The Passover holiday is nearly here, beginning before sundown April 22 and ending after nightfall April 30. It celebrates the Israelites’ freedom from slavery and the exodus from Egypt.
Matzo (or matzah if you are Israeli), is a crispy, dry unleavened bread that is a staple and cornerstone of the meal. It’s the only bread most Jews will eat for the week long celebration representing the food that was eaten when fleeing Egypt because the Israelites didn’t have time for the bread to rise.
The Seder dinner is held on the first night with foods that symbolize and commemorate the Hebrews’ liberation. It is a meal steeped in history, religion, celebration and symbolic and traditional foods. For many, matzo ball soup is a delicious staple of this important Jewish holiday.
If you, your mom or your Bubbe (the Yiddish word for grandma) aren’t making it, then there is only one place to head to — All The Best Delicatessen on Far Hills Avenue in Washington Twp.
Credit: Catapult Creative
Credit: Catapult Creative
Owner Lee Schear was purposeful and focused in bringing what he considers the best of the best from deli’s across the country to Dayton. Smoked fish from Brooklyn, corned beef and pastrami from Detroit, chopped chicken liver “inspired by” Zabar’s in Manhattan, rugelach from Cincinnati, and even rye bread from Dorothy Lane Market, right here at home.
Everything on the menu is impressive and delicious. I have yet to find anything I haven’t enjoyed. And I absolutely love that each dish is served with a compelling and interesting story behind it of how it was sourced and came to be.
Credit: Catapult Creative
Credit: Catapult Creative
No story is more compelling and heartwarming than the matzo ball soup recipe, which is a standard menu item year round. The from-scratch soup that takes nearly four hours to make is a recipe with a very special history.
Carin Solganik, managing director of All The Best Delicatessen, learned the recipe from her mother Lois, who turns turns 95 on May 1.
“I learned how to cook by watching my mother prepare meals for Jewish holidays. It’s a tradition that has been passed down, generation to generation. Matzo ball soup was always an integral part of Seder, and I have clear memories of it being made by hand on important holidays,” said Solganik.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
The matzo ball soup at All The Best begins by making stock from scratch with chicken backs, skins, fat, vegetables and herbs. The stock cooks slowly for hours. It is then strained, whole chickens are added and it cooks another hour, bringing the broth to a flavor and richness that you won’t find anywhere else.
Fresh vegetables are added and when the soup is perfection the chickens are removed and shredded for other dishes on the menu including their hearty chicken soup and chicken salad.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
The homestyle balls are a mix of matzo meal, eggs, schmaltz and canola oil. Ted Savage, one of the first employees to ever be hired at the restaurant has earned the title of “Matzo Ball Ninja” perfecting the process of mixing, weighing and hand rolling each matzo ball. Once they are rolled and ready each matzo ball is poached for 10-15 minutes in boiling water and served.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
The pride that is taken in this soup and the process that has no cut corners is something you see in homes with family recipes, not out in restaurant kitchens.
“You just can’t find anyone else making matzo ball soup authentically anymore. Most others will just use a can of chicken broth. No one wants to go to the trouble to do it right. But we do, and our customers can tell,” said Solganik. “I started my culinary career by watching my mother and grandmother cook for Jewish holidays, and now all these years later, I’ve come back to my roots. We’ve gone to great lengths to be able to provide this authentic, traditional soup.”
In addition to enjoying this wonderful soup in the restaurant, they have also made it easy to order the chicken broth with vegetables by the quart ($12.95), which serves 3-4 people, and the matzo balls by the dozen ($18 for 12). Both are sold cold with reheat instructions so families can enjoy the authentic meal in the comfort of their own homes.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
For the week of Passover only, the restaurant will be featuring some breakfast specialty offerings including matzo brei made by taking a sheet of matzo and running it under water to soften it, breaking it into pieces and draining it and then further softening the cracker by sautéing it in butter. Scrambled eggs are then folded into the mixture. It is a savory dish that is then served with a sweet topper — in this case either Ohio maple syrup or jelly. They will also offer matzo meal pancakes, another traditional dish in the Jewish Passover celebration. It is made just as you would do a regular pancake but with matzo meal instead of flower and smaller in size.
“There is a really emotional connection to these traditional dishes that my mom and my grandmother used to make,” said Solganik. “It’s a feeling of home.”
Solganik said it’s not just the tight knit local Jewish community who loves the food, but it’s a very broad base. She has been surprised by the number of Eastern European customers who come in from places across the globe like Estonia, Ukraine, Russia, Croatia and Latvia to enjoy the flavor and dishes that remind them of their countries. She says all it takes is a customer to walk through the door and they almost always turn into a repeat customer.
Credit: Catapult Creative
Credit: Catapult Creative
“Once people come and taste the quality of our food that is the hook that brings them back. You feel like you are eating at a New York-style deli that is equal to or better than the food that you can find in New York,” said Solganik. “We are trying to created that Lower East Side deli atmosphere where everyone is treated well, where everyone is comfortable and where every meal is great.”
I agree with her loyal customers. For me, the All the Best Delicatessen matzo ball soup is a Passover must, but so is the rest of the menu.
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How to go
What: All The Best Delicatessen
Where: 5940 Far Hills Ave., Washington Twp.
Hours: Open daily, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Breakfast is served until 11 a.m. daily and the restaurant offers take out, delivery and call-in orders.
Be sure to try: A Rueben. Choose from pastrami, corned beef and turkey which are by far the restaurants best selling items. Their hand-cut fries are double fried and served with a horseradish mustard sauce that they make from scratch that is delicious. And don’t forget about that matzo ball soup. And you don’t need to eat in, the deli counter offers deli cut meats, cheeses, pickles and olives sold by the pound, as well as an array of salads and classic deli desserts like cheesecake, black and white cookies, seven-layer cake, rugelach and chocolate babka.
More information: https://allthebestdeli.com or 937-999-4204
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