They have the meats: Les & Mark bring back their Jewish deli for one overstuffed meal

“Save the Deli” is not just the name of David Sax’s 2009 book. It’s a call-to-arms for anyone wishing they could walk down the street and get a pastrami on rye, made like they used to make them, as easily as you can get a Big Mac.

Louisville had a traditional Jewish deli, Les & Mark’s Deli, in Hikes Point in the latter half of the 1970s. Owners Mark Suna and Les Naiman, from New York and New Jersey respectively, missed the food of their youth and opened it after putting $500 down. Their deli also was a place to socialize, and not just for Louisville’s Jewish population. Mitch McConnell was a customer who posted flyers on their walls advertising his first run at elected office.

Naiman and Suna split after a few years, unable to balance what Suna calls their “Odd Couple” qualities. Mutual friends kept them in each other’s orbits through the years as Naiman continued in the food business, running his own Nosh Box deli and catering. Suna went into commercial real estate. The men eventually made peace and renewed their friendship.

This Sunday, Jan. 10, they will also renew their recipes for corned beef, coleslaw and more, all made in accordance with kosher rules, for a lunch service open to the public, benefitting the synagogue Keneseth Israel. Meat by the pound also will be for sale. All proceeds benefit the synagogue’s community outreach efforts. Adding to the festivities, writer Ted Merwin will be on hand to discuss his new book, Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli.

Another reason to do this now, says Suna, is that a lot of their old customers are just that — old. It’s not just the customers who are becoming scarce; where there were once 2,000 delis in New York, today there are five. Louisvillians looking for the real thing have to drive to Cincinnati or Indianapolis, though as Keneseth Israel executive director Yonatan Yussman points out, Shapiro’s in Indianapolis “isn’t even Kosher.”

The reasons for the decline are both social and financial. While those old delis were started by immigrants who couldn’t find their favorite old country food in their new cities, the great-grandchildren of those originators have long since assimilated into the American melting pot of Domino’s, Taco Bell and, well, the Melting Pot.

Additionally, quality meats are expensive, and kosher meats are more expensive than regular meats. The 2014 documentary Deli Man points out that of those five delis left in New York, four own their buildings. But it only takes one person passionate, crazy or well-funded enough to do it again in Louisville.

Suna mentions that Republic Bank CEO Steve Trager once worked as a Nosh Box server. Today, his nephew Michael Trager-Kusman keeps the family in the food business as a co-founder of NuLu restaurant Rye, which has flown in bread from New York’s Katz’s Deli, one of those final five.

As for Les & Mark, they’re getting back in business for a meal to have fun and to enjoy their friendship and community. Suna says now, “I don’t want to do it where it’s a job. I want to do it where I’m affecting change and helping others.”

“Kosher Deli Day” will be held at Keneseth Israel, 2531 Taylorsville Road, on Sunday, Jan. 10, from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

C. 2016 Insider Louisville

Teddy Abrams and the Orchestra gear up for ‘Kaddish to Klezmer’ and the first-ever ‘Louisville Concerto’

“I don’t know if I told you I was performing at Whitney Hall Oct 23rd and 24th with the Louisville Orchestra,” rapper JaLin Roze recently shared with his social media followers.

It’s not a typical gig for Roze, even though he’s considered among the best in his genre across the region. That’s precisely the type of disconnect Louisville Orchestra music director Teddy Abrams was looking to fix when he conceived of the Orchestra’s collaborative “Louisville Concerto,” which premieres at the Kentucky Center for the Arts on Friday, Oct. 23.

Roze is part of a quartet of native Louisville musicians who make up the two-shows-only “Louisville Concerto.” He’s joined by violinist Scott Moore, who has performed with the bluegrass band the 23 String Band and alongside Ben Sollee and Jim James; influential and internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Will Oldham; and percussionist Dani Markham, who has been touring with the Oakland-based experimental rock band Tune-Yards.

“None of them have worked together, which is particularly cool,” notes Abrams of the “group solo piece for four soloists.”

The youthful Abrams, now into his second season, passionately approaches his orchestra as a vital, living creature. Markham says she hadn’t met him before but had “heard great things” as she traveled around the world. Abrams sought out her cell number and texted her to ask if she would be interested in collaborating on the project. The “Concerto” features the Orchestra backing the quartet as they each perform a piece they feel connected to.

“My mind was blown,” says Markham, who had been planning to return to Louisville during October after her tour ended. “I had just been thinking about trying to collaborate with orchestras … It really came at a perfect time.”

Abrams also made a good impression by visiting with Markham’s alma matter, the Louisville Leopard Percussionists youth performance group, where she also teaches whenever possible. Abrams has earned that respect by tirelessly reaching out to community members east and west, in churches and synagogues, and with musicians in many genres.

“I love how it’s been working so far,” the northern California native Abrams says of his Louisville adventure. When he started, he says he knew there was potential for bringing crowds, especially younger and more diverse crowds, back to the Louisville Orchestra that had not been met yet. Now, “people are following it in a way that they would also follow a sports team, or something else they’re passionate about.”

Abrams — who conducts and also plays piano and clarinet — delights in pushing musical boundaries, balancing the popular and the progressive. It’s a tradition that goes back with this orchestra to 1948, when Mayor Charles Farnsley decided that modern composers would receive commissions to create new music to be played first by the Louisville Orchestra.

But Abrams says it’s a work in progress. “You can’t immediately rip open people’s expectations, because that’s when you can alienate people instead of bringing them all together. And that’s what I’m trying to do.”

When we spoke on Wednesday, he was driving to New Albany to talk about this weekend’s neighborhood concerts, including performances Saturday night (at the Ogle Center at IUS) and Sunday afternoon (at The Temple in Louisville’s East End) of “Kaddish to Klezmer.” (A Friday night performance at Central High School has been postponed).

The focus in “Kaddish to Klezmer” is on a variety of Jewish composers, covering ground from show tunes to jazz to folk music written by icons Irving Berlin and George Gershwin as well as lesser-known composers.

“It’s one of those crazy days that’s part of a crazy week, and becoming part of a crazy season, too,” Abrams says. “But it’s good … that means we’re doing something, which is how it should be.”

The Louisville Orchestra is leaving their home and traveling to more neighborhood locations this year than last year, having seen an overwhelmingly positive response to the experiment during Abrams’ introductory season. As audiences have increased, so has financial support, through ticket sales and underwriting, giving them increased viability in an era that has been notoriously difficult for arts groups everywhere.

“We’ll never be 100 percent comfortable. Nonprofits don’t exist like that,” he says. The message he’s trying to spread is that there’s always room for more people to come and enjoy their orchestra.

“You have to remember, our government does not support the arts to the extent I think a) they should, or b) they can,” Abrams says. “But it’s a two-way street. We need to show them why they should support us, and that’s what we’ve been working on — changing that whole image and connection with the public.”

“Kaddish to Klezmer” takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the IUS Ogle Center, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18, at The Temple. “Louisville Concerto” takes place at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. For tickets and more information, go to louisvilleorchestra.org.

c. 2015 Insider Louisville

We Love Mom: Gloria's brisket

Photograph by Eugene Ahn

I grew up in Tampa, Florida, the armpit of the “Armpit State.” Also known as the home of Magic Mike, the strip club-loving city is also known for its shocking lack of quality restaurants. The eatery closest to the house that my parents have lived in since 1986 is an Applebee’s.

Thankfully, at home I was fed better than what the city could otherwise offer. My mother, Gloria, retired last year after a long and distinguished career as an educator — a reading specialist. I credit her good genes with fueling my love for reading, writing, and trying to avoid arithmetic. She was raised in Manhattan, on the Lower East Side — something that made me very jealous as a child, and still does now. The fact that she and my father, Herb, chose to move to a suburb of Tampa instead of living a New York City life will always mystify me, especially since that suburb has 20,000 residents and only one good restaurant. Still, they seem happy there.

What’s so great about my mom’s cooking is that when she cooks for me and my dad, she gives it her all. She puts love in it, which is expensive at Publix these days — it’s the exclusive domain of moms, dads, and other loved ones who are doing their best so you don’t yell at them. Her brisket whisks me back to a simpler time, when the world was still new and we all shared a love for Bill Cosby. It’s also so good: there’s beer in there. Also barbecue sauce. Even healthy junk, like carrots.

Our people eat, and most of my favorite childhood food memories are holiday-based. Now that I’m living in Louisville, Kentucky, it’s harder for me to get good hamantaschen, latkes, or matzo brei. My parents are at their most authentically Jewish when it’s time to prepare food for the holidays, by which I mean we eat even better (“more” means “better,” right?) than ever. And because I live away from their home, it also means extra packages delivered to me.

INGREDIENTS
+ vegetable oil
4–5 lbs first-cut beef brisket
1 clove garlic, crushed
+ salt and pepper to taste (about 2 t salt per pound of meat)
1 C barbecue sauce (or enough to cover the meat)
1 can beer (any cheap brand will be fine)
1 package dry onion soup (Lipton's, of course)
1 1/2 C carrot slices (not too thin)
1 1/2 C potato slices (not too thin)
Makes 6 to 10 servings

1) Heat the oven to 300°F. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan over medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer, and sear the meat on all sides until dark brown. Put the meat in 9 x 13-inch roasting pan.

2) In a large bowl, mix the garlic, salt, pepper, and the barbecue sauce. Add the beer, stir, and pour the mixture over the meat. Tuck the carrot and potato slices around the meat and pour the Lipton’s over everything.

3) Cover with foil and cook in the oven for about 3 hours, or until tender. Cool the brisket and then refrigerate after slicing the meat. Cook the brisket at least one day before you intend to serve it; two or three days is even better. Uncover the meat at least once to skim off all the surface fat. Make sure the meat is covered with liquid (more beer and/or barbecue sauce thinned with water can be used) and reheat in a microwave or in a slow oven before serving. Serve the liquid separately as a sauce.



Peter: When and where were you born? Where did you grow up?

Gloria: I was born in New York, and spent my first year in my grandparents’ apartment in the Bronx (the section later immortalized in Fort Apache, The Bronx), and then moved to 20th Street and First Avenue, in Manhattan. I was born in 1947 — one of the boomers born after my father returned from World War II. I lived there until I graduated from college.

Peter: What was your favorite food growing up?

Gloria: Anything Chinese. We often ate in restaurants in Chinatown where the menu was written in Chinese characters on the mirrors that lined the walls.

Peter: What’s your earliest childhood memory involving food?

Gloria: My earliest memories about food center on the fact that my mother was not a good cook and she disliked cooking. We ate in restaurants far more often than did most families in those years. I felt guilty rejoicing in the fact that my mother was an awful cook.

Peter: What’s the story behind this dish?

Gloria: Brisket is a staple of Jewish cuisine. Unfortunately, it can often be dry and rather flavorless. I found a version of this recipe in a cookbook published by a preschool as a fundraiser, and played with it until I was happy with the results. Everyone loves this version of brisket. I always make it for Passover and our friends even request it for Thanksgiving (yes, we have turkey, too). Brisket is a traditional dish, but this never would have been served for an Orthodox Passover seder. Beer is not kosher for Passover because it’s made from a grain.

Peter: Can you describe a typical family meal when you were growing up?

Gloria: A typical meal when I was growing up would have started with a fruit cup or grapefruit slices, very overcooked meat (my dad wouldn’t eat anything that was the slightest bit pink or bloody), canned vegetables (yuck!), and a starch. Dessert was usually Jell-O. My mother kept a kosher home so she had to follow the rules of kashrut.

Peter: What was your favorite thing that was cooked in your house?

Gloria: My favorite dish at home was matzo brei (literally: fried matzo). Sheets of matzo are soaked in water until soft, mixed with beaten raw eggs, and fried in butter. This dish is a traditional treat for Passover, but we ate it year-round. It was one of my mom’s only successes!

Peter: Who did the cooking?

Gloria: I do all the cooking. My husband is excellent at using the microwave, but he doesn’t cook from scratch unless I’m not able to cook. He kept us well fed after I had surgery, but he was happy to give it up once I recovered.

Peter: How did you learn to cook or bake?

Gloria: I learned to cook by reading cookbooks. I shared an apartment with a roommate in graduate school, and our deal was that she would clean if I cooked. My mom never taught me to cook (thank goodness!). She never liked cooking and she told me that I’d have to do it when I grew up so she wouldn’t make me do it before then.

Peter: Do you like cooking? What do you like about it?

Gloria: I do, given enough time. Now that I am newly retired, I’ve gone back to trying out new recipes and revisiting old favorites. I love to go grocery shopping (everyone should have Publix near their house), and I get great ideas from seeing new products and coming up with ways to use the foods that are on sale that week.

Peter: What do you have in common with your mom?

Gloria: My mom and I share a love of eating out! I love to try new restaurants and unusual items. I love living in Tampa, but we are not strong on good, independent restaurants. We do have every chain that has ever been invented and sometimes a burger at Ruby Tuesday is just fine.

Peter: What do we have in common?

Gloria: You and I share a love of good restaurants; you’re a more adventurous eater. Spicy is my least favorite word on a menu. We love to visit you and your wife, Robin, for many reasons, but the list of good restaurants in Louisville is high on our list.

Peter Berkowitz is a writer and editor who lives in Louisville, KY. Gloria Berkowitz is a retired reading specialist who lives in Tampa, Florida.

c. 2015 Lucky Peach