Food

The Best Pastrami in L.A. and More of the Week’s Top Dish

Move over Canter’s. Image by Courtesy of Ugly Drum

By Michael Kaminer August 30, 2016

It’s not at Canter’s or Wexler’s, but at the Ugly Drum, a humble stand at the L.A. Smorgasburg market.

That’s the word from Zagat: “It’s not quite Jewish deli pastrami, not really Texas barbecue and not overwhelming smoky. It’s sort of a mash-up of all three, like the perfect L.A. story.”

New Elijah’s in San Diego

Things weren’t looking good for Elijah’s, a San Diego deli chainlet that shut two locations in recent years.

But a shiny new Elijah’s is now open in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood, and it’s bringing old-school deli to a city without much of it.

Look for massive sandwiches, smoked whitefish, nova, liver and onions, tongue, chopped liver and a lot more, the San Diego Reader reports.

Couscous Week Is Coming

Image by Courtesy of NYShuk

Ron and Leetal Arazi of NYShuk — the amazing Middle-Eastern food artisans — are heading to Sicily for CousCousFest for a week of competition and celebration. Here at home, they’re launching the first-ever Couscous Week, September 5–12.

Look for live-streamed couscous classes, a couscous dinner at the Arazis’ Brooklyn abode and collabs with NYC restaurants that’ll serve NYShuk couscous.

New Wegman’s Has Kosher Deli

There’s a new Wegman’s in Richmond, Virginia, and it’s even got a kosher deli, the Virginian Pilot reports.

Here’s hoping the store does better than the one in Cherry Hill, New Jersey that was accused of mislabeling “kosher” chickens last year.

Big Names at Barbounia

Some big-name guest chefs will help Israeli-owned Manhattan-eatery Barbounia celebrate Israeli cuisine this month.

It’s part of a monthlong salute to Chef Joseph Hadad of Bucharest’s Joseph by Joseph Hadad, whom Barbounia’s owners are hailing as “one of the founding fathers of Israeli cuisine”. A television celebrity in Romania, where he’s lived and cooked since 1997, Haifa-born Hadad opened his Israeli-accented eatery in 2014.

The party starts Monday, September 19, 2016 when Chefs Einat Admony (Balaboosta, Bar Bolonat), Efi Nohan (Taboon,), Elie Kahlon (Executive Chef, NOVO, Ridgewood New Jersey) and Oded Brenner (Max Brenner) concoct a multi-course dinner based on Shivat Minnim, the seven biblically endorsed agricultural products.

It’s $59/person, and wine pairing is available.

More of This Week’s Food News

Michael Kaminer is a contributing editor at the Forward.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re in the middle of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO