We just finished writing a piece that was right up our alley. VisitPhilly – the city’s tourism and travel promotion agency – asked us to write about Philadelphia as a Jewish food destination. That was enough to get Joyce to say, “We really should go and sample some of the sandwiches…” And we were off!
We had a fun day checking out some of the local restaurants and delis we wanted to include. After all, we had to do our due diligence to make sure the food we were writing about was still delicious, right?
From its beginnings, Philadelphia has been – and still is – a Jewish city. From William Penn through the waves of immigration from Eastern Europe at the turn of the 20th century – there have been Jews –and our beloved foods – in Philadelphia.
Today, Jewish food in our town runs the gamut — from modern Israeli food at Zahav (just named the James Beard outstanding restaurant in the whole U.S!) to chocolate halva babka at Essen Bakery in South Philadelphia. There’s brisket ramen soup from chef Ben Puchowitz at Cheu Fishtown (inspired by his Bubbie) and Israeli falafel for lunch from Mama’s in Center City.
But when we want a nosh, we like to go old school. An overstuffed corned beef special. Lox on a toasted sesame bagel. If the weather is nasty, matzah ball soup, without the trendy garnish of cilantro or sriracha. A slice of fresh soft marble rye. Happily, we live in a city with plenty of places to find our beloved Jewish foods.
For more than 100 years, the smell of fresh-baked rye bread has wafted from Kaplan’s New Model Bakery at 3rd and Poplar Streets in Northern Liberties. The city’s oldest bakery supplies loaves to local restaurants and ships to Philadelphians who miss the best rye in the city. If we’re anywhere nearby, we detour to Kaplan’s to pick up a loaf.
Lipkin’s Bakery, with locations in South Philly and the Northeast, has been around for decades, too. They also make rye (and challah and bagels and babkas and Danish) but it’s Mitch Lipkin’s delicious, flaky knishes that make the bakery famous. Their varieties include the classics (potato, spinach, kasha, fake-liver and more), but Mitch isn’t afraid to innovate (white pizza stuffed with cheese and garlic; cinnamon rice with raisins).
Once we have our rye bread, we’re halfway to a great corned beef sandwich. Although the number of Philadelphia delis has dwindled (we remember Jack’s on Bustleton Avenue of blessed memory) there still remains Hymie’s, Famous 4th Street Delicatessen, Hershel’s East Side, Steve Stein’s, Koch’s, Schlesinger’s and Ben & Irv’s to carry the torch. They are still passing out the pickles and assembling sandwiches piled high with the salty, delicious meats you remember. 
When we shmeer our sesame seed bagel, it’s with old school cream cheese and chives, not with Tofutti non-dairy spread. But we’re very happy with the newfangled bagels that are popping up all over. At Philly Style Bagels in Fishtown, the bagels are boiled in Yard’s Beer. At Spread Bagelry, in University City and near Rittenhouse Square, the bagels are boiled in honey water and made “Montreal style.”
When Harry Lender wanted to introduce bagels to the world outside Jewish delis, he mass-produced, pre-sliced and froze his perfectly round, soft bagels. They were bland, inoffensive and could be found in almost every supermarket. Today, young artisan bagel bakers are doing the opposite: hand-rolling their bagels so each one is unique and delicious – with crunchier crusts and seedier toppings. Their bagel-baking ancestors would be proud.
We belong to a Facebook group called We Love Jewish Food. The name says it all – and proves that we’re not alone in loving the Ashkenazic ethnic food we grew up with. A lot of the members are from Philadelphia (and Florida) but there’s an occasional outlier – someone stuck living in upstate New York or Atlanta without access to Jewish sustenance. Almost every day, someone will post a photo of a bagel and lox – and half of the comments are people drooling, “That looks delicious. I wish I had breakfast with you.” The other half comment, “I’d kill for a good bagel.”
Nowadays, it’s possible to get many of these delights delivered to our door. Find the right restaurant, and Grubhub will deliver kasha and bowties. We can send chicken noodle soup to a sick friend, thanks to the Internet. And although we might appreciate the convenience, we prefer to stop in at the source when we can. It’s worth the trip to smell the tantalizing aromas, shmooze with the deli guys and the elderly cashier, and get a few cookies to nosh.
Shmoozing With the Word Mavens 