In search of deli delights

My life began in the tufted brown leather booth of a deli. In the fall of 1985, my mother went into labor mid-bite through a knackwurst at Nate ’n Al deli in Beverly Hills. I spent my childhood kicking the vinyl booths at Langer’s in Westlake. This is where my father, a real estate broker, eats lunch at least once a week. I’ve been eating the pastrami here since my teeth came in.

Most Sundays during my childhood, my parents would drive me and my sister from Pasadena to the San Fernando Valley to share a smoked fish platter at the now-closed Solley’s Deli in Sherman Oaks. When I was stressed in college (somewhere around twice a week), I visited a nearby Jerry’s Deli in Irvine for a bowl of matzo ball soup and half a pastrami sandwich with an extra side of Russian dressing. I could be found many weekend nights in my 20s, drunk on Jägermeister shots in the Kibitz Room attached to Canter’s Deli, watching a friend’s band.

While the deli culture in Los Angeles isn’t as robust as in New York City, if you grew up in this city, chances are you can trace at least one significant life moment to the Saran-wrapladen counters of a Jewish deli. Is it a style of food and dining that’s fading away into an abyss of small-plates restaurants? I sure hope not. Those metal trays full of orange knishes, rice pudding, stuffed cabbage and smoked fish represent a comforting sort of cultural exchange — remnants from early Los Angeles immigrants. As do the 10-page menus, bottles of Dr. Brown’s soda and snappy servers who seem to always remember your order, your last hangover and your last boyfriend.

Here is a guide to six Los Angeles, Jewish-style delis (see eight more at latimes.com/ food), for when you need a dose of nostalgia and a sky-high sandwich full of hot pastrami.