"How can you explain what matzo ball soup is without telling the story of the Jews' exodus from Egypt?"
The documentary "Deli Man" supports questions like this, showing how Jewish history and deli food go hand in hand. It's a breezy, minor doc, better suited for the Food Network than the silver screen.
The film is framed by a pretty cinematic subject though — jolly Houston deli owner Ziggy Gruber. A surrogate father to everyone he feeds, Ziggy has had quite a dramatic arc, from cooking for the Queen of England as a young culinary student to rediscovering his New York deli roots.
Ziggy says he was "born as an 80-year-old New York Jew," emphasizing how much time he spent growing up with his grandparents. He aims to conjure their spirits when he cooks. "Can you smell the love?" he asks at one point, proudly hovering over a veal shank.
"Deli Man" is largely about keeping tradition alive. With only 150 Jewish delis left in North America, these restaurants depend on family bonds and a proud sense of heritage. A particularly poignant moment in the film shows Ziggy and his father walking through their old New York neighborhood, stopping at a sushi place that now occupies their former synagogue. "It's like they're washing away our Jewishness," Ziggy says with an edge of sadness. You can see that he feels a strong sense of responsibility to restore his culture through food. "Deli Man" is a free-fall through Jewish family and culinary history.
For the most part, this is a typical talking-head documentary. It's a treat to see Jewish celebrities like Larry King and Jerry Stiller chime in with their warm memories of delis. One of the film's most enchanting moments finds Stiller recalling how he pined for pastrami sandwiches as a little boy. He sold watermelons during the summer for a penny a slice and saved the money for trips to his neighborhood deli. When he was acting in theater as a young man, Stiller went to delis after shows, often with fellow actor Zero Mostel, who always hoped to pay for his meals with humor.
Many moments in "Deli Man" are tender, charming and chuckle-worthy. It's a light trifle — casual fare worthy of watching on the couch. The film works best when it takes a fly-on-the-wall look at Ziggy. One of the more striking, cinematic moments finds him awakened from an acupuncture haze, as his cell phone buzzer shakes the needles in his arm. (The restaurant business waits for no man.)
Ziggy's acupuncturist also happens to be his girlfriend. "She has to understand that the deli is my mistress," he says. Mimi, whom we see Ziggy marry later in the film, is a fun foil. She playfully bickers about his eating habits and unhealthy career like a sitcom wife.
Like the best programs on Food Network and such (e.g. "Man v. Food," "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," "Kitchen Nightmares"), "Deli Man" highlights the personalities behind the food, the emotions in the entrees. The film follows a trend at the moment, which finds us entering the world of food out of hunger for human drama.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf6-o61VfYk&w=560&h=315]