Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
62 | JANUARY 5 • 2023
I
ask you — who doesn’t like a good corned beef on rye? Of
course, one’s choice of corned beef is much like one’s choice of
wine. We all have our favorites. Personally, along with thousands
and thousands of other aficionados, I prefer that my sandwich be
made with Detroit’s own Sy Ginsberg Corned Beef (disclaimer: No
offense intended to any other corned beef).
My catalyst for this Looking Back is a recent interview with
Ginsberg from the Times of Israel. Inspired to learn
more, I also did my research in the William Davidson
Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History to see what I
could find on Ginsberg. The conclusions drawn from
all the sources about Sy Ginsberg are these: He is a
consummate deli man, and a lot of people consider
his corned beef to be most tasty.
One might say that Ginsberg’s career began when
his Orthodox Russian immigrant father met his moth-
er from Kentucky. She was working in a deli. Sy attended Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah in Metro Detroit and began his own professional deli
training in 1960 when, at age 15, he obtained a part-time job at Leo’s
Deli in Downtown Detroit.
Ginsberg was an ambitious deli entrepreneur. He and a partner
opened “Mister Deli” in 1968. It soon became a tremendously popu-
lar deli, even if it only had 35 seats. Ginsberg then opened the larger,
locally famous Pickle Barrel Deli in Southfield in 1975.
However, Ginsberg was still not satisfied, especially with the meats
and corned beef that he desired. So, he sold the Pickle Barrel in
1981 and began curing meats in the backroom of a butcher shop in
Pontiac.
Ginsberg then founded United Meat and Deli in 1982 and con-
centrated on wholesale distribution of his prepared meats. It began
as a one-person operation. Ginsberg cured the corned beef and
delivered it from his Volkswagen.
One of Ginsberg’s first customers was the fledgling Zingerman’s
Deli in Ann Arbor. He helped out Zingerman’s at lunch hour, show-
ing the owners and staff how to make sandwiches. Ginsberg built the
first sandwich sold to a customer at Zingerman’s.
Sy Ginsberg Corned Beef was a big hit. Not only Zingerman’s,
but soon the Stage Deli, Steve’s Deli, the Hy-Grade Deli, the Bread
Basket, the Russell Street Deli and many others featured — and still
do — the famous corned beef. “Where’s the Corned Beef” in the
Nov. 11, 2013, JN cites a few customers. Retail supermarkets such
as Kroger, Busch’s and Holiday Markets followed the lead of Metro
Detroit delis and stocked their meat counters with Sy Ginsberg
Corned Beef.
Today, Sy Ginsberg Corned Beef can be found around the nation.
Thousands of pounds of it, as well as other processed meats from
United Meat and Deli Inc., are shipped out every week. In 2017,
E.W
. Grobbel, a Detroit-based food company since 1883, also head-
quartered in Detroit’s famous Eastern Market, acquired Untied Meat
and Deli. Grobbel’s has maintained the production of Ginsberg’s
famous corned beef.
Sy Ginsberg Corned Beef appears on many pages in the Davidson
Archives. One measure of tribute to the meat might be the eight
Danny Raskin “Best of Everything” columns that mention the
corned beef. One column is an ode to “the Deli Legend” (June 2,
2016).
OK — now I’m really hungry.
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at
www.djnfoundation.org.
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair
The Consummate
Deli Man