New York City was once the Jewish deli capital of the universe, with an estimated 2,000 delicatessens in the 1930s. Throw a rock in the air and you'll hit a pastrami sandwich and a bowl of matzo ball soup. Today, less than a few dozen restaurants remain.
The disappearance of the Jewish deli is a familiar story, a once-ubiquitous genre lost to newer, more vogue restaurants. (How many pork belly baos and Korean-Mexican taco joints were there half a century ago?) For Proof contributor Rebecca Rosman, it's an especially personal story.
In the season nine premiere of Proof, the flagship podcast from America's Test Kitchen, Rosman looks at the past, present, and future of the Jewish deli through the lens of her hometown Chicago. We'll take you on a delicious tour of Max & Benny's, Kaufman's, Manny's in the Windy City. And we see how a new generation of chefs are tackling Jewish delicatessen classics.
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