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America's Great Delis

Book highlights N.Y. scene — and Detroit's heyday.

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B

ack in May, Cindy
Adams penned in her
New York Post column
... "A lady named Sheryll
Bellman writes me. Says
she's writing some book
titled America's Great Delis.
She wants me to write a
foreword.
Danny Raskin
"What is there about me
Senior Columnist
that one look and you think
Katz's, Stage Deli, Carnegie
Deli, 2nd Avenue Deli, Barney Greengrass. And if
you're in L.A., Nate 'n Al's. And if you're in Terre
Haute — lotsa luck.
"In days gone by, Midtown delis were the gather-
ing places. Foxholes for the army of comics to gath-
er and say how they killed 'ern last night.
"Just take the word itself. Delicate essen.'Essen'
being the Yiddish word for 'eating: Think, a bagel
and a shmear. They should also throw on it a little
lox. Think potato pancakes, chopped herring,
matzah ball soup, borscht hot or cold, half sour
pickles, whole sour tomatoes, coleslaw, sauerkraut,
cream soda, sour cream so thick you break your
wrist lifting the spoon, runny chopped egg salad,
hard salami, soft salami, bologna, tongue, franks.
Delicate 'essen' it isn't.
"A good deli is so heavy on garlic that you defi-
nitely lose weight. And it had dress codes. Paper
napkin on the lap to act as a dragnet, another
tucked into the collar like a bib. And it had rituals.
Like tipping the counterman before you sat down.
It's the equivalent of being let into a sample sale
because the counterman then lets you 'sample' a
half-inch of stuff. The old quintessential deli was
special. Its biggest ingredient was cholesterol-
helper. People with sensitive insides were told to
have their food delivered to Mount Sinai. This way
it saved them a trip.
"It has rules. No white bread for the delicatessen
meats. No mayonnaise slathered on pastrami or
corned beef. And the mustard, Gulden's. never
Dijon. God, not Dijon. Gulden's. So thick it oozes
down the side of the sandwich, then onto your fin-
gers and under nails.”
The late Joey Adams' wife may have begged out of
writing the forward, but somewhat did it in her col-
umn before Sheryl's book was even finished.
America's Great Delis: Recipes and Traditions from
Coast to Coast is about delis both past and present
... Represented in this area are the former greats,
Boesky's and Darbys ... Also the current
Zingerman's in Ann Arbor ... The wonderful Darbys
recipe for Chicken Poulet is given in Sheryll's ver-
sion ... Being a former Detroiter, she remembers her
love for the favorite entree ... About Darbys, Sheryll
writes, "No place has ever reached the status this

deli had and sadly will never see again" ... And of
Nate 'n Al's in Los Angeles, she tells of Al Mendelson
and Nate Reimer meeting each other while working
at Boesky's on 12th Street in Detroit.
Sheryl Bellman touches the palates and souls of
many people in her fine book ... a wonderfully writ-
ten and photo-laden compilation to be read from
cover to cover.
America's Great Delis: Recipes and Traditions from
Coast to Coast is on sale at Borders and Barnes &
Noble.
CLOSING OF THE New York Deli on 12 Mile,
east of Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills, was
inevitable ... Using that name to evoke the emotion-
al appeal of the traditional New York City deli-
catessen was certainly not enough.
OWNER OF GATEWAY Deli, on 11 Mile east of
Lahser, Southfield, is George Gojcaj ... No one else.
CONGRATS ... To Adele Simms on her 90th
birthday.
THE CHOCOLATE CAKE was soon devoured
when folks learned it was made without flour ... At
first, many attendees at the recent Michigan Jewish
Sports Hall of Fame sit-down dinner, pushed the
luscious dessert away and smiled at their strength.
It was kosher caterer Jeffrey Rosenberg's dinner
dessert at the Adat Shalom Synagogue location this
year ... Hors d'oeuvres covered the Farmington Hills
synagogue lobby and foyer sitting room with tables
... Dinner of chicken stuffed with wild rice, etc.
Paul Kohn tasted the food as a guest for the first
time at the 21st annual induction ceremonies ... His
Quality Kosher Catering and Congregation Shaarey
Zedek had previously done the event since its
beginning.
Shirley and Meyer Wiss cheated "just a little"
sneaking bites of the halvah ... Emily Rogow looked
great minus the 90 pounds she never showed any-
way ..."Four hours to go!" said Dr. Stuart
Kirschenbaum at the end of his being the first
MJSHF president to serve two consecutive terms ...
Former president Howard Gourwitz, inductee Oscar
Feldman and many others gave Alvin Foon
Humanitarian Award recipient Robert Porcher a
run with their sartorial neatness ... Come to think
of it, most of the male guests wore ties and jackets
... Basketball great Will Robinson asked why he did-
n't take bets on his age ... Everyone guessed in the
80s as Will beamed and said, "94" ... Robert Jacobs
not married but had a right to be close to that cute
gal ... She was his sister Moni.
A TRUE DESTINATION place well worth the
miles ... Bavarian Inn Restaurant in Frankenmuth
... Great all-you-can-eat chicken and a lot of doings,
especially this time of year ... Give Bavarian a call
and find out what's going on. ❑

Danny's e-mail address is dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net .

November 24 • 9005 rz4.

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