National Charcuterie Month in August

As Houstonians prepare for Houston Restaurant Weeks in August, another food-focused event is happening August 1-31, not only in the city, but across the United States and even in Toronto, Canada. The 9th annual Charcuterie Month, founded in 2016 by Houston’s own caterer David “Ziggy” Gruber, is a collaboration between Gruber and Jay Parker, owner of the now-closed Ben’s Best Deli in Rego Park, New York.

The deli is an American institution, its history dating back to the mid-1800s, when German immigrants opened food stores similar to the deli from their home countries. Through these shops, Americans were introduced to frankfurters, sausages, and charcuterie. Eventually, Jewish immigrants began opening delicatessens in New York City in the 1880s, providing traditional Jewish foods to the community and specialty ingredients for festive and religious gatherings.

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Ziggy Gruber delivers his cuisine to attendees of the charcuterie exhibit at the Houston Holocaust Museum.

Photography by Lorretta Ruggiero

In the 21st century, these pillars of largely urban neighborhoods have fallen victim to chain grocery stores and the changing American way of life. bubble queueing up for ingredients and the day’s gossip. Locals no longer gather for coffee and chat. In 2015, the documentary The Delicatessen Mantells the story of the delicatessen and its fragile existence in today’s society.

Gruber was the film’s unlikely star, as he had been a vocal advocate for Jewish delis for years. The documentary profiled delis across the country, including Gruber’s Houston institution, Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen and Restaurant. The Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef was born into the deli business. His grandfather, Max Gruber, founded The Rialto in New York in 1927 with his brothers-in-law.

Although Gruber’s career took him to Michelin-starred establishments, his true passion was continuing the legacy of Jewish deli. After taking over his family’s deli in New York and then opening his own in Hollywood, he eventually landed in Houston, where he opened Kenny & Ziggy’s with Kenny Friedman in 1999.

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A hearty Romanian steak is one of the options for Charcuterie Month.

Photo by Debora Smail

It was the documentary’s release in 2016 that prompted Gruber to launch National Charcuterie Month to encourage people to return to delicatessens. “But this was years before that, right when I was back in New York after training to be a professional chef in London. I was in my dad’s delicatessen. I looked around the room and it was all 60- and 70-year-olds,” he said in an email.

He added: “Unfortunately, many of the delis that I worked with to launch National Charcuterie Month are no longer around. It’s a tough industry and communities have changed… We’re not making miracles overnight, but we’re making progress. And a lot of the deli customers that have signed up are young, some are third or fourth generation. That gives me a lot of hope.”

In May 2023, the Holocaust Museum in Houston hosted an exhibit celebrating the deli’s contributions to American culture. Titled “I’ll Have What She’s Having: The Jewish Deli,” it featured much of Gruber’s deli memorabilia, including posters, menus, and matchbooks from famous delis in New York, Chicago, Miami, and even Canada, a country to which some Holocaust survivors fled after World War II, many of them children. The exhibit is currently on view at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

While Charcuterie Month is a national event with over 45 delis across the country and one in Canada participating, Kenny & Ziggy’s is the only Houston deli offering a special multi-course menu for the month of August. However, there are a few other Texas delis that are hosting Charcuterie Month, including Zeitman’s Grocery Store in Bryan and The Hayden in San Antonio.

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At K&Z, cheesecake is served in large slices.

Photography by Paula Murphy

Kenny & Ziggy’s National Charcuterie Month prix fixe menu is available August 1-31 for lunch and dinner. Cost is $45 per person. Tax, gratuity and beverages are not included. The first course (forschspice) offers a selection of starters of chopped liver, matzo ball soup, stuffed dishes kishka with sauce or a knish of choice. There are six entrees to choose from, including a brisket dinner, slow-roasted spring chicken, a 16-ounce prime Romanian steak, Hungarian goulash, glazed wild salmon and a wild mushroom steak Kiev. pepperedThere are also a variety of sides.

Dessert offers a choice of plain, blueberry or strawberry cheesecake, 7-layer cake or assorted rugelach.

The restaurant will donate 10 percent of the price of each meal sold to the Houston Holocaust Museum. In addition to the special menu, Kenny & Ziggy’s will host a private luncheon for area Holocaust survivors on August 7. Gruber will serve traditional Jewish dishes that are not as common on menus as they once were. Sadly, the number of survivors is dwindling over time, but the luncheon is expected to accommodate 20 to 30 people, many of whom were young children when the Holocaust tore apart families and uprooted others.

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Holocaust survivors Bill Orlin and Ruth Steinfeld pose with Gruber at last year’s exhibit.

Photography by Lorretta Ruggiero

Gruber is excited to be able to provide a traditional Jewish meal to Holocaust survivors: “It’s so amazing, after everything they all went through during the Holocaust, to find them among the kindest, most cheerful, compassionate people you could ever meet.”

He added: “The Holocaust Museum is a natural partner for us. Not only is it a lot of fun to work with the people who work there, but the concept is to preserve Jewish stories, culture and traditions that, in another way, are exactly what American Jewish grocery stores do… It’s a perfect blend, like Mish Mosh in soup.”