Steve Safern knew for 20 years that he had a restaurant to open.  When he finally teamed up with college roommate and long-time restaurant man Andy Walsh to open Hershel’s East Side Deli four years ago, the story of the restaurant was actually more than 64 years in the making.  Hershel’s serves a full Kosher-style menu and makes almost all of its products from scratch, procuring locally delicious breads and pickles. We were overwhelmed by the thick-cut fresh pastrami sandwich, Corned Beef Special and Reuben.  Like the fresh-made meats they are famous for, their shop is brined in the tradition of the Jewish people.

Hershel’s stays true to a standard of hearty freshness and quality set by a dying breed of old-American delis. Delis that, like the world famous Katz’ Deli in New York, cure their own Kosher-style meats.  Steve’s uncle Hershel, the shop’s namesake, worked over 40 years at Katz’, eventually becoming a partial owner before retiring in 1989.  Before his uncle passed away, Steve promised him he was going to open a restaurant to honor the legacy of their family’s meat, “doing it right, from scratch”.

Before Steve’s uncle and father came to America, his family made and sold deli meat at their general merchandise store in Poland.   His uncle Hershel, who Steve rightly credits for his own life, rescued his father from the Nazis when they swept through and burned their crowded synagogue to the ground one Sabbath morning, leaving them the only two Jewish survivors of their town of Dynow.  To honor him, Steve and Andy have taken generations-old family recipes and refined them until they created a product that rivals, and many argue tops, the famous Katz’ Deli.  Andy is personally involved throughout the 10-day process “to ensure perfect quality,” he said, ”after all, I didn’t get into this business just to make my living”.

The pastrami sandwich is the crown jewel, a massive pile of dripping fresh hand cut, 10-day cured, slow-baked, 10 spice rubbed “Kosher navel”: the same traditional, high fat, high flavor meat that less than a half-dozen delis still use.  The peppery, garlicky, coriander rub adds a kick and coating to the succulent meat.  The sandwich comes on local Kaplan’s New Model Bakery rye “the best rye you can buy anywhere, no comparison”, says Andy.

The thick-stacked Corned Beef Special, their most popular sandwich, is made with slaw, made fresh daily, and a tangy thousand island dressing.  The rye bread soaked up the thick dressing and juice from the coleslaw, but remained perfectly spongy and snappy.  The thick-cut corned beef allows you to taste the sour and garlicky flavor, while preserving the subtle value of the textural differences between the crisp outer crust and the tender meat.

The Reuben was everything you expect a Reuben to be, if you expect your Reuben to absolutely blow you away. A stockpile of their thick, house-cured and slow-cooked corned beef, sauerkraut that Andy buys “from the Northeast Philly Pickleman” and a sharp Swiss cheese are served on grilled rye.

We highly recommend you stop by Reading Terminal Market and go to Hershel’s.  Treat yourselves to a sandwich, soup and Dr. Brown’s soda as you consume your share of the 4,000 pounds of meaty hospitality dished up per week by Andy and Steve. If religious tradition has you soon giving up bread for Passover, and you are swinging by today to get your last leavened-fix, we recommend the pastrami. If you’re feeling generous, we’d love seconds.

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Hershel’s East Side Deli
1 North 12th Street – Philadelphia, PA 19107 (Google Map)
(215) 922-6220

We’re giving away a copy of David Sax’s book Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. Read the post to learn how to win!

David Sax is our kind of guy. The Canadian born Jewish freelance writer spent the past year or so traveling the globe to nosh at over 140 delicatessens. Raised on traditional foods like matzah ball soup, blintzes, corned beef, and tongue, Sax knows when he’s found the perfect bite. Through the years though, he has experienced a horrible revelation: the Jewish delicatessen as we know it is soon to become extinct.

Thus David Sax set out on his aforementioned journey, keeping a journal along the way, which developed into a book, Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. From a stint slicing pastrami behind the corner at Katz’s in New York’s Lower East Side to a tour of a plant that pumps out thousands of corned beefs a day in the Midwest, the author takes us through the clogged arteries of Jewish food lore. Both a history lesson and a drool worthy recount of all the food he encounters along the way, Save the Deli is a fun and informative read, a state of the union of sorts for corned beef and pastrami.

David Sax will appear tonight in New York at Ben’s Kosher Deli at 7:30pm and on November 3rd at the Philadelphia Free Library. You can also read more at the Save the Deli blog.

To win a free copy of Save the Deli, answer in the comments: corned beef, or pastrami? We’ll close submissions on Wednesday October 21, at midnight EST and pick a winner at random.

Submitted by Unbreaded reader Tim Fagan. Have a sandwich you love? Submit it to us and we’ll post it on the site.

It puts a smile on my face when I see newcomers order sandwiches at Famous 4th Street Delicatessen. You know, the people naive to how incredibly large the portions are. The best was an older couple who each ordered their own sandwich; I thought the woman was going to fall out of her seat when she saw the mound of whitefish placed in front of her. And, that was just the “regular” sized sandwich. On the back of the menu, are the holy “Ungashtupt” (Yiddish for over done, or stuffed) sandwiches, each named for a location in New York where the family has owned a deli. Tim Fagan recently ordered one such sandwich, and sent us his story.

Hit the jump to read all about it.

So I live about a block away from the Famous Fourth Street Delicatessen at 4th and Bainbridge and decided to pick up a game-day sandwich for the official start of football season yesterday. I usually just get a regular sized hot brisket sandwich, which might just be the best sandwich I’ve ever had (brisket, cheese, coleslaw, Russian dressing, amazing rye bread). But yesterday I opted for the “Far Rockaway” – brisket, turkey, swiss, lettuce, tomato, onion, Russian dressing, and I had them add cole slaw on top. What arrived was a sandwich so huge they didn’t even have a box big enough to fit it (it was fortified with two layers of plastic wrap). They basically placed a brisket sandwich on top of a turkey sandwich and gave it a name. Pure genius.

Needless to say at 6 inches high I had to eat it a quarter at a time and nearly passed out from simply inhaling the brisket.

Famous 4th Street Delicatessen
700 S. 4th Street – Philadelphia, PA 19147 (Google Map)

The history of both sandwiches and beer can be traced back thousands of years. So it’s no wonder, that the two are the perfect match for a hearty and flavorful meal. The Foodery, a long time institution in Philadelphia, offers many choices in both departments in their Northern Liberties store.

Upon entering, you’ll find yourself both overwhelmed and delighted by the selection of over 800 beers. When you’ve gathered yourself, you’ll notice the deli tucked into a tiny corner decorated with Boars Head meats. We sat down with Foodery employee Andrew Rubenstein to taste two of their best selling sandwiches and pair them with some exciting new brews.

The Son of Diablo is a spicy beast of a sandwich, smoked turkey with bacon and a fiery chipotle sauce between toasted sourdough from Baker Street Bread Co. To compliment the bold flavors we chose Great Divide’s 15th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA. The beer’s malty, bready notes lead way to a sweet toffee finish with a notable nip of hops, that helps to extinguish the Diablo’s flames.

The Foodery allows customers to build sandwiches to their liking, and very often these creations show up on the menu as specials. One such special is the OMG Turkey with fresh mozzarella, avocado, roasted red peppers, and sundried tomato pesto on multi-grain. For this fresh and light sandwich, we went with Pretty Things Baby Tree, a Belgian quadruple style beer infused with dried plums. Despite being a dark, high alcohol content brew, Baby Tree is a summer seasonal with a crisp, fruity bite and smooth finish. This beer works well to accentuate the avocado and roasted red pepper in the sandwich, as well as add a dimension to the multi-grain bread.

Although The Foodery’s deli gladly accepts call in orders, we recommend coming in, placing an order and taking your time browsing the beer. As the only store in Philadelphia with such a wide selection, and the ability to mix and match a six pack (and receive a discount) The Foodery is a great spot to fill our never ending need for sandwiches and beer.

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The Foodery
837 N 2nd Street – Philadelphia, PA 19123 (Google Map)

As the name suggests, The Kibitz Room has an informal atmosphere where the deli men crack jokes about as fast as they slice the meat.  And this traditional Jewish deli has a few rules: corned beef, pastrami and brisket are only served hot; there is absolutely no white bread; no French’s yellow mustard; and no corned beef or pastrami will be served on whole wheat.  But if you ask owner Neil Parish, a Baltimore native who’s been slicing corned beef since he’s 14, the best sandwiches are served on rye with nothing more than their signature mustard.

The Kibitz Room is the sister restaurant of Parish’s New York style deli of the same name in Cherry Hill, no relation to Kibitz in the City on East Chestnut Street.  The 70-seat restaurant offers Jewish soul food via dine in, take out, delivery, catering, deli trays and meat by the pound.  About 95% of people order a sandwich.  The best sellers are corned beef, pastrami, turkey, roast beef, tuna, turkey pastrami and nova on a bagel.

Parish’s extensive taste testing led Kibitz to import brined, uncooked corned beef from United Meat & Deli in Detroit, which is boiled and steamed on the premises.  They also serve Naval cut Vienna Pastrami, which Parish calls “the best there is.”  They get bread from a variety of sources: seeded or plain rye bread from Collegeville Bakery, bagels from New Jersey, but the kaiser rolls, challah rolls and onion rolls are baked fresh at Kibitz.  The restaurant’s pickle bar (sourced from a local Philadelphia vendor) offers New York sour pickles, half sours, spicy pickles, pickled tomatoes, pickle chips, hot cherry peppers, a sweet pickle mix, sauerkraut and health salad.

Meat is piled high on bread, but the sandwiches are still manageable to eat – they compress just enough to bite so you don’t have to deconstruct the sandwich before you begin.  The pastrami has a peppery, spicy crust with a bold, smoky and salty flavor.  The meat is trimmed to offer enough fat to keep it moist and juicy but not thick ribbons of fat that overshadow the meat.  The corned beef is exceptional: warm, moist and full of rich flavor that significantly outshines most competitors’ corned beef.  (Extra lean corned beef is available but Parish doesn’t recommend it.)  The speckled deli mustard is a unique recipe made exclusively for Kibitz from a company in New York.  Not too vinegary, not too hot, it offers just enough twang to electrify the meat.

So where does the deli man go to get a sandwich?  Straight to Shank’s & Evelyn’s (soon to be a Center City neighbor of Kibitz) where Parish enjoys just about everything on the menu but called out the meatball, chicken cutlet with broccoli rabe (no cheese), roast beef and Italian by name.

Kibitz stays open until 9PM during the week, 11PM on Saturday and 8PM on Sunday because according to Parish, “Sandwiches are as good for dinner as they are for lunch.” (Editor’s note: Agreed.)

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The Kibitz Room
1521 Locust St, Philadelphia PA 19102 (Google Map)

We can never get enough corned beef and pastrami and it looks like our hunger will be soon satisfied with two new delicatessen openings in Philadelphia. Drew Lazor at City Paper’s MealTicket reports that Cherry Hill based Kibitz Room will be opening sometime before the end of the month at 1521 Locust Street. The restaurant will not only be serving their massive deli sandwiches and “20 ounce pound” portions of meat, but will also have a full menu including lox platters, kreplach and all your other favorite goodies.

Meanwhile, The Insider reports that Famous 4th Street, our favorite Philadelphia institution is scouting a second location on 19th Street, just south of Market. Word on the street is that they are shooting for a late summer opening.

We’re very excited to get over to both of these delicatessens and try them for ourselves. Check back for more coverage.

[Via: Foobooz]

Just off Exit 10 of the New Jersey Turnpike in Edison, NJ lies a sleeping giant called Harold’s New York Deli. The 300 seat restaurant is home to the world’s premiere corned beef and pastrami, served a mile high on bread so fresh it’s delivered four times a day. The “small” sandwiches weigh close to a pound and the larges are enough to feed an elephant.

Owner Harold Jaffe, having built and sold almost 40 restaurants throughout the Garden State, has learned a thing or two along the way (and made a tidy profit, to boot.) “More meat” is the name of the game, and Harold plays the game to win. He perfected his craft as General Manger of New York’s Carnegie Deli, where he learned the closely-guarded secrets of corned beef, pastrami and cheesecake.

Meats are brined, “pumped” (injected with additional brine to impart unparalleled moisture and flavor to the meat) and cured for 3 days before cooking. The meat is then boiled (corned beef) or smoked (pastrami) on site and steamed until serving. Customers can enjoy the never-ending pickle bar that offers half sour, sour, and kosher dill pickles, pickle chips, hot pickles, pickled tomatoes, pickled hot peppers, sauerkraut, and all the rye bread you need to turn a single sandwich into a meal for the family.

The corned beef is flaky and delicate, warm and melts in your mouth. Available in traditional cut or extra-lean. The pastrami is smoky, rich, fatty, peppery and robust. The roast beef is light and tender, moist ribbons of lean meat. The brisket pulls apart effortlessly, flaky and moist like the corned beef, but darker in color and flavor. The succulent, juicy, house roasted white meat turkey was some of the very best I’ve ever tasted.

Harold cannot say for sure, but he believes that Harold’s is the highest volume deli in the country, even surpassing the levels of famed New York establishments like Carnegie and the Stage Deli. An astounding 8 tons of corned beef and pastrami pass through the kitchen each week to the 14,000 hungry patrons who come from up and down the east coast.

Read our Q&A with Harold Jaffe:

Unbreaded: What are your personal favorite sandwiches?
Harold Jaffe: Pastrami and corned beef.

UB: What’s a hidden gem on the menu?
HJ: The potato knish. And the cheesecake is the best there is.

UB: What is the biggest day of the year for the restaurant?
HJ: St. Patrick’s Day, then Christmas, then Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. On St. Patrick’s Day, we serve 5000 lbs. of corned beef, 5000 lbs. of potatoes and 5000 lbs. of cabbage.

UB: What do you think are the most important qualities of a good sandwich?
HJ: The meat can’t be too hard or too soft, too fatty or too lean. Consistency is everything. People expect the same quality, same experience every time they come here and they’ll tell us if something isn’t quite right.

UB: What percentage of people order sandwiches here?
HJ: 95%.

UB: Who are some celebrities to whom you’ve served sandwiches?
HJ: Henny Youngman, Peter Faulk, June Carter, Mike Tyson, Mohammed Ali

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Harold’s New York Deli
3050 Woodbridge Avenue, Edison, NJ 08837 (Google Map)

Just west of the University of Pennsylvania campus is a little deli that has been a mecca for sandwich lovers for over 40 years. Although Bob Koch the enthusiastic, caring and friendly owner passed away in late 2005, his legacy lives on. At lunchtime, a five-person-deep single file line is almost always the norm, but the current employees keep the tradition of passing around complimentary fresh sliced corned beef and pickles to patiently waiting customers. The specialty sandwiches at Koch’s are known for piling on several types of meat and condiments and are named for universities in the area as well as members of the Koch family.

Jeff’s favorite, the Drexel Special is Koch’s take on the corned beef special adding special beef, turkey, provolone and of course topping it off with cole slaw and on a hoagie roll slathered in Russian dressing.

My personal favorite is the Special K, a hulking behemoth of a sandwich consisting of corned beef, turkey pastrami, kosher salami, potato salad, swiss cheese and Russian dressing.

To get the full Koch’s experience, you really have to go and wait in line, chat it up with the employees and watch as they slice the meat fresh and pile it high on your sandwich. At the same time, if you’re in a rush they take phone orders too. Either way, be prepared for a sore jaw, a full stomach and a smile on your face.

Get your sandwich on:

Koch’s Deli
4309 Locust Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 (Google Map)