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You are here: Home / Featured / Eating Los Angeles (and Brooklyn and Vienna)

Eating Los Angeles (and Brooklyn and Vienna)

May 2, 2022 by Edie Jarolim 12 Comments

I am recently back from a quick restaurant-packed trip to Los Angeles, where I went to apply for my Austrian passport. I gravitated towards food I craved because I can’t get it in Tucson — before my Tucson readers complain, I am challenging you to dispute my statement that there is not a single Jewish-style deli in town, good or bad — and food that celebrated my new Austrian citizenship. There was definitely a lot of overlap between these categories.

These meals would have been excellent on their own, but they were particularly delicious because I was dining with my host and long-lost childhood friend Margo.

My Brooklyn childhood chum
Margo (left) and me, Brooklyn childhood chums. This is Lefferts Avenue, off Flatbush Avenue. For the first time, I noticed the man standing facing the brick wall in the back left. Is he doing what I think he is doing??

Deli delights

Almost as soon as I dropped off my bag at her place, Margo and I headed for Canter’s, which would not have been open if it were a kosher deli, because it was still Passover and you’re not supposed to eat bread on that holiday. In fact, religious Jews are not supposed to eat half the things on Canter’s menu year round, such as honey ham steak and eggs.

Never mind. The chopped liver came highly recommended, so I ordered the Bronx Special: pastrami and chopped liver served open face on rye with choice of cole slaw or potato salad. I got the cole slaw (wouldn’t want to overdo it, right), but Margo said the potato salad was excellent and ordered a side of it.

She was right. I was so enthralled by everything that I forgot to take the picture until there were leftovers.

Chopped liver and pastrami and a pickle
Chopped liver and pastrami and a pickle and potato salad, oh my!

I posted this picture on Facebook and was not shocked to learn that not everyone thinks chopped liver is delicious — or even palatable. I was not asking them to eat it.

Canter's deli delights
Deli is an inclusive term at Canter’s

I didn’t sample anything in the above deli case except the pickles but couldn’t resist taking a picture of a display that included both schmaltz (though spelled here with an “s”) and charoses, a dish usually restricted to Passover seders. Now I wish I had gotten some of the pickled tomatoes to go.

Note: The pastry case pictured next to the title of this post is also in Canter’s. I did not sample any of the hamentaschen (triangular pastry in the top row) but want it on the record that I disapprove of the ones in the center drizzled with chocolate.

Not-Actually-Austrian Food

Los Angeles may have an abundance of Jewish delis but the city is missing one type of cuisine, the kind I hoped to enjoy as a new citizen: Austrian. Never mind. I got recommendations for a German restaurant from a number of people in LA, one that had several crossover dishes in the schnitzel and spaetzle and cabbage family: Rasselbock.

Here is what I enjoyed:

Rasselbock dinner
Jagerschnitzel with spaetzle and red cabbage
The name of the beer is on the glass (which was way too small)

This dinner, which was delicious, came courtesy of my friend Lydia, who bought me a Rasselbock gift certificate to help me celebrate my Austrian citizenship.

Sweets That Are Bittersweet

I have said that there were no Austrian restaurants in Los Angeles. There is, however, Vienna Pastry, a bakery that  Margo and I hightailed it to directly after I got fingerprinted at the Austrian consulate.

A bit of background. In addition to butchers, there were several Viennese sweets purveyors on my family tree. My cousin Stephen Klein brought what became Barton’s chocolate over to the U.S. from Vienna; my cousin Curt Allina put the heads on PEZ candy dispensers in this country; and my great uncle Siegmund Kornmehl (yes, he has the same name as the butcher) owned the Cafe Viktoria in Vienna.

All this to say, I come by my sweet tooth honestly–or genetically. And while I’m wouldn’t turn down a sachertorte or apfelstrudel, the confection I really craved on this occasion was marzipan, which my mother loved.

At Vienna Pastry in LA
The pastry case at Vienna Pastry. The space on the bottom row of the case was left by the removal of my marzipan pastry.
My mother's favorite, marzipan
The green block in the pastry is pretty much solid marzipan. I’m not complaining, but I did have to pace myself lest I go into sugar shock.

Margo served me my marzipan on a Brooklyn plate, a reproduction of the kind that used to be given away at the movies on “dish night.” There’s a strong symbolism to the image, embodying my mother’s flight from Vienna to Brooklyn and my enjoyment of her favorite dessert after getting her stolen citizenship back.

It represents a bittersweet journey, marzipan notwithstanding.

 

Filed Under: Featured, Meat Tagged With: Austrian citizenship, deli, German food, marzipan

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rita Connelly says

    May 2, 2022 at 8:44 am

    Outstanding job! My mouth is watering.

    Reply
    • Edie Jarolim says

      May 2, 2022 at 8:46 am

      Thanks! I now want all those pastries with my coffee too!

      Reply
  2. Ruth A says

    May 2, 2022 at 4:21 pm

    Hold the chopped liver! I’ll take the pastry!

    Reply
    • Edie Jarolim says

      May 2, 2022 at 5:02 pm

      No chopped liver — et tu, Ruth? Okay, pastry it is!

      Reply
    • Elaine Schmerling says

      May 2, 2022 at 9:00 pm

      Me too! Great article Edie!

      Reply
      • Edie Jarolim says

        May 7, 2022 at 10:06 am

        Ha! Okay, so not everyone who’s Jewish loves liver! Thanks, Elaine.

        Reply
  3. Marita Adair says

    May 7, 2022 at 6:49 am

    A delightful and well-written story Edie. I learned a lot. Especially that I know so little about Viennese food.

    Reply
    • Edie Jarolim says

      May 7, 2022 at 10:08 am

      Thanks, Marty! Arguably, Viennese cuisine is not particularly distinguishable from German, sachertorte and apfelstrudels aside. Austria has some good wines, but none were served at the restaurant I visited.

      Reply
      • Andreas Oberndorfer says

        August 30, 2022 at 7:20 am

        Sorry, but wrong! Viennese cuisine is totally different from the German one, except the things the germans have learned from us. There are things in common, of course, like the Burger-like Fleischlaberl (Fleischpflanzerl in Bavaria), but in general Germany hardly has a notable cuisine tradition (they have excellent modern restaurants) aside of their interesting sausages. I’ll show you when we meet. – The Jägerschnitzel you had is an absolute mortal sin. You never, NEVER, serve crumbed meat with a sauce!!! NEVER EVER! (Sorry for the emotions, but this was too hard to take.) Kisses, Andreas

        Reply
        • Andreas Oberndorfer says

          August 30, 2022 at 7:23 am

          btw: Have You tried Sago for a Schnitzel? Wolfgang Puck is Austrian.

          Reply
          • Edie Jarolim says

            August 30, 2022 at 8:10 am

            Yes, I know Wolfgang Puck is Austrian, and I searched the menus of all his restaurants in the Los Angeles but they did not have any food related to Austrian cuisine (Spago never did have Austrian cuisine; it was famous for its founding role in New Californian cuisine so he did not look to the old country). One of his restaurants at the Hotel Bel Air once had Wiener Schnitzel on the menu but it was taken off.

            Reply
        • Edie Jarolim says

          August 30, 2022 at 8:20 am

          I defer to your expertise in German versus Austrian food — of course! And I look forward to someday dining with you to discuss the differences. Do you know that I am now writing regularly for a food blog, TucsonFoodie.com? It’s very nice to have a chance to be free to explore my favorite topics. Here’s a recent one I like, a personal experience plus you can learn about the history of pizza in the US: https://tucsonfoodie.com/2022/08/08/my-life-in-pizza/

          Reply

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