Reading The Lincoln Del Cookbook by Wendi Zelkin Rosenstein & Kit Naylor from 2017. My sister found this at @ilikeyoumpls & gave it to me for my birthday.

Millie and I used to eat at the Del a lot in the late '80s when we dated in high school, mostly the west location on Hwy 12. We'd catch a movie at the Cooper Theater and then dinner at the Del. Kids, you don't know what you're missing with both these institutions.

I was still a meat eater then and always ordered a Reuben. Millie got the latkes and I almost always snitched some. Then we'd order the chocolate banana pie. (I'm pretty sure it's the chocolate pie recipe in the book with a layer of added bananas.)

I was a cook at Perkins at the time, a family restaurant chain not nearly as good as the Del. Millie worked at Bridgeman's. It gave us enough spending cash for eating out once a week.

My folks dated at Lincoln Del, too. My mom remembers ordering an entire meal of mashed potatoes when she was pregnant with me. ;)

So, anyway, lots of personal memories of the Lincoln Del and the cookbook does a wonderful job of honoring that tradition, with stories from the owners, workers, and customers. Indeed, the first 1/2 of the book is basically a culinary history of the Jewish community in Mpls.

The Del began as a bakery in North Minneapolis, founded in 1930 by Frank Berenberg. Frank emigrated from Romania in 1897, bringing a thousand year old sourdough starter along with him.

The book makes the sometimes unremembered point that Mpls was "the capital of anti-semitism" in the US. While StP was welcoming to Jews, "In almost every walk of life, an 'iron curtain' separates Jews from non-Jews in Minneapolis"

Part of Millie's family has roots in that same North Mpls Jewish community, so reading the descriptions of life along Plymouth Ave in the 30's, 40s, and 50s was very interesting. By necessity, the community had to take care of itself.

BTW, the TPT doc "Cornerstones: a History of North Minneapolis", covers some of this story as well. http://www.mnvideovault.org/mvvPlayer/customPlaylist2.php?id=22889&select_index=3&popup=yes

The book somewhat glosses over the racial tensions and tumult that led to the relocation of the Minneapolis Jewish community to St Louis Park in the 50s and 60s. Coinciding with this move, the original Lincoln Del opened on Minnetonka Blvd/Lake Street in SLP in 1957.

Over time, the bakery expanded into a restaurant with additional locations on Hwy 12 & on the 494 strip, which was apparently the center of MSP nightlife in the 70s & 80s.

The Berenberg family ran a tight knit crew and were able to pay living wages to a couple generations of workers who bought homes & put kids thru college working as waitresses or cooks.

And it sounds like they were very generous with their loyal staff. NYT globalist Thomas Friedman’s mother worked at the Del. When Tom’s father died, the Berenbergs took up a collection to help him finish college.

Friedman contributes a forward btw. Although it seems somewhat ironic that he was able to pursue his career because of a hyper-local commuity helping him out & not because of the rising tides of global trade. But I digress.

The food scene changes so rapidly nowadays, it’s hard to imagine a restaurant with a 60 year history & a thousand year old sourdough culture. And indeed by the time it closed in 2000, it was pretty dated (although arguably in a good way).

There wasn’t a lot of discussion about why they closed besides a suggestion that crappy restaurants like Perkins who paid their employees much less were a big factor. The Del was pretty expensive.

But also it’s hard to keep a family biz going, especially when each generation has to commit to long hours of restaurant work.

Another awesome Deli I’ve read about & enjoyed eating at is Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor. They have an employee ownership program & I think that’ll be key to their long term viability. https://www.zingermansdeli.com 

In any case, I’m very much looking forward to baking some chocolate pie and reliving a small fraction of our personal Lincoln Del experience with our kids. I’m hoping the recipes here are as great as the history.