Are we on the verge of a progressive delicatessen trend? We had a bit of a false start last year, when we looked forward to a futuristic version of Ratner’s that never arrived, Moore’s brought Thumann’s hot dogs and hand-carved brisket to a new-style deli in Burbank, and Saul Cooperstein prepared bagels and lox nigiri at a BreadBar pop-up called Deli2010 (unfortunately not a cousin to Andre3000). But our hopes are high that the deli-worship could be resurfacing, now that Adam Fleischman has fleisched out new details on Umamicatessen and upon hearing today’s news that Micah Wexler is serving deli dishes at Mezze.
Whatcha talkin’ about Micah?! The Mediterranean/Middle Eastern-inspired restaurant just began serving dinner on Sunday nights and in addition to its incredible regular menu, Wexler has two special Sunday dishes to offer, a matzoh ball soup with braised chicken, heirloom radish, and chicken cracklings and house-made pastrami on rye bread with house-made mustard and pickles. Kind of a departure from egg shakshouka and uni with cous cous, no?
Even if Wexler’s new creations don’t increase the peace in the Middle East or usher in a new era of progressive L.A. delis, they do sound like something we want to get our hands on. Wexler is now serving Sunday dinner (with these deli classics) from 6:00 to 11:00 P.M. at Mezze if you feel the same way too.
