“Table Talk” With Jeremy Wayne: Heart-stopping comfort food at Liebman’s Kosher Deli in Ardsley

 

Stamp on a glass, break a leg, dance a hora:  The long-awaited Ardsley outpost of Liebman’s Kosher Deli, established more than 70 years ago in the Bronx where it is still going strong, has finally opened. Mazal Tov!  

 Due to launch several months ago, the new Liebman’s, the deli’s second branch, feels naturally at home in Ardsley’s cozy Addyman Square, a veritable food United Nations, where a Mexican taquería, an Irish pub, an Indian takeout restaurant and a pizzeria all stand within winking distance of each other.   

Liebman’s layout is a little awkward, with two long, parallel rooms, connected via only a narrow pass at the far end, which necessitates getting to the seated section through the deli and takeout counter. That turns out to be no bad thing, though, since passing the vivid displays of soups, salads, sides and slabs of meat – the linchpin of Liebman’s fabled sandwiches – all on vivid display, only serves to whet the appetite.  

 

Inside the restaurant, white subway tiles, black-and-white hex mosaic floors and plastic Formica-type tables create a retro look. The eclectic art is retro, too, with vintage ads and attractively-framed, often humorous prints from Israeli artist Amram Ebgi. Though still only weeks old, Liebman’s customers were already fraternizing and kibitzing as if the place were a social club, which in a sense it is. 

 (Some clarification here. While Liebman’s says its food is “kosher” at both its Bronx and Ardsley  locations, neither restaurant is under rabbinical supervision, which makes no conceivable difference to the average Joe, but would likely rule it out for an Orthodox one.) 

 Liebman’s laminated menu, is as cheerful and vast as that of a 1950s diner – an encyclopedia of Ashkenazi and Eastern European dishes supplemented by modern Israeli and Middle Eastern ones. House specialties include stuffed cabbage rolls, Hungarian goulash, stuffed peppers and beef tongue in a sweet and sour raisin gravy. You’ll also find knishes of every description; old-fashioned chicken soup with kreplach (ground meat-filled dumplings) or matzo balls the size of tennis balls; chopped liver; gefilte fish and more. Less traditional and more accessible options perhaps are omelets, tuna or egg salad, and smoked salmon and dairy-free cream cheese on bagels. For hard-core deli epicureans there is kishka, intestine stuffed with flour, matzo meal and chicken fat. On and on it goes. 

But Liebman’s glory must surely be its premium meats, which fill its sandwiches – pastrami, beef brisket, cured beef tongue, corned beef or turkey, to name but a few. And then there’s the sheer size of those sandwiches – the meat piled teeteringly high between slices of the softest, steam-baked rye bread (from the Rockland Bakery in Nanuet.). Sandwiches come served with complimentary pickles and coleslaw and, should you choose it, a side of Liebman’s “famous” hand-cut fries. Heart-healthy I think not, but take, er, heart in the fact that these oversize sandwiches easily serve two and arterial damage can be mitigated by ordering leaner meat, available at a small supplement. Still, it would be reassuring to think the host stand had a hotline to Mount Sinai.

 

Visiting the restaurant in its third week of opening, I threw sanity to the wind and ordered a combination sandwich after lashings of kreplach soup and a mountain of kasha varnishkes (a traditional Eastern European dish of bow-tie pasta with buckwheat groats, onions and chicken fat). That’s to say I ordered corned beef, beef brisket and tongue, topped with Russian dressing. Deep flavored, meltingly tender, evoking memories of my own childhood, it was sublime.  

“Everything OK sir?” asked Jodi, my ever-solicitous server, doubtless trained in CPR, as she passed the table. Absolutely, I told her, discreetly loosening my belt a couple of notches and ignoring my racing pulse as I took another jaw-widening bite of the utterly delicious triple-decker. Truly, I can’t get enough of this food. 

 Unlicensed at this point, Liebman’s expects to start serving wine and beer in the coming weeks – which reminds me of a joke.  

So, a Frenchman, a German and a Jew are waiting on line for a table at a fashionable restaurant. The wait is interminable. After a while, the Frenchman says, “I’m so thirsty, I must have a glass of wine.” The German says, “I’m so thirsty, I must have a beer.” And the Jewish guy says, “I’m so thirsty – I must have diabetes.” 

 

Enjoy. 

 

For more, visit liebmansdeli.com.