Nosh
eats | drinks | sweets
continued from page 40
42 | MARCH 5 • 2020
Island and Swiss melt; and the
“Fishman,” smoked whitefish
salad with lettuce, tomato,
onion and capers on a toasted
onion roll. The “Detroiter”
features chopped liver
(“livah”) and corned beef, let-
tuce, tomato and onion on an
onion roll.
Kalish isn’
t giving away any
of his recipes. “Nothing we do
is simple,” he says. “We make
all our foods, from mayo to
deli ‘
meats,’
from scratch. I
think a Sam & Gertie’
s cook-
book is next in line for things
I’
ll take on.”
Kalish had his bar mitzvah
at the former Beth Achim in
Southfield (now the site of
Farber Hebrew Day School)
and developed his love of
Jewish food early. “My first job
was sweeping up at New York
Bagel Factory when I was 13,
”
says Kalish, who also went to
BBYO and Camp Tamarack
as a child. “I got paid in bagels
and cream cheese.
”
He moved to Chicago soon
after graduating from the
University of Michigan in
1992.
In Chicago, Kalish start-
ed out as a private chef and
parlayed that into a catering
company that morphed into
an event space and banquet
hall. In 2015, he and his wife,
Gina, a Mexico City native,
opened their first restaurant
in Chicago: Kal’
ish, a plant-
based dine and bake shop.
That led to Sam & Gertie’
s,
which is proudly Jewish and
says so in the deli’
s neon sign
in the window and the Sam &
Gertie’
s T-shirts that feature
a gold Star of David on the
back.
The deli held a 2019
Chanukah pop-up and sold
out in two days, having served
600 customers. “The crowds
have been magnificent,
” says
Kalish, who laments the loss
of so many Jewish delis in
Chicago. “Nobody seems
to mind that the newcomer
doing traditional Jewish deli
food just happens to be vegan.
I’
d say, in fact, it probably has
a lot to do with our success.
”
The demand for accessible,
familiar and delicious plant-
based foods is vast, Kalish
says. “The consumer just
isn’
t into all the mushy foods
of vegan days gone by. They
want what they want — just
cooler and more mindfully
prepared.
”
Vegan foods are also inclu-
sive, he says. “We will never
convince a vegan to eat a
piece of meat, but we can
endlessly convince meat eaters
to eat creative, indulgent and
delicious plant-based foods.
That is where we all win.
” His
informal surveys reveal about
80 percent of his customers
are omnivores; about one-
third are Jewish.
He named the deli after
his grandparents, Sam and
Gertie Stuart, who once
owned Federal Hardware at
12 Mile Road and Southfield.
Their children, Elaine Kohner
and Andy’
s mom, Floreen
Halpern, still live in the area.
Now Kalish is interested
in expanding the deli’
s reach.
Sam & Gertie’
s launched an
online/mail-order platform
March 1 in time for Passover.
He is also scouting loca-
tions in Detroit and West
Bloomfield for spring pop-ups
to introduce its mail-order
option to the Detroit Jewish
community. Stay tuned.
For information, visit samandgerties.
com or follow them on Facebook.
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