Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

The Jewish Deli Revival Is In Full Swing

While the casual New York deli may be on the decline, a new day of national Jewish delis has dawned.

Jewish delis are going international, with new locations opening in places as unusual as Denver, Colorado and Tokyo, Japan. Here’s a roundup of all the new delis that opened in 2018 that are worth paying a visit to.

Check out the map on the bottom for help planning your cross-country deli-tasting trip.

Rye Society – Denver, Colorado

A modern Jewish deli in Denver Colorado, offering memorable food experiences from a fourth generation Colorado native, featuring pastrami flown in from New York.

Leven Deli Co

The foods you love in the last place you’d expect!

Manny’s Restaurant and Delicatessen – Holland, Pennsylvania

“All of these Jewish delis are closing not because they’re going bad but because people are retiring and it’s time and we think that we can change that,” Jeremy Thomas told WFMZ.com.

Call Your Mother – Washington, DC

This Jew-ish deli is set to serve the best of New York and Montreal bagels, combining the sweetness of Montreal bagels and the chewiness of New York bagels.

Dingfelder’s Delicatessen – Seattle, Washington

Filling the void of Jewish comfort food in Capital Hill with authentic old world deli meats. Hot dog? Knish, anyone?

Deli Delicious

A post shared by Dingfelder’s Delicatessen (@dingfeldersdeli) on

Solomon’s Delicatessen

Who says Sacramento is a dead zone for Jewish deli? Not anymore!

Meyvn – Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bringing Jewish soul food to the Twin Cities.

Frunchroom

Where Italian food, Jewish food and homemade charcuterie intersect in a wonderful way.

Larder Delicatessen and Bakery – Cleveland, Ohio

This shop, run by a fermentation expert, is putting a spin on traditional Jewish deli foods with items like koji-cured pastrami sandwiches.

Josh’s Deli

A Jewish deli done so right it’s wrong, offering transgressive eats like the Lobster Jewchachos.

Make the trip to Surfside, Miami for this corned beef reuben. #EEEEEATS

A post shared by The Infatuation (@infatuation) on

Half Sour – Chicago, Illinois

The Jewish influence is apparent when you try the latkes, chopped liver and whitefish croquettes offered here.

Lox, Stock and Brisket – Cleveland, Ohio

Bills itself as a new kind of Jewish deli, offering sandwiches like the Larry David and the Upper East Side.

Wise Sons – Tokyo, Japan

Serving up Jewish favorites in Japan, Evan Wise’s new outpost boasts lines out the door when it comes time for lunch.

Broadway Deli – Kansas City, Missouri

After approximately five decades of dreaming about opening a kosher deli in Kansas City, owner Bill Fromm’s dream of providing people with a place to buy a real egg salad sandwich is finally coming to life.

Cans Deli – Tucson, Arizona

Imagine a place where you can go buy a pastrami sandwich while listening to live music. That’s Cans.

A post shared by Cans (@cansdeli) on

Freedman’s – Los Angeles, California

Cross your bubby’s cooking with constant gastronomic innovation and you’ve got Freedman’s.

A post shared by Freedman’s (@freedmans_la) on

Sadelle’s – Las Vegas, Nevada

A Sadelle’s in Las Vegas? Will wonders never cease?

A post shared by Sadelle’s (@sadelles) on

The Essen Room

This restaurant is a place where size does matter. In fact, any person who can eat one full order, along with coleslaw and pickle, in under 55 minutes, will get their meal comped and their name on the wall.

Any delis that opened in 2018 that we haven’t written about? Send me a note at [email protected] and I’ll add it to the list.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

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 the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.