For years, Ashkenazi food has sat in the shadow of its more colourful Sephardi cousin. How could the unfashionably fatty cuts of meat flavoured with parsley; pale poached fish and stodgy kugels compete with the herb and spice-filled showstoppers of the Middle Eastern and southern Mediterranean canon?
We’ve been lagging behind the US, where for almost two decades American deli culture has been undergoing a renaissance. Destinations like Gertie’s (and big sister, Gertrude), Mile End deli; Shalom Japan and others have been breathing new life into Ashkenazi classics.
From Wagyu Pastrami (salt beef) sandwiches made with shokupan (Japanese milk bread) at Shalom Japan; or latkes topped with celery crème frâiche and trout roe at Gertrude’s or shmaltz herring with a shot at Russ and Daughters’ Café — their Old Country experience is fun and full of flavour. No stodge in sight.
Now a new generation of Ashkenazi-influenced chefs are breathing new life into London’s food scene.
“There’s not enough [Jewish] deli food in London now — there’s barely any of it” says Ollie Gratter, founder of Wilde’s Deli, who is attempting to reinvent Ashkenazi staples for modern menus. “And what there is plays to the heritage side of things, whether it’s Rinkoff’s, the Brick Lane beigel places or Daniel’s, Carmelli’s or wherever. And that’s great, but there aren’t many people trying to push things forward, to contemporise it.”
After a series of jobs in the tech sector, Gratter pivoted to food, founding Wilde’s Deli. The Jew-ish food brand that takes a different spin on the staples has existed so far as a series of pop ups in London pubs and collabs with pizza and sandwich shops.
Although he’d eaten the classics at the home of his grandparents Max and Liesl (immigrants from Poland and Austria pre-Holocaust) he hadn’t eaten them much at home so when buliding his repertoire, started by reconnecting with cousins for family recipes.
“I’ve got my grandmother’s original recipe book handwritten in German from the 1930’s which I need to translate at some point. But the real research happened in the kitchen, redoing recipes again and again until I got to a point where I was happy with them.”
Moving from home kitchen trials to feeding hundreds a night at the pop up, he had to upscale his techniques. His salt beef is cooked for several hours to melting softness then steamed for service. And when he is serving upwards of 300 latkes as service, instead of simply shallow frying them, he flash-fries, bakes and then briefly fries again at service time to crisp them up.
Earlier this year, the South Londoner took his steaming hot salt beef sandwiches and crunchy latkes to Kentish Town’s Rose and Crown. Local celebs like David Baddiel and social media influencers all raved about Gratter’s double-height, salt beef sandwiches and deep-fried frickles.
Baddiel described the overloaded New York-sized sandwich as “Some of the best salt beef [he’d] ever had”. He also got a thumbs up from Masterchef judge John Torode and wife Lisa Faulkner.
The generously-filled salt beef sandwiches and crunchy latkes are served alongside homemade bread and butter pickles and piping hot frickles (fried pickles) which pack an acidic punch, and for the pop up I attended, New York-style knishes. There are also bagels coated in Japanese spice, furikake and filled with smoked salmon and a wasabi schmear and an egg salad and American cheese-stuffed challah bun.
The New York-inspired creativity comes with his collaborations, for which he has reinvented the traditional deli menu. For a stint with Bad Boys Pizza, he came up with a turkey Reuben-topped pizza — a scattering of everything bagel spice on the base, smoked turkey, sauerkraut and candied jalapenos. Kosher it’s not but it’s an ingenious spin on old flavour combinations. And it’s been going down a storm.
Gratter isn’t the only one bringing the Ashkenazi menu back to London tables. In Belsize Park, entrepreneur, Jack Graham and wife Amelia have opened Freddie’s, (*) an eat-in restaurant with a similarly New York-deli inspired menu. The modern-looking restaurant, tucked away behind the main shopping drag, in the shadow of the Royal Free Hospital, has been drawing comparisons with (the now defunct) Harry Morgan’s (which Graham cites as an influence) but, like Gratter, he has given things a more contemporary spin.
“In the last ten or 20 years there has been a big movement in bringing the traditional cultural dishes of the New York delis and combining them with other things – more modern touches. Bringing it into the present day. And that’s starting to cross the Atlantic now.”
He cites the explosion of New York style bagels that we’d seen in the last six months and says that it felt like the right time. “It’s the cultural tradition of the New York deli diner that we’re trying to recreate that we just don’t have here — the American style but a bit more fun.”
His menu opening menu had subtle modern twists — a cholent cassoulet (bringing French and Old Country Ashkenazi together topped with challah crumbs; kasha varnishkes (a US favourite) and their fish-knuckle sandwich — filled with fried fish balls, tartare sauce and lettuce — za’atar fish and chips and an everything bagel panzanella.
Another entrepreneur creating New York-style bagels at It’s Bagels in Primrose Hill has helped fuel the Ashkenazi revival. Although this menu is more traditional — incorporating lox, tunafish salad and (to my knowledge) the only whitefish salad available this side of the pond. They have also launched a blueberry bagel for the summer only — a direct NY-inspired import.
And Hertfordshire-based bagels + schmear also have fused a very English flavour with the all-important schmear — making their Marmite version as well as every child’s favourite Nutella for the win.
We’re not at New York levels yet and the (non kosher) reinventions may not be for everyone, but it’s good to see some Ashkenazi new-style deli staples on new menus.
Catch the next Wilde’s pop up at the White Horse in Peckham Rye – from 24 July
(*) Since publication, the JC has been informed that Freddie’s has closed.
