TC Jewfolk: Mourning the loss of another local Jewish Deli
If you haven’t heard the news yet, Fishman’s Deli in Saint Louis Park says it’s shutting its doors in a month. Here are the Nine* Reasons Why I’m Devastated that Fishman’s Deli is Closing.
- Fishman’s delivers amazing challah, conveniently, to local Jewish day care programs such as the Gan at Adath and the Early Child Care Center at the JCC. What a great service to the community!
- Fishman’s is stock-full of Israeli products. Whether it’s Israeli chocolate (second only to the Swedes’) or Israeli feta for a salad, Fishman’s has enabled us to bring Israel into our homes.
- Fishman’s has THE BEST parve’ apple pie. With a dollop of soy ice cream, you can’t beat this.
- Fishman’s staff is incredibly friendly; I always find myself chatting it up with baker Jeff Sherman or one of the lovely women checking out my groceries.
- Fishman’s has a huge variety of fresh kosher meat that I can’t get other places (e.g. Cub or Target), such as Israeli “pargiot” meat (boneless chicken thighs) and kosher lamb chops (on order, these are much cheaper than when ordered from Byerly’s in St. Louis Park).
- Fishman’s has killer chicken pate’ and other deli delights. This morning my 18-month-old daughter asked me to put the pate’ on a piece of waffle (I did and she cried when I wouldn’t eat it), BUT on a whole-wheat cracker, that stuff is scrumptious.
- Fishman’s has great Jewish stuff: whether it’s those stickers for kosher dishes that say “dairy” or “meat,” or Jewish books/toys/games around Holiday time, this is a Jew’s one-stop-shop.
- Around Purim time last year I was having trouble figuring out exactly what to fill my Hamentashen with (dozens of cans of pie fillings at the Cub overwhelmed me), and Fishman’s simply filled up some deli containers with poppyseed and jam filling- – voila! However, I still need to figure out how to keep my hamentashen from falling apart…
- While they may have kosher food at big grocery stores (a convenience I do appreciate), the feeling of being in an intimate Jewish market, surrounded by other Jews who wish you “good shabbos” on a Friday afternoon is a rare luxury in Minnesota. And one I will miss.
- ………
*Nu? Just nine? What else are you going to miss when Fishman’s Deli closes?
This post was written by Nadia Maccabee-Ryaboy and originally published on TCJewfolk. Follow them on Twitter: @tcjewfolk.
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Comments (4)
A couple of things to note: Groupon.com discount holders and giftcard holders are SOL. If you want a refund on your Groupon purchase just contact their customer support. As for the gift card... Good luck. IANAL but I believe they might be responsible for those after all.
Full sour pickles. Fishman's was the last place in town I could find them. Anyone know of another source?
Two big losses are the end of another locally owned business and the end of another of the few Jewish venues -- aside from synagogues -- in the metro area.
I thank Stuart Fishman for providing, as Nadia says, a one-stop shop for Israeli and Jewish food, especially kosher products, years before the big guys got into the business. Perhaps because my father had a small business, I was particularly happy to see a local family making a living by providing a real service to the observant -- and even not-so-observant -- Jewish community. I liked knowing I could walk in and talk with the owner. I wish the Fishman family well after what I'm sure was a difficult and unhappy decision.
And as Nadia also suggested, it was very nice to have another place with people who organized their lives around the same calendar, the same agenda, by which you lived. Fishman's had become one of the few places in town where, when you walked in, you no longer were a minority.
Fishman's? I'm still mourn the loss of the Lincoln Del.