Craving a corned beef on rye with mustard and a bowl of matzo ball soup? Order it now, while you still can.
The Jewish deli — the one with the bad lighting and the surly counter men and the bowl of pickles on the table — is fading fast in most of America, a change-averse throwback in an era of proliferating ethnic food options that are healthier, trendier, more exotic and more adaptable.
Even in New York, which is synonymous with deli, there are but two dozen real delis left — down from a peak of about 2,000 in the 1950s. The reasons for the demise of the deli are manifold, explains David Sax, self-described “deli fanatic” and author of “Save the Deli: In Search of the Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye and the Heart of a Jewish Delicatessen.” They start with geography.
Delis spread in the first half of the 20th century as a popular business opportunity for Eastern European immigrants. The clientele of that business, of course, was other immigrants. After World War II, though, American Jews began leaving densely populated places like Manhattan and the Bronx and dispersing through the suburbs. Between assimilation, immigration restrictions, the Holocaust and a number of Eastern European Jews moving to Israel rather than the United States, there were no more surges of Jewish emigration to the United States.
So that makes two generations or more since a dish like whitefish salad was a staple of American Jewish households. In food timelines, that is forever — or long enough for deli aficionados to discover other ethnic cuisines — Japanese, Thai, Mexican and Indian, to name a few — that have taken off in the U.S. in the last 20 years.
“What eventually happened is people didn’t eat deli food on a regular basis,” says Mr. Sax, who will speak about his book today — at 7 p.m. at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. “It went from something you ate daily to something you ate once a month to something you ate a couple of times a year. Jewish children today probably grow up eating more sushi than deli.”
It would be easy to assume that delis went out of style mainly because Americans discovered healthier eating. A Rueben sandwich and a slice of cheesecake are not exactly diet food. Then again, neither are the 28-ounce Porterhouses or giant fajita platters that are popular on menus at other restaurants today.
The U.S. surgeon general keeps warning that Americans are fatter than ever — but don’t blame it all on Kosher hot dogs. “I don’t think everyone is eating healthier,” says Mitchell Davis, vice president of the James Beard Foundation and author of “The Mensch Chef: Or Why Delicious Jewish Food Isn’t an Oxymoron.” “Look at our consumption of pork, which is way up. Look at the number of steak restaurants that have opened. Look at the popularity of fatty diets like the Atkins diet.”
As a cultural reference point, the deli is frozen in time, Mr. Davis says. While other cuisines discovered ways to update the menu — healthier ingredients, smaller portions or borrowing from other styles to create whole new hybrids (Asian fusion, anyone?) — deli food got stuck.
“It just stopped evolving,” says Mr. Davis. “At a certain point, deli became a relic of another time. To move forward, it has to be different. Our lives are not the same. It’s just not hip.”
Also working against many delis: economics. Mr. Sax discovered in his research that deli foods are not moneymakers, and most delis must settle for very small profit margins. Climbing rents — especially in New York City, where places like the Lower East Side, once the center of deli culture, is now home to million-dollar condos and organic markets — have eroded further already thin margins, forcing many a deli owner out of business.
“Pastrami and corned beef are actually some of the least profitable foods,” says Mr. Sax. “Whereas a place selling chicken wings can sell a whole basket for $12, when it costs them about $4 to make, as well as sell a whole lot of beer. No one goes to a deli to drink.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Sax took a turn through Washington for his research. He points out in the book that Washington has never been a stellar deli town, especially compared with other big cities like New York, Chicago and Baltimore.
Still, Washington has made contributions of its own to deli culture, Mr. Sax points out. Chief among them was Duke Zeibert’s, which closed for the last time in the mid-1990s. While technically a restaurant that was a couple of levels above a mere deli, Duke Zeibert’s was for decades the place for everyone from lobbyists to journalists to Redskins coaches to schmooze and enjoy chicken in the pot, a classic deli dish. More recently, lobbyist Jack Abramoff opened Stacks, a kosher deli/restaurant downtown. Mr. Abramoff, of course, was jailed for fraud, and Stacks is also closed.
What remains: Loeb’s New York Deli has been a success in the District for more than 50 years. Mr. Sax said Loeb’s served some of the best chopped liver and matzo ball soup he had while researching the book. Also good: Morty’s (formerly Krupin’s) on Wisconsin Avenue Northwest and the Parkway Deli and Restaurant and the Woodside Deli, both in Silver Spring.
Mr. Sax says that he thinks every big city will have one deli at least for a while.
“It is tough to kill something off completely,” he said. The time may even be right for deli to become trendy, says Mr. Sax.
“In tough economic times, the appeal of the $150 tasting menu has been lost,” he said. “People are seeking comfort in food that reminds them of what they used to eat.”
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