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Sunday, April 6, 2014

The Carnegie Deli

April 1, New York, NY -- The Carnegie Deli, the landmark delicatessen the heart of midtown Manhattan has featured celebrity named sandwiches since it first opened in 1937.  The “Don Rickles” features pickles, salami, Romanian pastrami, chopped liver and a thick spread of hot mustard.  The “Woody Allen” features corned-beef, pastrami, coleslaw, mayonnaise and young chicken.  However, according to manager Anthony Shapiro, one sandwich has not caught on: “No matter what we do, very few customers order the “Hillel sandwich”.  Featuring multiple slices of raw horseradish atop a mound of pate made from nuts, apple sweet wine and other ingredients, all heaped on a dry matzah cracker, the sandwich just does not sell. According to Jessica Kurtz, who post on the kosheryummy.com website:  “fusion dining is absolutely au-courant, but having said that, the core ingredients of the dish must have one essential characteristic, they have to taste good.”

Given the value of the Hillel brand in the hospitality industry, much new thinking has gone into raising the appeal of the eponymous sandwich.  The Carnegie Deli Foundation brought in a team of chefs from the Poughkeepsie Culinary Institute who proposed creating an “Open Hillel Sandwich” where diners would be invited to add their own ingredients such as olives, capers and humus.  Hillel sandwich aficionados responded “sounds tasty, but when does it stop being a Hillel sandwich?”   A small group of concerned consumers responded by creating the “closed Hillel sandwich” with a second piece of matzah on top to prevent the addition of unauthorized ingredients.   A third group proposed a “safe Hillel sandwich” removing the unappealing slabs of horseradish, the nuts from the charoset for those who might have allergies and the wine to prevent inebriation.  Commented one Hillel sandwich traditionalist:  “Goodness, what’s a Hillel sandwich without the alcohol and nuts?”


Culinary experts remain hard at work seeking a Hillel sandwich that will have broader appeal while retaining essential ingredients.  

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