Brisket Dinner Article from the Chicago Tribune, April 7th, 2024

 

Fully back from COVID, Jewish deli offering all-you-can-eat brisket night in alternative to Passover Seder

(Almah Rusovich/Chicago Tribune)

April 7th, 2023

 “I never understood having a Passover Seder where you don’t eat for hours and hours. If all people want to do is eat, why not let them eat?” asks David Kategor. When it comes to letting people eat, Kategor should know: his family deli in Chicago’s Peterson Park has been in business for nearly 72 years.  Named for Kategor’s great-grandmother Rochel, “Bubbie’s Deli” has been the family for four generations, lasting through three moves as well as two serious fires. The pictures of hundreds of famous customers cover the walls of the brightly lit space, and a row of long salamis hang over the prep area.

 

"Bubbies’ Deli,"  on Peterson Avenue in Chicago.  Picture: Atar Ploni, Chicago Tribune

“Your parents tell you not to eat anything before you go so you don’t spoil your appetite. Then you get to the Seder, eat a spring of parsley and then starve for another three hours while everyone says the exact same thing as last year.  That’s not a Jewish holiday, that’s cruelty.” This is the problem that Kategor had in mind seven years ago, when he took over running the deli from his uncle Saul. “The only question people really asked at the Seder in my family is ‘When do we eat?’ And I thought, why make bother with this pain-in-the-tush thing each and every year?  Why not just have an annual Brisket night and let people come and just eat like they want?  So that’s what we do, both nights of Passover, we offer an  all-you-can-eat Brisket dinner night. And we offer it on one Sunday night as well, since it’s not always convenient for everyone to get together on the days when the holiday falls out.”    

 

The Brisket meal also comes with matzo-ball soup, roasted veggies and a bowl of traditional apple-cinnamon charoset dip for the table, not to mention a choice of Gefilte Fish or Sweet Lokshen Kugel appetizer, just $60 a plate (kids 15 and under are free with thier family). It should come as no surprise that customers are eating it up. “We’re a traditional kosher-style deli. We offer all the foods that make Passover important:  brisket, chicken soup, gefilte fish; all made from scratch, in house. The recipes go back to the little Jewish towns in Romania and Hungary that Hitler wiped from the map.”  Matzo is available by request, Kategor notes, “but most families don’t usually want the stuff. We stopped putting it out at with the dinners because it went to waste most of the time. To be honest,  most of the time people ask for challah bread.”

 

"Bubbies’ Deli,"  on Peterson Avenue in Chicago.  Picture: Atar Ploni, Chicago Tribune

For the seventh year (2020 and 2021 were cancelled because of COVID-19), Jewish and non-Jewish families have flocked to the Peterson Park restaurant for the seder alternative. It’s glass façade is only a three minute drive from Peterson exit of the Edens expressway that connects the city to the northern suburbs.  Grandmother Estelle “Epi” Korus proudly brought her whole family, who are her “biggest joy”, to Kategor’s deli from Deerfield despite the 65 minute trip.  “I know that for Jews getting family together is a good enough reason for a holiday,” noted Estelle. “And nobody wants to eat matza or bitter herbs.  So if it’s a holiday, and holidays are supposed to be joyous, we should eat what we like to eat, not what we don’t.”  When asked about changing the ancient traditions of Passover, Estelle smiled. “There are so many Jewish traditions. Why worry about changing just one? Especially if it gets me out of the kitchen!”   

It’s not just older customers who are happy to move past the traditions. “Religion is something that just drives people apart, especially Jews,” noted Stevenson high school sophomore Alison Koferet-Gantz, who came with fourteen family members for the second time.  “Food is what really brings us together.”  When asked if anyone missed someone asking the traditional Four Questions or other songs, she shrugged. “We always skipped a lot of the Seder anyway.”

 

Some customers are so happy with the event that they make reservations for Passover 2024 on the way out. “My whole family had a great time. The brisket just kept coming,  the matzo balls were huge,  and even better there were no readings about rabbis , no boring questions, and no matzo making a mess everywhere,”  said  Dr.  Stanley Mumarson.   “My wife was not stuck in the kitchen for three days.  It’s so much easier to have the food made for us. Our family is done with Seders forever.  And we’re not the only ones who feel that way.  Next year? Right back here.”