a physician and used to treat immigrant children's stomach upsets (the word tonic was dropped when the government objected to the medicinal implications). An acquired taste, some people swear it helps digest fat-laden salami sandwiches.
We owe the existence of Gold's horseradish to Tillie Gold, who in 1930 saved the grinder her cousin was using to grind horseradish root after he got hauled off to jail during an altercation. Tillie and her husband took up the enterprise of mixing the root with vinegar (the beets were added later) now a staple alongside gefilte fish.
Whether it is a new dill, half sour or full sour, a deli meal wouldn't be complete without the pickle. The notion of pickling for preservation began around 4000 B.C.E. but it wasn't until 2030 B.C.E. that the practice of pickling cucumbers came about. Julius Caesar and Napoleon both fed pickles to their armies because it was believed to provide physical and spiritual strength. It is also related that Cleopatra ate a great amount of pickles to preserve her beauty.
At one time, the Lower East Side had the largest concentration of pickle stores in the United States. But now, commercial companies such as Heinz and Vlasic have learned how to speed up the pickling process though no self-respecting deli will serve them. Barrel-cured pickles can still be found on the streets of the Lower East Side at Guss' Pickles (800-620-GUSS; www.gusspickle.com
Finally, let's not forget the sweet sold off the block: halvah. Its origins may be Middle Eastern, but thanks to Joyva, owner Nathan Radutzky's recipe, it became a best seller in the United States.
The dishes and environment in today's deli-restaurant still satisfy the cravings for Jewish ethnic cuisine. Once a sanctuary for lonely immigrants, these establishments remain a destination where families can take their children to enjoy good food and the comfort of community.
Have a Grrrrrrrreat Day
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