Tag: ZINGERMAN’S DELI

Everyone asks us this question. The short answer is, we made it up. The long answer goes like this:

When we first started talking about opening the business back in fall of ’81 we wanted a name that would convey the sense of a good local deli something that would sound “Jewish,” and offer anyone who heard it the sense that this was a real delicatessen. In theory I suppose that, since we’re both Jewish, we might have opted to use either my last name or Paul’s. But, unfortunately neither of our last names were of any value in this area. Mine is unpronounceable—not a great way to go into business. Paul’s last name is Saginaw, an anglicized version of “Sagin Or,” which is Hebrew for “seer of light.” In Michigan “Saginaw” is anything but “Jewish.” Instead, the name is immediately associated with either the city of the same name, a mid-sized industrial town north of Detroit, or the Indian tribe after which the city was named. Nobody hears Saginaw and thinks “corned beef sandwich.”

Instead, we decided to name the Deli after Hannah Greenberg, a regular at the fish market. As Paul describes her, she was an elderly Jewish woman, no more than four foot ten inches tall and about 95 pounds, with an assortment of pink curlers seemingly permanently attached to her head. She used to stop by the market every Saturday to pick up some smoked chubs. Each week, almost like clockwork, she’d complain about how bad the chubs had been the previous week with lines like, “Oy, you almost killed me with all the bone… Give me two more.”  

Getting ready to open, we had a neon Greenberg’s sign—green of course—made up for the front window.  We designed our first print ad to run in the local paper announcing the impending opening of Greenberg’s Delicatessen. And then about ten days before we were due to open —which would put us in the first week of March 1982—the phone rang.

I answered politely, “Good afternoon, Greenberg’s, can I help you?”

A sort of rude, pushy-sounding guy on the other end demanded, “Let me talk to Mr. Greenberg.”

“There is no Mr. Greenberg,” I answered honestly.

Not put off in the least, he pushed ahead: “Well where’d ya get the name then?”
“Do you like it?” I asked all too innocently.

“Yeah I like it,” he shot back. “It’s mine and you can’t use it.”

I distinctly remember getting one of those sort of really sick, sinking feelings.  

Turns out Mr. Greenberg had registered the name “Greenberg’s Delicatessen” with the state office up in Lansing a few weeks before we’d decided to use it. He was planning to open in the Detroit suburbs sometime in the spring. We pleaded, reasoned, and begged him to let us use it. After all, we weren’t going to open any other stores—just the one in Ann Arbor a good thirty miles from where he was. We were nice guys, we assured him. And we certainly wouldn’t give him any grief. But he was adamant. He was on his way to national fame and franchising. Greenberg’s was his name and there was no way in hell he was gonna let us use it.

Frustrated and, probably a little flipped out, we retreated to Paul’s house to figure out what to do. We’d already run the Greenberg’s ad in the paper. We already had the neon sign for the window. And now, a week before we were supposed to open, we were suddenly nameless. We sat on the floor of Paul’s living room, drank a couple of beers and tested out hundreds of different names. After a few hours, we still didn’t have one but we had at least decided that we wanted to go with a name that either began with an “A” or a “Z” so that the store would be easy to find in alphabetical lists and in the Yellow Pages. Finally, we opted for Zingerman’s. It sounded Jewish enough. And, as everyone now says with a chuckle, it had “zing.”

One thing we still weren’t sure about was whether we should spell it the European way, with two “n’s” or with one. Paul called his grandfather to ask his opinion. Didn’t take him but a second to decide: “with one ‘n’, of course, so it’ll be easier for them to write the checks.” Paul’s grandfather was a very wise man.

The story culminated in sandwich #1—Who’s Greenberg Anyways; your choice of corned beef or pastrami along with homemade chopped liver, Russian dressing, and lettuce on double baked Jewish rye from the Bakehouse. All these years later, it’s still my favorite sandwich.  

Another Wonderful Greenberg

Hannah Greenberg, it turns out, was not the only great Greenberg. Although we didn’t know him at the time, Hugh Greenberg would have been worthy of the same name as well. Hugh passed away in October of 2013—I’m pretty sure I must have met him on one of his many visits to the Deli but I know about him directly now only because of the wonderful words shared by his friends and family. Hugh clearly was a very positive figure in the community, a caring entrepreneur and a nice guy. He was one of the leaders of the Jewish community in Detroit, founder of three different successful businesses. One writer referred to him as “a giant of a leader.” Another said, “he was a giant in his service to goodness.” Next time you order a Who’s Greenberg Anyways, maybe hold half of the sandwich up and raise a “toast” to Hugh’s generous soul.

I’ve long thought that I have the best food job in the world. I work with amazing people, in a diverse college town in Michigan, and I get to bike to work more often than not. Another reasons I feel this way is the quality of ingredients that I get to taste and work with day in and day out. Here’s why I do the majority of my shopping where I work—at Zingerman’s Deli—and why I think you should as well.

Free tastes—you really can taste the difference
Everything we have at the Deli’s retail section is available to taste before you buy it. We want you to be sure it’s exactly what you are looking for, and that you like it. And yes, we let you taste everything—not just what we have featured. This includes every olive oil, vinegar, smoked salmon, etc.

We focus on sourcing and selling full-flavored traditionally made foods.  We are committed to only selling you foods that taste great. There’s lots of pretty packaged products out there that seems like it will be amazing when you read the label, but most of us have had the experience of bringing something home and finding out it wasn’t as good as it looked. Great tasting food costs more, and we want you to be sure it’s what you want before you buy.

Our staff love food and give great service 
We work with an amazing group of people who love food, love to cook, and who know how to professionally handle and care for the food we sell. They taste the products we offer all the time and can tell you when there is a new harvest of olive oil or a new batch of your favorite cheese on the counter. They can also tell you how it’s different from the last time you had it and make recommendations for ingredients and flavor combinations. Don’t like the first thing you try? We’ll happily help you taste several different items to find the one that works best for your needs.

We have long term relationships with our producers 
We have personal relationships with the producers we work with. We visit them and see their processing facilities, and we know where their ingredients are grown and raised. We give them feedback about the products they sell, and we often work with them to source unique products that aren’t sold anywhere else in the world. We’ve been working with some of them for more than 35 years.

There’s been so much news lately about fake olive oil, and many other food “scandals”. The only way to really know where your food is coming from is to go to the source, meet the people doing the work, and shake their hands. We work with passionate and caring food professionals who are dedicated to creating great tasting food.

The better your base ingredients the easier it is to serve great tasting food
Whether you’re serving a simple meat and cheese tray as an afternoon snack during the big game, or preparing a special meal to impress your future in laws, starting with great tasting ingredients gives you a serious advantage when it comes to your success in the kitchen.

100% guarantee
No matter what the reason, if you aren’t happy with something you purchased at our store we will replace it or refund your money. We always appreciate feedback from our customers, so if something isn’t right, we really want to know!

 

The next time you’re heading out to buy groceries, swing by the Deli to taste through some options, or if you’re in a hurry, give one of our retail crew a call (734-663-3354) to place an order.  They love to make recommendations and you can stop in to pick it up, or have us run it out to your car with our curbside service. We also have a delivery option for the local Ann Arbor area, or we’ll partner with Zingerman’s mail order if you want it shipped farther away.

I look forward to seeing you at the Deli in the near future!

Twice a year homemade gefilte fish appears in the Deli case. I’m always happy to see it because it brings back big memories for me! I know I’m not alone—food critic Mimi Sheraton says it’s “part of the holy trinity of Jewish holiday eating: chicken soup, chopped liver, gefilte fish.” Having grown up regularly eating all three, I see her point. My grandmother made us the first two every Friday night for dinner. And gefilte fish was on the “menu” for every Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Passover. It’s hard for me to imagine a Jewish holiday without it!

Although gefilte fish has become a big part of Jewish holiday eating over the centuries, it isn’t actually a formal or required part of religious observance. It’s definitely not Biblically based. That said, there is an old Jewish saying: “Without fish, there is no Sabbath.” This was also true for all the big holidays, including Rosh Hashanah—fish of some sort was often part of any important celebration. Back in the 19th century, shtetl fish was bought live at the market (in fact, my great-grandfather was a fish seller in his hometown of Vawkavysk in Belarus).

The gefilte fish tradition is also based in the poverty of Eastern European Jewish society. Tradition dictated that everyone should have a piece of fish on the Sabbath or holidays, but many people couldn’t afford it. Gefilte fish made it possible to serve a small piece of fish to everyone in the family. Also, Jewish law prohibits any work on the Sabbath or High Holidays, and it was determined many centuries ago that pulling bones out of fish was considered “work.” That meant that any fish dish eaten on the Sabbath or High Holidays (like Rosh Hashanah) had to be boneless. Hence, gefilte fish—fish that was boned, ground, and poached to make for easy, work-free consumption.

While I know it gets a bad rap at times, gefilte fish is GOOD! It’s truly an appetizer that everyone could and should try. Made with fresh lake fish and spiced with sea salt and white pepper—the fish we use is ground in the Deli kitchen, then poached in homemade fish broth. Over the years, co-managing partner Rodger Bowser and the Deli kitchen crew have gotten really good at making this traditional Jewish specialty. Buy it by the piece and serve it with the fresh ground horseradish (be careful—it’s HOT!) that they’re making.

Check out the Deli’s entire Rosh Hashanah menu, which includes everything from saffroned chicken to potato kugel and much more! Happy New Year!

We like to keep it fresh at Zingerman’s Deli. Every year, we update the menu, adding new items and, yes, even saying goodbye to some items—we also like to freshen up the look to reflect the evolution of the work from our fantastic design staff. This year we have a few hellos and goodbyes we want you to know about along with some very exciting changes.

The New Stuff

We’ve added two delicious new sandwiches to the Deli menu, and we’re excited to say that both were created by some long-time Deli fans, including one who just happens to work here. The #79 Sparky’s Get Your Zing On is stacked with our corned beef, provolone, New Mexico green chiles, tomatoes, Ray’s yellow mustard and Russian dressing. We’ve also added one of our popular “Sandwiches of the Month”— #58 Ham Horn, peppered ham, peppered bacon, mayo, pimento cheese and Marcia’s Munchies Spicy Pickles on grilled Rustic Italian bread.

Deli Chef and co-owner Rodger Bowser is also very excited about the latest addition to our Monger’s Platters lineup: the new Fish Monger’s Platter. This seafaring delight features a chunk of smoked white fish and smoked salmon from Tracklements, plus a rotating selection from our tinned fish faves. It comes with lemon, capers and crusty bread.