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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