Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen

This is a wonderful book content wise...Well written and good pictures....BUT This apparently is a "printed on demand" book and the paper is not semi glossy and the pictures are dull and poor contrast with no crisp blacks and type also lower contrast...I sent it back....The printing technique doesn't do the book justice.

Great book for deli lovers

This book went from wonderfully engaging to dragging slightly to a powerful close, and it was especially poignant in timing as Carnegie Deli announced their closing as I was mid book. I really enjoyed as Sax traced the Jewish diaspora within America through its delis before returning to its roots in Western and finally Eastern Europe. The deli as somewhat of a gentrification marker in the American midwest was interesting and unexpected to this reader.I found that Sax's writing brought the food to life and made the dishes he sampled as much of characters as the deli men he interviewed. I'm not a big deli eater, but I had a craving for noodle kugel, challah, lox and more.I think the only reason the Canadian deli traditions didn't interest me as much as I'm not that interested in their food scenes. I had a stronger tie to other cities and I think that's why I enjoyed them more. If I didn't know the deli, I often knew the neighborhood. In the case of Stage and Carnegie, I walked past them daily en route to and from work. In addition to the iconic Carnegie, closing at the end of 2016, Jimmy and Drew's in Boulder has also closed since his research trip. Delis truly are dying off. Made me even more grateful for the rebirth of the 2nd Avenue deli and I'm glad both NYC locations are still thriving to this day.Poland, and the literal death of Jewish culinary traditions in the holocaust was a perfect ending to the original research. How many recipes and deli men had died off in that, the world's largest Jewish cemetery. I wonder where the delis would be today with those six million alive. I can only hope that the resurgence in some midwest cities, as well as Ben's and Katz's here, will keep the tradition alive for another generation.

I wrote my original review in haste and sold this terrific book rather short (though not the 5-star rating). So I'm amending below the original, short one.Thankfully, I live in one of those cities that still has a handful of good, and a couple of great, delis left. Because it only took me about 20 pages to be overcome by the physical need (NEED, I say) for pastrami. Real pastrami.This book will do it to you. Goodness, how I love it.NEW:All of that still stands, but this is really a lot more than just an ode to delis. It is also a wonderful history of delicatessens and their place in both Jewish and the larger culture. Sax makes some very serious and real connections between the state of the deli and it place in Jewish life and culture. As a goyem, I can only comment from outside, but having cooked at Fox Deli in Indianapolis for several years in the early 1980s, I was privileged to see the place of a great deli )okay, pretty good) deli in a neighborhood and a community. I learned a lot and picked up some great jokes, too. One of the things I learned was an ongoing and continuing love of kosher and kosher-style deli foods. (Here in Chicago, Manny's is what I imagine heaven is imagined to be for people who believe in heaven.)But I also became aware of how a deli can be a meeting place, unofficial cultural center and melting pot. Sax takes that and turns it into a tribute and elegy here. So while just looking at the cover does make me hungry, there is a lot more here than a travelogue and dining guide. Very much recommended.

David Sax took the time to do Jewish heritage and culture a favor by writing this book. He spent several months touring North America and parts of Europe and Britain to review delicatessen food. Jewish culture is fading away with the dispersion of the concentrated Jewish communities. The 2nd, third and fourth generations are not keeping the deli's open and are not learning the techniques of cooking the food. The only real place that David found a lively Jewish delicatessen following is in California.Perhaps with this book as a guide to the traveler, the lover of the Jewish cuisine will follow David's footsteps and take a similar trip or follow the Save the Deli site to seek out the spots highlighted in the book. I have worked in Jewish delicatessens here in Detroit and love to take a trip to Southfield MI to visit my favorite deli's. Around the corner in Troy there are a couple of delicatessens that I cater to in order to get a corned beef sandwich. I would like to see some of the other food items on the menu, i.e. Rugelach.This book may help the deli owner to understand the value of the cuisine and see what other deli owners are faced with in order to save their business. Again, the local deli has the same issue, over priced beef in order to make pastrami just right and a clientele that is not willing to buy a $12 sandwich. This book may inspire the deli owner to take a look at each other and unite in the fight to save the market.A good quick read and you can salivate all the way.Mark

Wonderful, though I took away a star because he skipped Baltimore and Philly. How can you not include Corned Beef Row? I also wonder how many of the delis have survived the intervening years and what new ones have arisen. All in all, a great and nostalgic read.

David Sax writes beautifully balanced sentences full of sharp insight. . ""With an army of restaurant consultants and designers at their disposal, the developers of Las Vegas casinos have managed to conquer the last stronghold of independent eating in America, turning the upper end of the food chain into another packaged concept." Or try this slice of writing straight from the steamer. "The narrow space between the counters became a gauntlet of doom, as hip checks and arm grapples met brazen countermen who dared walk into another man's space." This book is so well written that even a vegetarian could enjoy it. The author loves the world of the deli. He writes with sensitivity. He is an investigative journalist who uncovers the light secrets. After 45 years living in London, I thought I knew everything there was to know about London delis. I was wrong. No London writer has discovered as much as Sax. I never thought to read again of the Nosh Bar, Phil Rabin's and Carol's - the Great Windmill Street legends - or learn that a deli-man who had worked at all three and more could be found in Edgware at a place called B&K. Sax is a Salt Beef Bard and Poet of Pastrami. Help yourself - you'll be going back for more.