Eating Delancey: A Celebration of Jewish Food
(by Aaron Rezny and Jordan Schaps. (powerHouse Books, 232 pp. $35)
What made my heart stop when I was visually devouring the images of beloved Jewish foods in this beautifully photographed book was not the pistachio halvah, the toasted onion bialys or poppy seed and onion topped pletzels; crispy potato latkes; rich, dairy matzo brei; or even Ratner’s cheese blintzes or raisin and walnut filled rugelach—all of which I love, love, love. (Certainly not the p’tcha, Cel-Ray soda, gribenes or kasha varnishkes, which are not my favorites.) What made me gasp was the Charlotte Russe. Like Proust’s madeleine, the Charlotte Russe, which I used to buy in a small candy story across from my Bubbe’s stoop on Henry Street on the Lower East Side, brought back the most delightful memories. While cheese cake, fricassee, chicken soup and the many other wonderful dishes in Eating Delancey can be replicated, it is rarer to find the Charlotte Russe, that delicate delight of sponge cake and jam held together in around, open-bottomed paper cup, topped with a mound of sweet whipped cream and a maraschino cherry.
Eating Delancey is filled with historical as well as mouthwatering images, memories and recipes. Maybe you will find in it the dish that touches your gastronomic heart. Joan Rivers wrote the introduction and Fyvush Finkel, Jackie Mason, Milton Glaser, Paul Goldberger and Robert Klein are among the many contributors to this wonderful volume. Yum.
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