OCTOBER 1 • 2020 | 45
Sid Neuman transformed a tiny
deli into something magnifi
cent.
the best of everything
Raskin
From Siberia
to Southfield
P
eople never had to wear
face masks or be afraid
to leave the house as
ordered by a higher up … but
residents were lucky then to
even get a piece of bread …
And tuna salad?
… Forget it! …
The closest they
came to any
kind of fish was
an occasional
drawing of what
it looked like.
They didn’
t
have corned beef sandwiches
in Siberia either … The closest
that people living there, such as
Sid Neuman, came to a corned
beef sandwich was his first one
in 1956 after coming to the
United States from Poland.
During World War II, Sid
was sent to Siberia by the
Russians … And after six years,
they finally allowed him to
return to Poland only because
of his being a Polish citizen …
He ran away to the American
occupation sector in Germany
and received permission to go
to the United States.
Sid bought Star Deli on 15
Mile Road, west of Telegraph,
coming here from Chicago
to take over a little carryout
operation whose kitchen, 500
square feet, was as big as the
entire front.
But oh, what that tiny
1,200-square-foot carryout
delicatessen had become …
eventually ranking, today,
as one of the largest volume
carryout-only Jewish delica-
tessens in the nation … open
seven days a week with regular
hours.
Imagine this little carry-
out deli selling almost 1,500
pounds of white Albacore tuna
a week … a salad that contin-
ually received rave notices.
Sid changed all that …
remodeling it with four refrig-
erated cases … a large walk-in
cooler …and everything imag-
inable in Jewish traditional
foods among many other
items that could be jammed
into its crowded but neat
areas.
Those refrigerated cases
are now filled with tradition
Jewish dishes … smoked fish,
sable, kippered salmon, her-
ring in both cream and wine
sauce, etc.
Star cooks its own corned
beef, pastrami, tongue, roast
beef, etc. … Makes its own
seafood salad and potato salad
… plus coleslaw, pasta salad,
rice pudding, fruit salad, etc.
The story of Star Deli is an
amazing success tale … No
one could ever foresee that
this little operation would
someday produce so much
volume surrounded by enough
food now to feed that entire
camp in Siberia.
Certainly, Sid can only
shake his head when looking
around at the untold amount
of food carried by Star Deli
and recall those lean days in
Poland and Siberia.
OLDIES BUT GOODIES…
The doctor held a stetho-
scope up to a man’
s chest. The
patient asks, “Doc, how do I
stand?” … The doctor says,
“That’
s what puzzles me!
A drunk is in front of the
judge … The judge says,
“You’
ve been brought here for
drinking” … The drunk says,
“OK, let’
s get started.”
There is a big controversy
on the Jewish view of when
life begins … In Jewish tradi-
tion, the fetus is not consid-
ered viable until it graduates
from medical school.
CONGRATS …To Denice
Dunn on her birthday.
Danny’
s email address is
dannyraskin2132@gmail.com.
Danny Raskin
Senior Columnist
Sid Neuman
STAR DELI FACEBOOK
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