Fat stacks of corned beef, hearty matzo ball soup, tuna salad, lox, bagels, and plenty of breakfast options — Jewish-style delicatessens abound in the Detroit metro area. Befitting of an ever-evolving city, these delis have continued to transform in deliciously interesting ways. After all, no two deli menus are ever the same.
Stage in West Bloomfield, Star in Southfield, Siegel’s in Commerce Township, Bread Basket in both Oak Park and downtown Detroit, Hygrade in Corktown, Uncle Harry’s in St. Clair Shores, Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, and many, many more are scattered throughout the metro area, each with a unique history.
Jamon Jordan, Detroit’s first official historian (as appointed by Mayor Mike Duggan), explains the evolution of Jewish delis in Detroit, as well as the ongoing story of their migration — that of both Jewish Americans and delis — in the area.
“They were mainly from Germany,” Jordan explains about the first Jewish immigrants in the 1830s. Eventually, Eastern Europeans of Jewish faith would move toward the North End, which became the center of Jewish life in Detroit.
“At the same time,” Jordan continues, “a west-side area would have a large Jewish population and would be the capital of Jewish delis until the 1960s.”
But by the early ’50s, there was already a clear trend of Jewish Detroiters moving to Oak Park and Southfield. Jordan states that only the most successful delis made that move — Modern Delicatessen, Al’s Famous, Lou’s, and a few more. As more and more Jewish families began moving out of the city, many of the Jewish delis from that era closed.
Currently, none of Detroit’s oldest delis predate the 1960s. The deli, it turns out, is a precarious business.
“The migration of the population north and west from the city left businesses behind,” says Steven Goldberg, second-generation owner of the iconic Stage Deli. “You had a choice. Move or perish.”
Unfortunately, a lot of the delis chose to perish. “Most of the descendants of the old-time Jewish delis became doctors and
lawyers and accountants and stockbrokers,” Goldberg continues “It just wasn’t a business that the next generation was interested in continuing. It’s tough. It’s a hard business.”
Today, Oakland County is Detroit’s revived epicenter for the Jewish community.
According to a 2018 study conducted by the Jewish Federation of Detroit, Detroit has the 26th largest Jewish population in America, most of which is now concentrated in the suburbs of Oakland County. Huntington Woods, West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, and Oak Park have the highest concentration.
Smack-dab in the middle of Oakland County remains Stage, unicorn Jewish delicatessen unassumingly tucked away in a strip mall in West Bloomfield. Stage is a stalwart among the scene, a deli both traditional and modern, a deli that’s many things at once: an elegant full-service restaurant, a quick-service deli counter, a lunch spot, and a lovely dinner reservation. This, according to Goldberg, is by design. It is the very nature of Jewish delis to adapt to their customers’ needs.
Take Stage’s menu, which is chock-full of variety — with the lox plate, fried chicken livers, tuna salad, and matzo ball soup all proving to be hearty staples. Corned beef and pastrami sandwiches are laid on thick — from the classic Reuben, to Jack’s Special (hot corned beef with chicken livers, crunchy iceberg, and Russian dressing), to the deli’s bestseller, the West Side Story, featuring pastrami or corned beef with coleslaw and Russian dressing on Stage’s famous double-baked rye.
Goldberg is quick to point out that his father, Jack Goldberg, is the inventor of double-baked rye, a seedless rye bread that’s par-baked (usually at a bakery) and then cooked again at the deli to ensure maximum warmth and texture. Double-baked rye is commonly used at delis across the nation, perhaps most famously Langer’s in Los Angeles. Stage’s double-baked bread is iconic — chewy, soft, with a pleasantly crispy outer crust. It’s a bread that has also helped change the way we eat deli sandwiches on a national scale.
Goldberg’s father opened Stage Deli in Oak Park in 1962, before moving it to its current location in West Bloomfield 20 years later.
Goldberg says his father wanted to “reinvent the delicatessen.”
“It’s evolved a lot but still is true to its founding principles,” Goldberg says of Stage. That’s apparent in its lengthy, all-encompassing menu featuring everything from falafel to an in-house ground turkey burger. Delis are steeped in tradition, but in Detroit, they’re much more fluid.
Take Ember’s Deli in Bloomfield Hills. Established in 1969, the deli changed hands from a Jewish family to an Albanian one. Vasko Perkovic has owned and operated Ember’s for decades, continuing to serve the needs of the Jewish community. The deli’s hot corned beef sandwich is wonderful and traditional — piled high with tender braised meat, coleslaw, and Swiss cheese with a side of thick Russian dressing.
However, in a neat little instance of culture clashing, you can also order Ember’s corned beef and pastrami sandwiches on lavash bread. This thin, flaky Middle Eastern flatbread is usually cooked in a tandoor oven and is common among Armenian and Turkish households. It’s rather unusual to see it in a Jewish-style deli, but Perkovic says that customers love the lavash option. While most of his clientele is Jewish, many of his customers are also Chaldean and Lebanese.
On the edge of Corktown, Hygrade Deli offers corned beef that is exceptionally fatty, sweet, and delicious. The marbled beef is stacked high and served with crispy-crunchy Topor’s pickles. Over the years, Hygrade has also effectively morphed into an all-American diner and remains a popular breakfast spot among Detroit’s working class, with hash, omelets, pancakes, and more served starting at 9:30 a.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. on Saturday.
All over and around the city, Jewish-style delis are both an ode to Jewish cuisine and a deviation from it. Some menus include soy burgers, eggplant Parmesan, gumbo, and, of course, corned beef egg rolls, invented in the late 1970s by a Vietnamese woman in Detroit named Kim White.
If Jack Goldberg’s aim was to reinvent the delicatessen, then many of Detroit’s delis followed suit. They continue to evolve with Detroit’s community, proving that weaving together cultures and considering the needs of all has always produced delicious results.
This story originally appeared in the May 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on May 5.
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