The Lincoln Del Cookbook

Best-Loved Recipes from the Legendary Bakery and Deli

Author Wendi Zelkin Rosenstein, Author Kit Naylor, Foreword by Thomas L. Friedman

Minnesota Historical Society Press (September 1, 2017)

Bring home the flavor of the cherished Lincoln Del bakery and deli with kitchen-tested recipes that will feed your memories and inspire new traditions for your family table.

Description

For Jewish and non-Jewish customers alike, the Lincoln Del was a Minneapolis version of Cheers—at the Del everybody knew your name. Folks hardly minded waiting in line for the fresh caraway rye, the cabbage borscht, the corned beef sandwiches, or the towering strawberry shortcake because every visit was like a family reunion, complete with warm embraces, recounted stories, boisterous jokes, and—of course—plenty of amazing food.

From modest beginnings as a bakery in 1930s north Minneapolis to a local chain of three bustling restaurants in St. Louis Park and Bloomington, the Lincoln Del was a neighborhood institution for decades. These popular spots drew visitors from all over the metro and across the state, and even years later patrons nostalgically recall the tasty baked goods, the generously portioned sandwiches, and the sense of belonging that enveloped everyone who walked through the door.

The Lincoln Del Cookbook gathers not only coveted recipes—for blintzes and challah, coleslaw and chicken matzo ball soup—but also family lore and patrons’ memories, with photographs, menus, and memorabilia that will bring you right back to the Lincoln Del—or make you wish you’d been around to experience its delights in person.

Author information

Tess and Moishe Berenberg ran the St. Louis Park Lincoln Del; since the Del closed in 2000, their granddaughter, Wendi Zelkin Rosenstein, has been fielding requests for recipes from fans far and wide.

Kit Naylor is a professional writer and an amateur chef. A military brat, she grew up longing for the sort of community she might have found at the Lincoln Del.

Long before Thomas L. Friedman became an award-winning journalist, his mother was a bookkeeper at the Lincoln Del.

Reviews and news

In the media:

Star Tribune
MPR's Appetites
Sun Sailor
American Jewish World
TC Jewfolk
WCCO-AM with Esme Murphy (10/17/17)
Pioneer Press
City Pages 2017 Essential Cookbooks
MplsStPaul Magazine's Best Local Food Books of 2017
City South Magazine

Advance Praise:

“What makes this book great is that it’s more than a cookbook; it’s a time capsule of a Twin Cities Jewish community icon.”
​Lonny Goldsmith, editor, TC Jewfolk

“Oy, what an amazing book! Serving simultaneously as a multigenerational Minnesota family memoir, deli history, kitchen glossary, tall-tale compendium, and Jewish recipe book, The Lincoln Del Cookbook is rich in larger-than-life characters, from bakers and bookies to rabbis and celebrities. At last, your kitchen can be filled with the tastes of the Greatest Deli in America—the High Synagogue of Bageldom, the once and forever, now eternal Lincoln Del.”
Paul Maccabee, author of John Dillinger Slept Here: A Crooks’ Tour of Crime and Corruption in St. Paul

“The Del ‘sold’ something so much more compelling that kept its customers constantly coming back, and which is increasingly rare these days. It wasn’t knishes—it was community. . . . Nobody ever left the Del hungry. It filled body and soul.”
—from the foreword by Thomas L. Friedman

• 192 pages
• 150 color and b&w images, 70 recipes, index
• 7 x 10 inches
• ISBN: 9781681340616