Kaufmans
On sunday, post-Pita Inn and pre-wedding, we visited Kaufman's deli. I have vague recollections of Kaufman's on Kedzie, but I never remember visiting this location.
This place looks, feels and smells like a deli even if the latina servers do not fit the profile. We started on the bread side and were dazzled by the choices. Which one: onion speckled pumpernickle, corn rye, kaiser rolls, bagels, rummelach, studel!? Well, we did the VI thing, and got them all. Actually nothing sweet, which I soon rued. Then on to the meats.
LeeK mentioned a while back that the place was kosher, I am not sure as I think I saw cream cheese, still I could be wrong, ask your rabbi. What I also saw was some bloody good looking roast beef (no british inflection implied!). We also purchased corn beef and pickles from the pseudo-barral. Some of the smoke fishes looked inviting, but I wonder why they have no hand sliced cuts.
In the intervening days, I've sampled everything we purchased (except the pickled tomato which Ms. VI got to first). Maybe because I had some really lousy deli last friday, I was especially happy with this stuff. The breads could have used a bit more crust but tasted special enough. The bagels, well, I suppose if this was the beer world cup and we had a catagory for Chicago-style bready bagels, these would be gold medal worthy. On the other hand, if I was comparing to "real" bagels, I would find them a bit light. Good yeasty flavor nonetheless.
If Kaufman's was closer, I'd stop by more often. I really need to try that strudel. It beats Onion Roll.
VI
Kaufmans Bagel and Deli
4905 Dempster, Skokie
(847) 677-9880
Everyday 7am-8pm
Vital Information
Jun 18, 2002 01:29PM
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I have been going there for years. I think it was sold to Latins a bit ago. At first they had little clue as to Jewish food. I was there last Sunday and some of the old counter crew was there. I think the Mex folks hired some Jews to front the counter.
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I haven't been there in a while. Drove down Skokie Blvd. last week and thought about it. But I have gotten get all kinds of yummy things there when I lived closer - smoked fish, lox and bagels, pickels (from the barrel), noodle kugel, great chive cream cheese, potato latkes, can't remember what else...They have had some Mexican guys at the counter for many years - nice guys who know Jewish food well.
I hope it's still as good as it was. Has been really good for many years. Yum.
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Ah Kaufman's! I used to live on Albany near Montrose - that big gold domed Catholic church was practially in my backyard. What better place for a deli than next to a Catholic church? Kaufmans used to deliver bread to area restaurants. Mornings there were large brown bags full of bread lined up on the sidewalk several deep, waiting for delivery. The deli next door had everything a deli should - years later I met the guy who used to own that deli and who was known locally as the deli comic - he used to do a stand up act dressed in his apron and white shirt. Them was the days. When Kaufman's closed that location it was a sad sad day. Whence bagels?
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When was it in the Albany Park location? I had never been to that one.
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Kaufman's has the best smoked whitefish I've found in Chicago. They get it in late Thursday, I think. They won't have it after the weekend. It's from Canada. You can get a half or a whole, priced accordingly.
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Yes I too like Kaufmans, fortunately the current job I'm on takes me right past Kaufman's twice per day.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned their chopped chicken liver (incredible).
IMO the hot corned beef is much better than the pastrami.
The downside (a big one for me) are the very small sandwich sizes for the price charged.
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I don't find their chopped liver all that great. Not enough gribenes. Texture is wrong, too, at least for me.
I find their sandwiches frustrating not because they are too small, but rather too much meat per bread. I'm not a huge fan of the "mound", especially if the bread is smaller.
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The texture is very smooth, not the chunky kind, but I love the flavor (but then again, I don't think I've ever had bad chicken liver).
What is gribenes?
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>What is gribenes?<
They're crispy bits of fried chicken skin that are left after rendering chicken fat (shmaltz). We would eat them like popcorn after my grandmother was finished making shmaltz.
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Pardon my ignorance Annieb, but are gribenes a regular consituent of chopped liver? I've made regular old French chicken liver pate (recipe from Mastering the Art -- no gribenes there), and it's hard for me to imagine cracklings in what has always seemed to me to be an inherently smooth and creamily textured dish.
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David,
Jewish style chopped liver is not French Pate, they both use chicken liver, though I have eaten Jewish style made with calf's, and similar ingredients, but they are really quite different. The Jewish style has a strong assertive flavor from caramelized onions, schmaltz (rendered chicken fat), enough black pepper to make an elephant sneeze and a coarse texture including hard boiled eggs and, in the best of the best homemade your grandmother loves you style, gribbenes. French pate has a smooth texture, verging on creamy, with deep rich flavors, but nothing to really jump out and slap you in the face.
Jewish style chopped chicken liver is quite delicious, French pate is wonderful as well, but it is a lucky man who is eating chopped chicken liver with schmaltz and gribbenis.
An interesting chopped liver tutorial can be seen on the PBS web site. PBS has much of Julia Childs Master Chef series on streaming video and, in a segment with Lauren Groveman, they make chopped liver. I have made this recipe a number of times and though it does not use gribbenes I have added it to the recipe with excellent results. I will try to put a pointer directly to the video segment, but if that does not work, go to http://www.pbs.org/juliachild Prime Video Cuts/Lauren Groveman/Bagel spreads.
[Slightly off topic
]My great grandfather came from a small town 90 miles from Minsk, this town was so small that the butcher was also the Mohel. Whenever there were an unusual number of male births the butcher had gribbenes on sale.
Moral of the story, never buy gribbenis from a Mohel.
Enjoy,
Gary
Link: http://pbs-juliachild.virage.com/cgi-...
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Hey Gary,
Thanks for the detailed response. I didn't mean to imply that French and Jewish versions of the dish were the same, and I have had both (though I've made only the French version). Both are, as you note in your excellent descriptions, creamy, and it was hard for me to imagine something crunchy in there -- but the more I think about it, the better it sounds.
On those occassions when I have had chopped liver, though, I'm sorry to say that there was nothing like a gribene in it. Maybe I shop at the wrong delis.
I enjoyed your mohel story, which has the ring of folk tale, and also brings up the topic of cannibalism, which I feel has been insufficiently addressed on this board.
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Gribenes are eaten as you would pork rinds, only these are chicken skin.
The way they made chopped liver in my uncles deli was saute onion, boil liver and eggs combine all ingrediants in food grinder add more oil if needed. My kids liked their chopped liver with more eggs then usual and of course with ketchup.
Paulette
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David wrote:
[snip]
"I'm sorry to say that there was nothing like a gribene in it. "
David,
This made me smile, there is no such thing as a gribene, in fact, there's no singular in Jewish cooking whatsoever. I can just see my grandmother saying, "here boychick, have another gribene, you are looking a bit peaked.
Actually, what she might say, after feeding me a pound of chopped liver with caramelized onions and gribbenes, two soup chickens with matzo balls, veal breast, kugel and a brisket would be........"No, that's all right honey, don't bother with the light bulb, I'll just sit in the dark. No need to go to all that trouble just for me"
Enjoy,
Gary
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Hey Gary,
Sorry, I let my ignorance show a little too brightly. But tell me, how can it be that "there's no singular in Jewish cooking whatsoever"? Bourekasim? Challot? Matzo balls? (Kidding about that last one)
At any rate, gribenes sound like something(s) I'd like.
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David,
I meant on a practical basis, or should I say impractical basis. [Smile]
Actually, in addition to tongue being planted firmly in cheek, I was also thinking of grits. Specifically the movie where Joe Pesci asks for a grit (My Cousin Vinny). Not that my grandmother would know what a grit is.......well you get the idea.
Enjoy,
Gary
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As a Jew conceived in Raleigh, NC and born in Lynchburg, VA, I can tell you that there's lots of Jews who know from grits. :) :)
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Yuck! I have relatives from near Minsk, too, and I hope they didn't buy any gribenes from that butcher/mohel! I had never even heard of gribenes before this, but I'm a vegetarian...
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