Kosher and Kosher Style Delicatessens
By James McGrath
Definition: A Kosher delicatessen is one in which all the Jewish dietary laws of Kashruth are adhered to in the preparation of all the food products. A Kosher-style delicatessen produces virtually all the same types of food without adhering to specific Jewish laws. In addition, you can often find non-traditional Jewish food items.
What is a vacation or a historic tour without food? Growing up in Roxbury, Massachusetts, part of Boston, then the heart of the Jewish community, I came to love something truly special, the authentic Kosher-delicatessen, whose mouth-watering cuisine would have pleased George Washington himself. In fact, right now, I would like to nominate a “corned beef on rye” from a kosher or kosher style deli, as the “national sandwich”.
Sadly, many of the legendary deli’s in Boston are no more. I speak of the legendary G & G restaurant on Blue Hill Avenue, a favorite of the kids at my high school, Roxbury Memorial, the Essex on Stuart Street in downtown Boston, and Ken’s at Copley Square. None have been replaced. The same is true of Washington, D.C., where I live, where Duke Zeibert’s, so famous it housed the Vince Lombardi NFL Football Trophy, Mel Krupin’s next door to Zeibert’s, Hoffsberg on the Washington-Silver Spring Line, And Posner’s on Georgia Avenue have all disappeared. Fortunately, we still have Loeb’s in downtown Washington, but cities like Boston and Washington could support a lot more. Fortunately, in New York, deli’s continue to thrive, with celebrated places like Zabar’s, the Carnegie, the Stage, and Katz’s among many others.
If there is a shortage of deli’s there is an abundance of seafood restaurants in Boston and vicinity, and certainly all over Cape Cod. After all what would one expect in a state whose symbol is the codfish, emblazoned in gold as a weathervane over the gilded dome of the State House atop Boston Common. In the wallstreetexplorer’s backyard is the Dolphin restaurant in Hyannis. In Boston, look for the Union Oyster House and for a true seafood bargain, the “No Name Restaurant” on Boston’s Commonwealth Pier.
With all this, sometimes one just needs “corned beef on rye”.
James McGrath is a former Bostonian who has lived in Washington, D.C. for 35 years. He was an analyst in American Government at the Library of Congress. He is Chairman of Tenac, D.C., Tenant’s Advocacy Coalition (TENAC).
Tags: corned beef, D.C., kosher deli, kosher style delis
