gefilte fish - san diego?

[smile81]

I just moved here from skokie, IL and need help finding a good jewish deli/grocery. where can i get my weekly challah needs and the occassional holiday stuff fulfilled (hamantashen, gefilte fish, etc. )

[SRosie]

Forgot to mention - I used "The Place" last year when I hosted Passover in SD. very helpful, very sefardic - they made fun of me!

[SRosie]

DZ akins is not my favorite - but I grew up outside of NYC too.
I like Elijah's Restaurant Delicatessen Bakery Catering (La Jolla) for their Matzah Ball soup, haven't tried their Gefilte Fish yet.
Is Bread and Cie's Challah Kosher? I don't think it is... and at the Olive Tree market in OB, it's up to $7!!! Too much for this full-time student.

[oerdin]

D.Z. Akin's and City Deli are the two best Jewish delis in town.

[Josh]

Which really is a sad commentary on the state of Jewish deli in San Diego.

[oerdin]

Sure, we don't have a Jewish deli on the same level as Katz Deli in NYC but that is mainly because San Diego's Jewish population is tiny. There are several excellent Italian delis but the OP asked about Jewish delis.

[Josh]

Yeah, I understand what you're saying. As someone who grew up eating Jewish deli in a city with a large Jewish population, I wouldn't recommend any of our offerings to anyone. To me it's like suggesting El Torito to someone from Mexico in the absence of any other Mexican food. Our family simply did without Jewish deli, enjoying it when on trips to places with good offerings.

[stevewag23]

Yeah, I would say they are both better than Miltons.

But if they were located outside of San Diego, they would be RIP.

[sandiegofoodstuff]

Oh, dear. This is where we suffer in SD. No great Jewish delis. I agree with the recommendation to try Aaron's at the corner of Balboa and Convoy in Kearny Mesa. They'll have a full line up of stuff for Passover, which is, of course, coming up. Bread and Cie makes a good challah and you can find them not just at the Hillcrest store but in places like Ralphs in La Jolla or Hillcrest where Bread and Cie is sold. You might also try Bristol Farms on Nobel in the UTC area. D.Z. Akins will have hamantashen and other pastries. For bagels, avoid Einstein Bros. (they only bake them, they don't boil first) and seek out Bruegger's. They carry a decent biali as well. Also, Trader Joe's and Ralph's in La Jolla (probably other stores, but definitely these) carry kosher chickens and Ralph's has a decent-sized section of kosher foods as well as kosher meats. Good place to go locally for holiday products, like kosher wine, matzoh, farfel, etc. for Pesach.

[phee]

You might try The Place on El Cajon Blvd. I noticed they have a 'gefilte fish loaf' on their catering menu. If they don't have what you want, I know they could direct you to a place that would.

[lovesfood11]

The best challah in San Diego is without a doubt Charlie's Challah which is carried at jimbos. They also have a retail store in Pacific Beach which carries all of Charlies breads and baked goods and there stuff is more fresh than Jimbos.

[Captain Jack]

I'll second Charlie's Best Bread in Pacific Beach for challah. I picked up a loaf yesterday.

[geekyfoodie]

Just FYI... CBB has a stand at the Hillcrest farmer's market on Sunday 9a-1p, if that's closer than PB.

[The Old Man]

Good luck. There ain't no Sam & Hy's here (I guess there isn't one is Skokie either). But you can't even do as good (?) as Kaufmann's Bagel Deli. And while on the subject of bagels--forget about it.

BTW, DZ Akins just doesn't cut it.

[Josh]

Totally agreed on DZ Akins. That was the place held up as a good option for my family when we moved here from LA. Um, not so much.

However, the corn rye at Bread & Cie is 100% the real deal. A pity we don't have corned beef in this town worthy of it.

[geekyfoodie]

Thanks, Josh! I've read several of your posts mentioning the corn rye and finally braved the parking insanity of Bread&Cie's Hillcrest bakery and bought a loaf. It's excellent! Stupidly, I asked for it sliced and I really shouldn't have done that. They sliced it too thinly.

[sandiegofoodstuff]

I agree. I'm from LA and miss really good Jewish deli food. The real deal. Fromans (the old Encino Deli of my childhood), Art's, Langer's, Nate 'N Al's, even sad old Canter's. Plus, the Diamond Bakery on Fairfax, where I'd get my rye bread, challah and -- the best -- these onion cheese rolls made from challah dough that were divine toasted to sop up sunnyside up fried eggs. And chocolate chip Danish. Oh, those were the days ;)

If you can't make it to Bread & Cie for the rye bread, try the corn rye at Trader Joe's. It's surprisingly good.

[JRSD]

I thought I saw in one of the Linkery blog posts that they are selling corned beef at the North Park Meat Co. A sandwich of that corned beef on Bread & Cie corn rye would probably be very good. Not sure if that is a regular offering, though.

I have to add that I am practically holding my breath for my yearly trip to Katz's in 2 weeks, though.

[Josh]

Linkery's corned beef is great. I hadn't thought to buy any to make a sandwich like that, it'd probably be really expensive.

[geekyfoodie]

I tried the gelfite fish at DZ Akins... it was pretty bad. I haven't tried a lot, but this wasn't very appetizing. It had clearly been kept past its prime.

[kitchenhag]

Welcome to S.D. You might want to try DZ Akins deli. They have a decent jewish bakery...small grocery.... smoked fish. I buy a white fish there and make my own white fish salad. The place isn't Kosher though.

[Josh]

If you find one, let me know. ;-)

There are a couple of kosher delis, Aaron's in Clairemont (glatt kosher), and The Place on El Cajon Blvd. (glatt and dairy, across the street from each other).

For challah, I'd actually suggest Bread & Cie in Hillcrest. The owner is Jewish, and he makes the best challah and real New York-style rye bread I've found here.