These pillars of Jewish food were founded by the generation of our great grandparents, whose recipes books many of us would kill to get our hands on. Luckily, a new wave of Jewish food enthusiasts didn’t have to go so far to get those recipes, which is why we Millennials are now enjoying a revival of the Jewish deli: #jewfoodrenaissance.
“Jewish food is not a trend, it’s just having a shining moment,” says Jeffrey Finkelstein, Montreal “bread man” and owner of Hof Kelsten, one of Montreal’s most respected bakery/delis. Trained in the meticulous art of French cooking, and having worked at top restaurants across North America and Europe, Jeff tells us he used to take food “too seriously.” Today, he’s cooking what he knows and grew up with, and while the cuisine is Jewish there’s nothing religious or exclusive about it: “Deli food is comfort food, and it’s for everyone.”
That being said, out of respect for tradition Jeff won’t mix milk and meat in the same plate or serve up bacon (despite how much he loves it). Instead, he offers twists on classics such as the VLT (a BLT made with Veal) and Veal Pancetta. Of course, traditional Jewish menu items still feature on his menu, including staples like matzo ball soup (inspired by Jeff’s grandmother’s recipe). “We try to keep it kosher style, but it’s not kosher,” he admits. And while he tips his hat to the “expert” when he says “my grandmother wouldn’t be proud of my latkes because they’re just not as good as hers”, the potato pancakes have become a popular item with customers. Of course, sometimes it just comes down to logistics; while Bubby used to fry up her latkes in bulk for the holidays, at Hof Kelsten they are made to order. Jeff’s respect for tradition doesn’t stop at potatoes either; he also brines his brisket for 12 days before serving it and makes his own chopped liver and all-beef salami.
Looking at Jeff’s menu, the choices are a clear nod to his family and the food that brings them together around the dinner table. For his Hungarian grandmother there’s borscht, he uses his mother’s mandel bread recipe, his Israeli cousin’s recipe for danishes and his sister’s take on babka.
Proud to serve everyone in the neighbourhood, Jeff boasts, “even French Canadian clients are ordering challah for Friday night.” Hof Kelsten can be found on the Main, intersected by the side streets where his grandparents and other Jews set up home and shop when they immigrated from Eastern Europe. Jeff points out the window: “Wilensky’s is a block that way and Fairmont is three blocks that way. We are in the Jewish sector where our grandparents lived. Moishe’s, Schwartz’s, Beauty’s are all over there, and my grandfather from Russia had an apartment a few blocks down. The area carries a lot of the tradition. It’s about placement and it feels right and I definitely think it’s time for this food to have its moment. Non-Jews used to be afraid of kosher restaurants and Jews weren’t willing to take a leap and open a Jewish restaurant that didn’t serve kosher food”. Things have changed in the past few years, and Montrealers are all the luckier for it.
In New York, another city replete with Jewish immigrants and delis, I spoke with Peter Shelsky of Brooklyn’s Shelsky’s Smoked Fish and Appetizing Shop, who greeted me with an unexpected compliment when I first arrived– “your smoked meat blows our pastrami out of the water.” Thanks Peter. We know that. Our bagels are better too, but that’s a whole other conversation.
“I’m Jew…ish,” Peter admitted, after explaining that he grew up eating McDonalds despite his grandmother, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, having kept a kosher home. In fact, he sports a not-so-discreet tattoo of a pig on his arm. “I was raised on pork chops. As a chef, the pig is just something you fall in love with. I even made a new year’s resolution a few years back that I would eat pork every day for a year, and I did it!”
While impressed with Peter’s pork loyalty, I was curious as to how someone who grew up in a relatively strict Jewish home got this way without losing sight of his roots. At what point did long-established values give way to Peter’s re-interpretation of tradition?
“I was always excited to go eat at my grandmother’s, but I didn’t gain a passion for this kind of food until after finishing culinary school and working in restaurants. With experience under my belt and having done a test drive of different cuisines, I decided to go back to my roots, and that’s when the idea hit me over the head to open a restaurant based on what I already knew.” Peter also admits that while he has no strong affinity for religion, he can recite his bar Mitzvah torah portion verbatim.
While he’s not a practicing Jew, he does practice the art of Jewish cooking. The most popular item on his menu is the aptly named “Member of the Tribe”, a bagel (sourced from a strip mall that he claims serves the best in NY) topped with Gaspé Nova smoked salmon and plain cream cheese. “Smoked salmon is the heartbeat of the shop. People always want it. But the regulations in New York when it comes to smoking your own salmon are difficult, so we go out of our way to source the traditional stuff like salty belly lox. We love serving it, but while [I want to respect] tradition, it’s important for me to push people’s tastes a bit. So for our house-cured salmon we offer flavors like Jamaican Jerk or Szechuan Kung Pao. It’s a good split between holding on and moving forward.”
This approach appeals to the approximately 70% of his customers who are Jews and come for their regular deli fix, and to the growing number of “foodies” that want to hop on the trend train. If you ask Peter, however, New Yorkers’ love for the type of food he serves has been there all along: “Born and raised in New York, you are Jewish by default. Everyone here grew up eating bagels and lox. New York co-opted this food as its own.”
Jewish food has deep roots in Montreal. For years, locals and tourists have been willing to stand in line and bear a polar vortex for their fix of Schwartz’s smoked meat. The staff working at Snowdon Deli hasn’t changed in nearly 50 years, nor has their famous matzo ball soup. Grabbing a handful of Dubble Bubble on the way out of Moishe’s after feasting on pickles, coleslaw and steak is not just tradition, but a rite of passage in this city.
These pillars of Jewish food were founded by the generation of our great grandparents, whose recipes books many of us would kill to get our hands on. Luckily, a new wave of Jewish food enthusiasts didn’t have to go so far to get those recipes, which is why we Millennials are now enjoying a revival of the Jewish deli: #jewfoodrenaissance.
“Jewish food is not a trend, it’s just having a shining moment,” says Jeffrey Finkelstein, Montreal “bread man” and owner of Hof Kelsten, one of Montreal’s most respected bakery/delis. Trained in the meticulous art of French cooking, and having worked at top restaurants across North America and Europe, Jeff tells us he used to take food “too seriously.” Today, he’s cooking what he knows and grew up with, and while the cuisine is Jewish there’s nothing religious or exclusive about it: “Deli food is comfort food, and it’s for everyone.”
That being said, out of respect for tradition Jeff won’t mix milk and meat in the same plate or serve up bacon (despite how much he loves it). Instead, he offers twists on classics such as the VLT (a BLT made with Veal) and Veal Pancetta. Of course, traditional Jewish menu items still feature on his menu, including staples like matzo ball soup (inspired by Jeff’s grandmother’s recipe). “We try to keep it kosher style, but it’s not kosher,” he admits. And while he tips his hat to the “expert” when he says “my grandmother wouldn’t be proud of my latkes because they’re just not as good as hers”, the potato pancakes have become a popular item with customers. Of course, sometimes it just comes down to logistics; while Bubby used to fry up her latkes in bulk for the holidays, at Hof Kelsten they are made to order. Jeff’s respect for tradition doesn’t stop at potatoes either; he also brines his brisket for 12 days before serving it and makes his own chopped liver and all-beef salami.
Looking at Jeff’s menu, the choices are a clear nod to his family and the food that brings them together around the dinner table. For his Hungarian grandmother there’s borscht, he uses his mother’s mandel bread recipe, his Israeli cousin’s recipe for danishes and his sister’s take on babka.
Proud to serve everyone in the neighbourhood, Jeff boasts, “even French Canadian clients are ordering challah for Friday night.” Hof Kelsten can be found on the Main, intersected by the side streets where his grandparents and other Jews set up home and shop when they immigrated from Eastern Europe. Jeff points out the window: “Wilensky’s is a block that way and Fairmont is three blocks that way. We are in the Jewish sector where our grandparents lived. Moishe’s, Schwartz’s, Beauty’s are all over there, and my grandfather from Russia had an apartment a few blocks down. The area carries a lot of the tradition. It’s about placement and it feels right and I definitely think it’s time for this food to have its moment. Non-Jews used to be afraid of kosher restaurants and Jews weren’t willing to take a leap and open a Jewish restaurant that didn’t serve kosher food”. Things have changed in the past few years, and Montrealers are all the luckier for it.
In New York, another city replete with Jewish immigrants and delis, I spoke with Peter Shelsky of Brooklyn’s Shelsky’s Smoked Fish and Appetizing Shop, who greeted me with an unexpected compliment when I first arrived– “your smoked meat blows our pastrami out of the water.” Thanks Peter. We know that. Our bagels are better too, but that’s a whole other conversation.
“I’m Jew…ish,” Peter admitted, after explaining that he grew up eating McDonalds despite his grandmother, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, having kept a kosher home. In fact, he sports a not-so-discreet tattoo of a pig on his arm. “I was raised on pork chops. As a chef, the pig is just something you fall in love with. I even made a new year’s resolution a few years back that I would eat pork every day for a year, and I did it!”
While impressed with Peter’s pork loyalty, I was curious as to how someone who grew up in a relatively strict Jewish home got this way without losing sight of his roots. At what point did long-established values give way to Peter’s re-interpretation of tradition?
“I was always excited to go eat at my grandmother’s, but I didn’t gain a passion for this kind of food until after finishing culinary school and working in restaurants. With experience under my belt and having done a test drive of different cuisines, I decided to go back to my roots, and that’s when the idea hit me over the head to open a restaurant based on what I already knew.” Peter also admits that while he has no strong affinity for religion, he can recite his bar Mitzvah torah portion verbatim.
While he’s not a practicing Jew, he does practice the art of Jewish cooking. The most popular item on his menu is the aptly named “Member of the Tribe”, a bagel (sourced from a strip mall that he claims serves the best in NY) topped with Gaspé Nova smoked salmon and plain cream cheese. “Smoked salmon is the heartbeat of the shop. People always want it. But the regulations in New York when it comes to smoking your own salmon are difficult, so we go out of our way to source the traditional stuff like salty belly lox. We love serving it, but while [I want to respect] tradition, it’s important for me to push people’s tastes a bit. So for our house-cured salmon we offer flavors like Jamaican Jerk or Szechuan Kung Pao. It’s a good split between holding on and moving forward.”
This approach appeals to the approximately 70% of his customers who are Jews and come for their regular deli fix, and to the growing number of “foodies” that want to hop on the trend train. If you ask Peter, however, New Yorkers’ love for the type of food he serves has been there all along: “Born and raised in New York, you are Jewish by default. Everyone here grew up eating bagels and lox. New York co-opted this food as its own.”