What do you get when a bacon-loving chef plans to open a Jewish deli? Singer’s Mostly Jewish Delicatessen, a pop-up eatery in the works from Douglas Singer, a former co-owner and chef at Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza.
“The reason why it’s ‘mostly’ [Jewish] is because I enjoy making bacon, and I’d like to have a BLT on the menu,” says Singer.
Singer, who also spent time in José Andrés‘s kitchens as a sous chef at Zaytinya and Oyamel Crystal City, is currently on the hunt for a food truck or restaurant space to test out his concept in pop-up form before setting up a permanent spot. Both temporary and permanent spaces have yet to be secured, but the ultimate goal is a storefront in the Golden Triangle environs that will serve breakfast and lunch from a smaller menu focusing on house-made items. Breakfast might be bagels, schmear, and lox; Singer imagines lunchtime fare like matzo-ball soup and corned beef, pastrami, egg salad, and chopped liver sandwiches.
In the meantime, he’ll offer a narrower version of the menu from a truck or possibly dinner-only restaurant welcome to the idea of a temporary delicatessen setting up shop during the day. Anyone hungry for pastrami on rye, check back with us for more details.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
