bringing me decaf refills in fresh cups.
DURING YEARS past, when visit-
ing California, I would always get
sidetracked in some way ... and never
got the opportunity to visit Nate 'n
Al's Deli in Beverly Hills.
This time. on l-ny recent trek to see
Scour, Bonnie, Hannah and Matthew .
in their new abode, I made it a must
... and was happy I did ... Now when-
ever anyone asks me about Nate 'n
Al's, I can speak with a knowledge of
having been there.
Al Mendelson is gone, but his wife,
Tessie, is still active ... Al left Detroit,
where he worked at Boesky's in 1941
... and opened Nate 'n Al's in 1945.
Tessie wasn't there, but their grand-
son, David, was ... It is now a three-
generations delicatessen ... When Nate
retired in 1947, David's uncle, Barry
Mendelson, Al's son, came to help dad
... Then when Barry retired in 1991,
David's dad, Sandy, an attorney like
Steve Goldberghere at the Stage &
Co. deli, helped operate the restaurant
until 1998.
"Partisans say this New York deli is
`by far the best,' says the national
Zagat restaurant survey ... A neigh-
borhood legend' with lots of stars
from Old New York who show up for
outstanding pastrami, corned beef,
macaroni salad and coleslaw' along
with 'waitresses out of the '50s,' its
'worth the crowds' to nosh at this 'deli
to judge all delis against.'"
While there, another delicatessen
caught my eye ... Jerry's Famous Deli,
which I had been told, was a chain of
nine that included a couple ofliery
well-known world-wide operations ...
Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House on
Collins in North Miami Beach and in
Boca Raton, Fla.
The Jerry's we went to in Orange
County's Costa Mesa has a huge deli-
catessen menu but it doesn't stop there
... Japanese, Mexican and Chinese
dishes are intermingled with barbecue
ribs and pizza ... along with, of course,
the regular delicatessen fare.
Another crowning dining experi-
ence with.Scott and Bonnie and Don
and Mita Ganguly (he's the co-
founder of NexGen SI, a leading
Internet consulting firm) ... was one of
the highest restaurants in my recollec-
tion .. it is far up a mountainside,
looking down over what seemed like
the entire California coast.
HERE IN THE Detroit area, visit-
ing from Sherman Oaks, Calif, Sam
Boris remembered when he, Benny
(Bulldog) Steinberg and Oscar Braun,
were at the Cream of Michigan,
Pingree and 12th, at 11 p.m., in the

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9/3
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