Cleveland Eats–Jewish Delis and Humongous Desserts

Deli counter at Corky & Lenny’s, manned by the nephew of one of the namesake restaurateurs

Last November I spent a long weekend in Cleveland with my grandmother, and although I’ve already written about most of the things I saw and ate (West Side Market, Corbo’s Bakery, Geraci’s), I still have a lot of pictures of other stuff, so you get another post.

I love Jewish deli food, so when my grandmother suggested lunch at Jack’s Deli and Restaurant for my first meal after arriving, I was all for it. I ordered what I always order at delis–egg salad and coleslaw–and my grandmother went straight for the sweets with cheese blintzes and a chocolate phosphate (the huge beverage you see above). In case you’re not from New York City or the 1950s, a chocolate phosphate is seltzer water with chocolate syrup, preferably Fox’s U-Bet brand. Everything was fine (except, in my opinion, for the phosphate, but then again, I hate seltzer), but nothing was really worth going into too much detail about.

On our way out, we grabbed a slice of this cheesecake to take home. Though this picture doesn’t show it, a slice was roughly the size of an entire cake from anywhere else. Seriously, it was huge.

To give you a sense of perspective, here’s that cheesecake next to a man’s head. A man who, by the way, took a lot of ribbing from his colleagues working the line behind him at being the subject of my photo. I don’t think they get a lot of food bloggers at Jack’s.

That’s my slice on a dinner plate–notice that it takes up most of it. This piece had been prepackaged with Styrofoam and plastic wrap, and then stored in a refrigerated case with a bunch of other to-go stuff, which might explain its slightly pickle-ish flavor. Did that keep me from eating most of it (with my grandmother’s help, and over the course of a few days; no way can you do this alone and in one sitting)? I’m embarrassed to admit that it didn’t. Other than the hint of brine, it was dense and cream-cheesy, with very little graham cracker crust for texture or balance. I especially liked the well-cooked layer on top.

To bookend my stay in Cleveland, we stopped at another deli, Corky & Lenny’s, on our drive to the airport. While Jack’s had felt more like a diner, Corky & Lenny’s seemed like the real deal, especially for old-school Jewish favorites. Just look at that smoked meat, smoked sable and whitefish in the photo above. “Beefies,” however, aren’t something I’m familiar with from trips to East Coast delis, so I’m guessing it’s a Midwestern thing. I’d Google it, but I’m a little afraid of what sorts of pornographic craziness that might pull up.

Now it was my turn for blintzes. Corky & Lenny’s offers you a number of options: an order of two or three, filled with cheese, cherry or blueberry, and with a side of either sour cream, blueberry sauce or–my choice–both sides for an extra charge. I also opted for the smaller order of cheese blintzes, and the tangy-sweet filling wrapped and fried in eggy crêpes was so good that I regretted not getting that third blintz for about a week afterward. Actually, I still kind of regret it.

The pastry cases at Corky & Lenny’s were also impressive, but once again I got something to go, because you can’t have what is basically a dessert for lunch and then have a giant cookie right after. Just like with eating and swimming, you need to wait at least half an hour. Corky & Lenny’s desserts ran the gamut from Jewish bakery favorites to local Cleveland specialties like coconut bars (squares of frosted cake covered in sweetened dried coconut, much like Australian lamingtons) and Russian tea cakes, which are shown below.

At first glance, you might think this is an extreme close-up of rugelach. However, these are much, much larger, like the size of an adult’s fist.

Once again, perspective: Russian tea cake is on the left, homemade rugelach on the right. But basically, they’re comprised of the same things: a sweet, rich pastry dough, nuts, raisins and either a chocolate or fruit-jammy filling. As for taste, they were all right, but I don’t think their prodigious size helps them any because they can be a bit on the doughy side. Then again, a weekend of eating my way through Cleveland had left me on the doughy side, so maybe that’s just one of the area’s extra-special qualities.