Deli – BZ Maestro Eats

Next Up for the Visiting Kentuckians: Jewish Deli

Rather than making this week all about cheesesteaks, my visitors from western Kentucky and I decided to diversify our dining itinerary. Next up – for lunch Wednesday – was Famous 4th Street Delicatessen, a century old Jewish-style deli in South Philadelphia that is probably the area’s best known and beloved purveyor of pastrami and cornedContinue reading “Next Up for the Visiting Kentuckians: Jewish Deli”

Awakening to the Chicken Cutlet

“Don’t sleep on their chicken cutlet.” That’s a suggestion that’s been made to me about a few places in and around Philadelphia when discussing cheesesteaks or roast pork sandwiches on Facebook. But sleep on it I have. Chicken cutlets are probably the third most popular long-roll sandwich to come out of South Philly among theContinue reading “Awakening to the Chicken Cutlet”

First Bite Leads to Unfortunate Surprise

For this week’s cheesesteak I visited a corner deli that has been on my radar for a while. Mi-Pals sits at 16th and Wolf Streets in South Philly and is better known for their hoagies, which often pop up on local best-of lists. But online photos I had seen of their steaks also appeared promising. Continue reading “First Bite Leads to Unfortunate Surprise”

Lil’ Nick’s Deli: Moving On to the Roast Pork Italiano

After two-plus weeks on a light diet I was extremely excited about eating something I could blog about Thursday. While I still wasn’t quite ready to dive into a cheesesteak, there is another sandwich with a large following in the Philly area on which I’ve been wanting to write, and this seemed like the perfectContinue reading “Lil’ Nick’s Deli: Moving On to the Roast Pork Italiano”

An Italian Hoagie with Staying Power

I’ve devoted a disproportionate amount of posts to sandwiches. While most of those have been about cheesesteaks, I’ve also written on corned beef, pastrami, meatball, roast pork and roast beef sandwiches. But with the exception of including a single shot of one I had eaten before starting this blog in a post on local mealsContinue reading “An Italian Hoagie with Staying Power”

Hymie’s Deli of Merion, PA

I neglected to include Hymie’s in the ode to corned beef on rye I wrote in October. It wasn’t an intended slight. They just don’t figure significantly in my personal history with the sandwich. While they are one of the better known Jewish style delis in the Philadelphia region, at least among locals, I neverContinue reading “Hymie’s Deli of Merion, PA”

Finally, Kosher Salami; and Another Cheesesteak

I can’t say whether the two are related in any way, but since around the time that Covid first hit the U.S., it’s been difficult to find kosher salami in supermarkets and other stores that used to stock it. I know this isn’t just a phenomenon of the Philadelphia area, where I live, because I’veContinue reading “Finally, Kosher Salami; and Another Cheesesteak”

My Lifelong Love Affair with Corned Beef on Rye

While I write frequently here about cheesesteaks – and yes, I do love them deeply – there is another sandwich for which I have had serious affection since an extremely early age. I refer to the Jewish delicatessen stand-by, corned beef on rye. It was my maternal grandmother, the late-great Mom-Mom Bess, who turned meContinue reading “My Lifelong Love Affair with Corned Beef on Rye”