A paean to pastrami
and pickles

David Sax’s Save the Deli is an appetitestirring tribute to a once-great Jewish food institution. Plus: Pasta et cetera à la di Stasio

by MARK SLUTSKY and
BARTEK KOMOROWSKI

David Sax establishes his smoked meat bona fides early on in Save the Deli. The book is dedicated to his grandfather, who passed away, as he tells us, “by way of a smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz’s.” And although Sax’s journey to discover the heart of the Jewish delicatessen takes him across this continent and over to a couple of others, there’s a lot of Montreal in this warm paean to the lunch counters of old.

As there should be; Sax lived here for several years as a student, and it’s where his parents grew up. But beyond that, Montreal has always been, and remains, a city where the culture of the deli is strong. (Not too long ago, I participated in a rally to save what was left of Ben’s, the once-glorious downtown smoked meat hangout, a failed effort that nonetheless epitomized the spirit of Sax’s mission).

Sax’s love for pastrami, for chopped liver, for schmaltz-kissed chicken soup is clearly heartfelt, and, after some introductory chapters outlining the deli’s origins in New York City—and why the once-great tradition is sadly dying off—he takes off across the continent, visiting eateries in Boulder, Colorado, Los Angeles, Miami and places in between, searching for a key to the deli’s past and future. He eventually returns to Canada, seeing hope in Toronto’s semi-smoked-meat sensation Caplansky’s, and Montreal’s (which he calls “nirvana for deli purists”) multilingual and multicultural embrace of viande fumée.

Though the restaurants he visits are all variations on a theme—pickled meats, pickled pickles, rye bread, wise-cracking waiters, aging proprietors—Save the Deli remains consistently entertaining throughout, never feeling repetitive. Sax’s sincere love of the subject and his knack for sniffing out a good story make Save the Deli a delightful and appetite-stirring tribute to a dwindling but still glorious institution. (MS)

Pasta et cetera à la di Stasio
In Pasta et cetera à la di Stasio, food stylist turned food television personality Josée di Stasio (her series à la di Stasio is on Telé-Québéc) offers a collection of some 50 pasta recipes, plus a few appetizers and desserts. Many of the recipes, she says in the intro, are her own takes on family favourites handed down from her Italian grandparents.

The mechanics of this cookbook are good: the layout is uncluttered; there is a full-page photo accompanying almost every recipe; the ingredients are listed in the order they are used; the instructions are clear and simple, aimed at users with a modicum of cooking experience; and the recipes are grouped by key ingredient like sausage, roasted vegetables etc. I also like the fact that Ms. di Stasio tells readers that the recipes are not set in stone and encourages them to experiment and adjust things to their taste.

There are a lot of über classics: carbonara, Bolegnese, aglio e olio, several slightly unorthodox takes on Italian standards, such as carbonara with vegetables, ragú with short ribs, and a few vaguely foreign-tinged novelties like broccoli-turmeric fettuccine, zucchini-feta gemelli.

On a technical note, a gripe I have is that she tells the reader that fresh and dry pasta are interchangeable. Not in my experience. Cream or meat based sauces rich in animal fats work with dry pasta but really shine on fresh pasta. However, vegetable based sauces that are rich in olive oil can be awful with fresh pasta, which soaks the oil up like a sponge rather than being coated by it.

There are a lot of pasta cookbooks out there. Pasta et cetera nicely covers the basics and offers some interesting, if not novel, recipes. (BK)

SAVE THE DELI BY DAVID SAX,
MCCLELLEND AND STEWART, HC, 328
PP., $32.99. IT LAUNCHES AT PARA-
GRAPHE (2220 MCGILL) THURSDAY,
NOV. 5, 7 P.M., WITH REPRESENTATIVES
OF MONTREAL DELIS ON HAND TO
PROVIDE FOOD AND STORIES

PASTA ET CETERA À LA DI STASIO BY
JOSÉE DI STASIO, TRANSCONTINENTAL,
PB, 192 PP., $29.95