Pastrami: Discuss

Pastrami on rye

Photograph by ITStock Free.

Noah and Rae Bernamoff?s The Mile End Cookbook: From Hash to Hamantaschen, which came out earlier this month, contains more than 100 recipes from the couple?s 430-square-foot messiah of a smokehouse in Brooklyn, the Mile End Delicatessen. The Bernamoffs had a few fellow ?geniuses? contribute to the book, too, with full-page black-and-white photographs and unpolished prose. Bob McClure of McClure?s Pickles lists ?Seven Things I Love About Pickles.? Joel Bukiewicz, of Cut Brooklyn, explains ?How To Love Your Knife so It Will Love You Back.? And Ken Gordon of Kenny & Zuke?s Delicatessen, in Portland, Ore., gives the all-important ?Ode to Pastrami.?

?It was quite an honor,? says the Queens-born cook, who smokes 2,000 pounds a week of the stuff and recently opened a new late-night spot that serves a $12.95 ?Jewcuterie board? and a daiquiri containing loganberry Manischewitz and aged rum. ?I?m actually 40 pounds lighter now than I was in that photo,? he says, referring somewhat remorsefully to his headshot in The Mile End Cookbook. ?Got diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and had to cut back.? (Job hazard.)

Noah and Ken met up last summer, at a JCC in Berkeley, Calif., to discuss the future of pastrami-on-rye, at the first-ever Deli Summit. Joined by the other cool deli kids?Evan Bloom and Leo Beckerman of San Francisco?s wildly popular Wise Sons, and hosts Peter Levitt and Karen Adelman, co-owners of Saul?s Deli, down the street?it was a meet-and-greet of the self-anointed New Guard: deli artisans who brine/pickle/cure/smoke/hand-slice their-own-everything; serve only humanely raised, hormone-free meat; and could care less about kosher.

?It was kind of an exclusive invite,? explained 5-foot-3 Karen, in baggy khakis and a black blouse, standing excitedly in the lobby before the crowds formed.* ?People asked me, ?Why isn?t Katz?s coming?? ? She shrugged. ?Old guard.?

?I get crap from those guys all the time,? said a blas? Noah, with his wife, Rae, by his side, clad in his-and-hers hipster glasses, square and cat-eye, respectively. ?They?re, like, ?What?s he doing here?? They don?t really talk to me. Or to each other. The owner of Carnegie?s, I forget his name, but he thinks his shit doesn?t stink. Big guy.?

?They?re all big guys,? said Rae.

Not Wise Sons co-owner Leo Beckerman. The skinny 28-year-old, with a permanent smile and waist-length dreadlocks, was slinging still-warm bialys smeared with house-made chive cream cheese and lox. Waiting in line were heavily made-up ladies who trekked in from Palo Alto; pregnant women debating whether, wild or not, it?s OK to eat smoked salmon, and the requisite kvetchers. (?How can you call Saul?s a Jewish deli, when they don?t even have salami!?) East Coast transplants, too. ?I?m from New Jersey,? confessed an Asian man who came straight from work. ?Gimme a good bialy.? Another proudly pointed to his ?Yonah Shimmel? hat. ?How ?bout a knish??

?The Deli Summit is the place to be tonight,? said a freckly redhead. ?I think Obama might show up.?

A hot ticket, yes, but not an instant sell-out as in 2010, when Saul?s hosted a Referendum on the Jewish Deli Menu. ?We had star power then,? explained Karen Adelman. ?Michael Pollan. He?s a regular.? This year, they tried for Ruth Reichl. ?She really wanted to do it! Mark Bittman was interested, too ??

Before show time, the speakers assembled in the back office to discuss what to discuss. ?Bacon?? someone proposed. ?Ooh, don?t go there ?? warned Noah. ?The Tablet ripped on us!? ?I could tell my favorite joke,? proposed Ken. ?What?s the biggest Jewish dilemma? Half-price sale on pork.? ?Butter versus shmaltz?? someone suggested. ?Oo, yeah, Shmaltz! Good one,? said Wise Sons? Evan Bloom.

This was no G8 Summit of suits. The line-up on the small stage looked more like a student council meeting at a Yeshiva day school. Ken, the graying grandpa of the group, wore a black T-shirt emblazoned with Body by Pastrami. (Note: This was before he lost the 40 pounds.)

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