by Ted Merwin
potato salad, 71, 119, 170
Prada, 137
Pressner’s Delicatessen, 104
Private Izzy Murphy (film), 66
Protas, Judy, 125
p’tcha (calf’s-foot jelly), 2, 185
Public National Kosher Company (New York), 120
pumpernickel bread, 105
Pumpernik’s Delicatessen (Miami Beach), 106, 107
Puttin’ on the Ritz (song), 63
Queen Victoria, 64
R. J. Reynolds, 130
Radin’s Delicatessen (Brooklyn), 114
radio advertising, 123–124
Radio City Music Hall, 58
Radner, Gilda, 151
Raichlen, Barbara, 106
Raichlen, Steve, 106
Raphil’s Delicatessen (Miami Beach), 106, 107
Rascal House (Miami Beach), 107
rationing, 92–95
Ratner’s Dairy Restaurant (New York), 68, 184
Ravage, Marcus, 30, 33
RC Cola Company, 79
Real Kosher, 95
Reconstructionist Movement, 81
Reich, Benjamin, 34
Reichert, Tom, 122
Reilly, Paul, 159
Reiner, Estelle, 151
Reiner, Rob, 150–151
relish, 85
Remach Kosher Meat Products, 39
Reuben, Arnold, 58, 60–62
Reuben sandwich, 144, 172
Reuben’s Delicatessen (New York), 1, 10, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62
Rialto, 64, 65
Richardson, Bobby, 101
Richman, Alan, 69
Ridgewood, Queens, 87
Rischin, Moses, 32
rise of ethnic food, 129–138
Rivers, Joan, 151
Riviana Foods, 130
RKO Movie Theatre (Queens), 87
roast beef, xii, 89, 106, 110, 153
Robbins, Jerome, 116
Robins, L. H., 26, 72, 76
Robinson, Bill “Bojangles,” 68
Rockefeller, Nelson, 10
Rogov, Daniel, 19, 78, 136
rolled beef, 11, 85, 116, 184
Rooney, Pat, 68
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 92
Roosevelt, Theodore, 42
Rosen’s Delirama (Memphis, TN), 104
Rosenbaum, Aharon, 23
Rosenbaum, Ron, 164
Rosenberg, Herb, 80
Rosenblatt, Gary, 187
Rosenblum’s Delicatessen (New York), 80
Rosenfeld, Isaac, 148
Roth, Philip, 132
Rothstein, Al, 56
Rothstein, Arnold, 60
Rotkovitz, Miryam, 132
Roxbury, Boston, 100, 101
Royal Farms, 121
Rubin, Benny, 67
Rubin, Rabbi Schulem, 159
Rubin’s Delicatessen (Boston), 101
Rubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey, 152
Rudnick, Paul, 168
“Rumenye, Rumenye” (song), 22
Runyon, Damon, 63
Russ and Daughters (New York), 184
Rustin, Bayard, 10
Ryan, Meg, 150–152, 151
Sacks, Karen Brodkin, 115
Saint Aubin, Charles Germain de, 19
salami, 2, 32, 37, 47, 78, 85, 99, 101, 104, 105, 110, 111, 114, 115, 116, 118, 122, 123, 124, 139, 143, 144; in pop culture, 146–147, 178, 185; chicken salami, 85, 87, 88, 89; sending salami overseas, 91–92
Sales, Soupy, 4
Salupsky, Isidore P., 82
Sammy’s Rumanian Restaurant (New York), 167
“Samurai Deli” skit, 141
San Antonio, 98
sandwich, invention of, 5–6; overstuffed, 1, 6, 9, 20, 55, 112, 141, 145, 168, 175, 179, 183
sandwich shops, 56
Santa Monica, California, 104
Sardi’s Restaurant (New York), 6
Sarna, Jonathan, 127
sauerkraut, 85, 108
Saul’s Delicatessen (Berkeley, CA), 174
sausages, xvi, 2, in European Jewish diet, 20–22; on Lower East Side, 25–29, 32, 34; factories, 38–40, 45, 49, 79, 94, 99; in the South, 104; sexual associations, 122, 192n27; in literature,136
Sax, David, 13, 58, 173
scams involving non-kosher (treyf) meat, 49–50
Scarsdale, New York, 171
Schirra, Wally, 111
Schlachter’s Kosher Delicatessen (New York), 117
Schlesinger, Arthur, 12
Schmulka Bernstein’s Delicatessen (New York), 39, 89, 133
Schneier’s Delicatessen (Brooklyn), 114
Schnipper’s Delicatessen (Brooklyn), 114
Scholem, Richard Jay, 157
Schrafft’s Soda Fountains, 36
Schwartz, Arthur, 9, 13 185
Schwartz, Louis, 91
Schweller, Louis, 95
Sculle, Keith A., 36
Seabury, Florence Guy, 74
Second Avenue Deli (New York), 3, 13, 68, 139, 157, 162–164, 175, 181, 184, 185
second generation Jews, xiv, 7, 10, 20, 51, 55–56, 71, 77, 79, 81, 86, 130, 155, 187
Second World War and non-Jewish foods, 91, 97
Sedaka, Neil, 110
Seelos, Annette, 62
Segal’s Delicatessen (Memphis, TN), 104
Seinfeld, 145, 165
“Send a Salami to Your Boy . . . ,” 91–92
Sephardic food, 35, 87, 156, 157, 173
settlement houses, 36–37
sex and the delicatessen, 3, 9, 14, 17, 45–46; in advertising, 122; in film, 148–152
Shandler, Jeffrey, 169
Shapiro, Edward, 115
shelamim sacrifice, 5
Sheraton, Mimi, 108, 137, 141, 171
Sherman, Allan, 55, 145–148
Sherman, John D., 72
Sherman, Rose, 146
Shipley, George, 111
Shipman, Sammy, 61
shopping malls, 115
show business and the delicatessen, 59–64
Shtreyt, Shlomo, 24
Silver, Laura, 13
Simon, Kate, 88
Sinai Kosher, 38
Sinclair, Jo, 75. See also Wasteland
Singer’s (Liberty, New York), 108
Sixteen Tons (song), 116
Sixth Avenue Delicatessen (New York), 91
Skyscraper (musical), 149
Smith, Joe, 56
Smokler, Daniel, 87
So Jewtastic (video), 186
soda fountain, 9, 36
Solomon, Barbara, 95
Solomon, King, 72
Somers, Ethel, 71
soul food, 172, 178
South Gate (California), 104
Soyer, Daniel, 9
Spinoza, Baruch, 149
Squire’s Delicatessen, 90
Stage Delicatessen (New York), 56, 60, 61, 70, 114, 167
Stage Stop Delicatessen (Los Angeles), 104
Stamberg, Susan, 89
state university campus at Binghamton (New York), 110
state university campus at Cortland (New York), 110
Stern, Daniel, 3
Stiller, Jerry, 145
Stillman, Dr. Irwin, 143
Stouffer’s, 130
Strange Interlude (play), 63
stuffed cabbage, 105
Sumter (South Carolina), 101
Sunday as delicatessen night, 88, 106
Sunday closing (“blue”) laws, 41–44
Sunshine Provision Company (NY), 49
supermarket deli counter, 117–119
Sussman, Adeena, 179
Sussman, Jacob, 98
Sussman and Lev’s Delicatessen (Baltimore), 98, 100
sustainability, 174–176
Takada, Hidehiko, 156
Tarlow, Leo, 39, 95
Tavern on the Green (New York), 6
Taylor, Philip, 136
Taylor, Sybil, 8
technologies and the delicatessen, 74
Temple in Jerusalem, 4–5
Ten Commandments (film)
, 127
terroir, 173–174
Thaler, Susan, 117
third place/third space concept, 7–9, 186–187
Tiberias Restaurant (New York), 168
Times Square, 59
tongue (beef), xiii, 2, 11, 35, 47, 58, 64, 74, 83, 89, 94, 95, 99, 104, 114, 143, 184
Toots Shor’s (New York), 106
Traif (Williamsburg, Brooklyn), 178
Trillin, Calvin, 139
Tuchman, Gaye, 131
Tucker, Sophie, 151
turkey, roast, xii, 11, 55, 58, 62, 143, 145, 149, 150
Ukor Kosher Meat Company (New York), 40
Ullman, Hans, 22
Upper West Side, New York, 77, 80, 155, 157, 165
vaudeville routines, 48, 53–54
Versace, 137
Vienna Beef, 38
Vienna Sausage Company (Chicago), 10
Vitmin (Lithuanian delicatessen), 24
Voice of the Delicatessen Industry, 82
Volk, Patricia, 29
Volk, Sussman, 29
Vongerichten, Jean-Georges, 179
Waldbaum, Ira, 120
Waldbaum’s, 120
Walsh, George , 27
Ward, David, 77
wartime shortages, 92
Washington, D.C., 74, 123, 171, 172
Wasteland (novel), 75
Webster, H. T. , 26
Weingarten, Joseph A., 114
Weiss, Sam, 146
Weiss, Steve, 167
Weiss’s Delicatessen (Baltimore), 98
Welles, Orson, 102
Wepner, Morris, 78
Wexler’s Delicatessen (Los Angeles), 172
When Harry Met Sally (film), 150–152, 151, 183
White, Barry, 165
whitefish, 108
Whiteman, Paul, 61
Willensky, Elliot, 81, 170
Williams, Jeanne, 122
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, xi, 44, 87, 178
Wilson, Bee, 6
Wilson, S. J., 76
Winter Garden Theater, 60
Wise Sons Delicatessen (San Francisco) 172
Wolfie’s Delicatessen (Cocoa Beach), 110
Wolfie’s Delicatessen (Miami Beach), 106, 107
Wolfman, Ira, 11
Wolitz, Seth, 2
Woloshin’s (Los Angeles), 102
Woolworth’s. See F. W. Woolworth Company
Works Progress Administration, 80
Wurzburger, Rabbi Walter S., 154
Yezierska, Anzia, 32
Yizkor (Memorial) Books, 23–24
Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), 85
Young, Brigham, 72
Young, John, 111
Youngerman’s Delicatessen (Williamsburg, Brooklyn), 44
Your Show of Shows (TV show), 107
Zabar’s (New York), 165, 184
Zanger, Mark, 120
Zarkower’s Delicatessen (White Plains, New York), 116
Zentner, Si, 146
Zieff, Howard, 125
Ziegelman, Jane, 13
Ziegfeld Follies, 62
Zion Kosher, 39–40, 78, 95, 118, 119, 124, 185
Zucky’s Delicatessen (Santa Monica), 104
Zukin, Nick, 13
Zunz, Oliver, 77
Zusman, Michael, 13
Zweibel, Alan, 142
About the Author
Ted Merwin is Associate Professor of Religion and Judaic Studies and Founding Director of the Milton B. Asbell Center for Jewish Life at Dickinson College. He writes about Jewish culture for the New York Jewish Week and other major newspapers and magazines.