OK, maybe quoting Deuteronomy is a little extreme. Maybe it was actually Bill Goldberg, co-owner of Goldbergs’ Famous Delicatessen, who chose the restaurant’s Factoria Mall location. Still, its opening gala on Monday, May 2, felt momentous. (It opened to the public on Tuesday) Though all we have to go on is one night of great food and a lot of enthusiasm on the part of Goldberg and his business partner, Steve Goldberg (no relation), there’s no good reason not to get excited. No deli this ambitious has ever been attempted here—and we include the late, lamented Matzo Mama’s. If we’re the Israelites in Egypt, yearning for the freedom of a full-scale East Coast delicatessen (via Detroit, home of Steve’s Stage & Co. deli chain), it’s tempting to think that the Goldbergs might just be our Moses. In any case, here’s a quick look at the Ten Commandments of Successful Delicatessens, and how closely Goldbergs’ is adhering to them so far.
Thou shalt procure excellent corned beef
At the heart of any great deli’s menu is corned beef: pickled in brine, then steamed or boiled. Just a few weeks ago, in a competition sponsored by The Detroit News, Kelly Corned Beef, the brand served at Steve’s Stage & Co. Restaurant and Delicatessen, beat out four other heavy hitters in the Detroit corned-beef biz. The judges’ comments included the following: “Excellent! Absolutely fresh, tender, and succulent. This is the best corned beef I’ve ever tried.” The Goldbergs are having it, along with other East Coast– and Detroit-made foods (pastrami, salami, and pickles among them), shipped here on a weekly basis.
Thou shalt have somewhere cool and cavernous to put all that meat
According to Bill, that shouldn’t be a problem. “We’ve built an on-site walk-in [and] an additional walk-in that’s in the mall in a special storage area,” he said. If you were skeptical about a deli located in a mall, that’ll teach ya.
Thou shalt choose a central location
“I looked for six months for a location for this place, and I didn’t rule anything out,” Bill told me. “What we were looking for was really a place that had accessibility, visibility, and parking.” An easy drive from downtown Seattle, South Lake Union, Mercer Island, and the Eastside, Goldbergs’ is located “right in the crook of I-90 and I-405.”
Thou shalt create a massive menu
Goldbergs’ menu, almost an exact replica of the Stage’s, is a leviathan. The appetizers list alone—18 items—would make a decent menu at a smaller deli; throw in a separate smoked-fish section and 17 salad choices, and you’re still on the first page. Goldbergs’ sandwich options go on for several pages more, to say nothing of the Jewish/Eastern European home cooking that awaits you on the entrée page. And then there’s breakfast. . . .
Thou shalt offer hard-to-find items
I nearly teared up when I found kishka and gravy on the menu. Described euphemistically as “an old-fashioned Jewish delicacy,” kishka is a dish of beef casings stuffed with seasoned matzo meal and chicken fat. It’s delicious, and Goldbergs’ might be the only place in town that serves it.
Other wonderful rarities: gefilte fish (you see jars of it on your supermarket’s “kosher” shelf, but homemade trumps them all), latkes (potato pancakes), pickled cow tongue, fried chicken livers, and the decidedly unkosher Swankee Frankee, a hot dog filled with cheese and wrapped in bacon. True deli food, a rich mishmash of tradition and populist innovation, is often a little odd. Goldbergs’ has the good sense to acknowledge this with an amazingly inclusive menu.
Thou shalt provide plentiful seating
Goldbergs’ seats around 200.
Thou shalt establish promising partnerships
When asked about the division of labor between him and his partner, Steve replied: “I’m gonna make the sandwiches, Bill’s gonna eat ’em.” But seriously, folks: Steve knows deli. His father opened the first Stage Deli in 1962; today, Steve oversees that restaurant, plus three “quick-serve locations.” Steve and Bill were childhood pals who went to college together, then parted ways after graduation. Although they stayed in touch, the idea for a Seattle deli simmered “for a good eight years,” Steve says, before they got serious about it.
Thou shalt serve sandwiches named after Broadway musicals
In accordance with the “stage” motif that rules Steve’s Detroit delis, Goldbergs’ offers such Great White Way tributes as A Chorus Line (sardines, lettuce, tomato, and onion), Bye Bye Birdie (turkey and pastrami with Russian dressing), and Phantom of the Opera (turkey, Muenster cheese, tomato, and honey mustard on challah).
Thou shalt think big
“We’re not at all limited to a Jewish clientele,” Steve Goldberg assured me. “Over the years, our clientele [in Detroit] has become less and less Jewish and more and more . . . everyone. I think that what people really crave are just authentic experiences.” If Jewish cuisine goes mainstream hereabouts, could stuffed cabbage become the new phad thai?
Thou shalt open with a bang
It was the Jewish cultural event of the season, though Goldbergs’ opening gala drew plenty of non-Jews, too. In a short speech, Bill said the deli’s high-tech kitchen resembles “the space shuttle,” yet what emerged from it was old-fashioned enough—and delicious enough—to make a 90-year-old Jewish grandmother weep with joy. Fat, crispy latkes, as good as any homemade I’ve ever tasted, circulated on trays, as did little sandwiches stacked with hot corned beef and petite slices of rye bread topped with cream cheese and the tenderest, most flavorful lox I’ve eaten in Seattle. When I was a kid in Detroit, eating at Stage & Co. meant salamis hanging above the deli case (Goldbergs’ has ’em), sandwiches as big as my little head (yep), and a noisy good time. From what I’ve heard and seen at Goldbergs’ so far, everything old is new again. Welcome to the Promised Land.
Goldbergs’ Famous Delicatessen, 3924 Factoria Blvd. S.E., 425-641-6622, BELLEVUE. 11 a.m.–10 p.m. daily for the first week, then 7 a.m.–10 p.m. daily.
