Jordan Wright
March 25, 2015
Special to DC Metro Theater Arts
Ziggy Gruber with Zellagabetsky Paula Murphy
Glorious six-inch high pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, matzoh balls floating airily in a rich chicken stock the color of fresh hay, chopped chicken liver blended with onions and hard-cooked egg served in baseball-size orbs, smoked whitefish and Nova sliced so thin you can see right through a single silken slice to see your bubbeleh across the table. Fat red cherry blintzes.
Erik Greenberg Anjou and Fyvush Finkel
In the The Deli Man, the third and last of Director Erik Greenberg Anjou’s trilogy about Jewish culture, we are given a seat at the tables of some of North America’s greatest delicatessens where third and fourth generation deli men, whose grandfathers and great-grandfathers brought their treasured recipes across the Atlantic to Canada and the U. S., still keep the beloved traditions alive. And where men without money, or a country to go back to, came by the droves to the Lower East Side of Manhattan determined to open a restaurant with the food their families held dear.
Director Erik Greenberg Anjou and crew with Jerry Stiller
Many of these delis, Reuben’s, Lindy’s, the Stage Deli, Katz’s, Nate n’ Al’s and Carnegie Deli, served the vaudevillians that worked in the nearby theater district. Comedians like Jack Benny, Henny Youngman, Eddie Cantor, and my late father, Georgie Price, had sandwiches named after them and you could find a deli on every street corner in New York. A few of these iconic delis are still around. Hundreds more around the country closed their doors due to the changing American cultural and culinary landscape.
Ziggy Gruber at serving counter
The Deli Man is a loving documentary portrait of the hardworking men, and women, who have kept their delis alive despite the rising costs of meat and fish, and the never-ending hours. The film is informed by the backstory of David “Ziggy” Gruber, owner of the Houston, Texas-based Kenny & Ziggy’s Delicatessen. Ziggy, an overachiever with a big heart, explains his devotion to his Hungarian roots and the dishes that he loves so well, “When I cook I feel my ancestors around me.”
Appearances by Larry King and Jerry Stiller brighten this Jewish culinary love story. Stiller explains its importance in daily life, “The deli was something you deserved after working your ass off.”
Larry King
The Deli Man opens on Friday, March 27th at AMC Mazza Gallerie and AMC Shirlington. Rated PG-13.
Highly recommended if there is a deli within ten minutes walking or driving distance – – otherwise you will drool like a bulldog and your Yiddishe Mama will kvetsh.