As a kid from Long Island, I’ve long regarded the Jewish deli as a secular synagogue. Which may be why I’m particularly excited that my business, The Gefilteria, a Brooklyn-based Jewish food venture, is teaming up with Mamaleh’s (recently named the best deli in Boston) and the Shabbat mavens at OneTable to put together a highly unique and meaningful Shabbat deli experience. I’m also pleased that the newly launched Jewish camp for adults, Trybal Gatherings, has joined on as a sponsor as well.
I first visited Mamaleh’s last summer with my business partner, Jeffrey Yoskowitz, just two weeks into the restaurant’s opening. As owners of a company named the Gefilteria, we’re natural deli devotees, and we were so excited about Boston’s first real entry into the present-day Jewish food renaissance. In the year leading up to our first visit to Mamaleh’s, Jeffrey and I had been testing recipes for our narrative cookbook, “The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods,” and Mamaleh’s did not disappoint. There was a clever cocktail menu right down to the homemade pickles. We immediately struck up a friendship with the chefs and owners and planned to collaborate in the future.
When “The Gefilte Manifesto” was published, Mamaleh’s hosted a book party in our honor, complete with smoked whitefish rangoon and delicate slices of our very own gefilte fish on offer. But we were still awaiting an opportunity to really get into the kitchen together to put together a collective spin on classic Jewish fare. And now, a full year into the restaurant’s opening, we are finally teaming up, in no small part because of the support and vision of OneTable. OneTable helps out-of-college people in their 20s and 30s find, enjoy and share Shabbat dinners to make the most of their Friday night and enjoy the best of life together. “I’ve been…lucky enough to work with awesome people in Boston to help elevate their Shabbat dinners over the last few months,” said Sara Fatell, OneTable’s national community manager, in a recent conversation about the event. “So I’m thrilled that we could be a part of bringing such an exciting culinary collaboration to Boston for Shabbat.” As with any Gefilteria pop-up, guests will experience the meal from multiple angles. First, of course, will be the smoky, sour, spicy flavors of the classic Jewish deli, with some lighter seasonal dishes on the menu to celebrate the bounty of summer (think: pickle gazpacho). Dishes have stories to tell and the deli is the ultimate stage, so we’ll share relevant tales about certain dishes and the long journeys they took to get to the present-day Kendall Square eatery. And finally, as dishes are served family style, Trybal Gatherings will lead us in a few camp activities to get the conversation flowing. This Friday, I look forward to getting back to my deli roots, Mamaleh’s-style, with my newly formed Jewish food community around me. Liz Alpern is co-founder of the Brooklyn-based Gefilteria and co-author of “The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods.”
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