The 2nd Ave Deli Cookbook: Recipes and Memories from Abe Lebewohl's Legendary Kitchen

The food at The 2nd Ave. Deli is what your grandmother, mother, or a friend's family cooked. (Especially if you are not Jewish but loved being well fed.) From its recipes for Schmalz (the rendered chicken fat indispensable to real, old-fashioned Jewish dishes) and what is arguably the best chopped liver in the world, to Health Salad (a mayonnaise-less, sweet coleslaw), potato kugel (a dense, crisp-crusted pudding), six versions of chicken soup, a Honey Chiffon Cake served for Jewish New Year, and Mandelbrot, an almond-studded Jewish biscotti, this cookbook offers the best of the hefty, soul-satisfying Jewish cooking that is the ultimate comfort food.

Having survived World War II, and, at 19, hungry to succeed, Abe Lebewohl arrived in New York City in 1950, a Jewish immigrant from Russia. His first job was working in a deli on Coney Island. In 1954, he took over the tiny luncheonette near New York's bustling Lower East Side, which he renamed the 2nd Ave. Deli. From that day forward, he looked after his customers (and everyone else he felt needed it) with spontaneous generosity. The stories in this book from his daughter and other people who knew Abe bring to life the passion and love he served along with the best authentic Jewish home cooking--making it clear why he was called the Mayor of Second Avenue. The deli, a magnet for tourists and New York City locals, is now also a memorial to Abe Lebewohl, who was killed in 1996 during a robbery after the restaurant had closed for the night. His daughter wrote this cookbook as a memorial to him, as well as to share the family's recipes for elemental Jewish cooking. Its 166 recipes, black-and-white photographs, and inspiring text make this a joyful celebration by his family and friends. --Dana Jacobi