Where have all the delis gone? Take a look at these old Miami favorites
Looking for a good place to get some corned beef today?
In the Miami area, it probably won't be at a deli.
In the last two decades, South Florida has lost most of its major delis — the places where the pastramis were spiced and brined and cut at the counter, where waitresses snapped 'Sweetheart' as they tossed down buckets of dill pickles and prune danish.
Demographics had a lot to do with the death of the Jewish deli. (Although these places served it all, including corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day). So did the quest for a healthier diet. Fatty meat and sky-high sodium levels just don't cut it anymore.
Listing the death toll of delis is enough to make us cry (and make us hungry, too).
Corky's. Pumpernik's. Rascal House. Wolfie's.
Yes, there are still places to get a big corned beef sandwich (on rye with mustard, thank you). Mom-and-pop bagel shops such as Moe's in Aventura do their best to fill the void. Chains such as TooJay's and Roasters & Toasters give a nod to the New York-style food popular with Eastern European immigrants and their children. And there a bagel places dotting the South Florida landscape that serve deli food.
But if you're looking for the South Florida originals, they are long gone.
Wolfie's, a Miami Beach landmark for a half-century, served a slew of famous — and infamous — patrons. Meyer Lansky, Muhammad Ali, Deion Sanders and Liza Minnelli enjoyed the overstuffed pastrami sandwiches and giant slices of 'world famous' cheesecake. Restarateur Wolfie Cohen also opened Rascal House in 1954. A dining staple at Collins Avenue and 172nd Street — which outlived legendary delis like Pumpernik's, Wolfie's and Corky's — it closed in 2008.
Here is a look at some of the delis that thrived in South Florida through the years.
Rascal House
Wolfie's
Pumpernik's
Corky's
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Highly Opinionated: Detroit's Most Exquisite Tartares
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Summer cookouts weren't just hot dogs and hamburgers; they were also skewered legs of lamb, toum, and pita bread. Sunday dinners in my mostly Italian family meant pasta, but my Greek grandmother also made sure that stuffed grape leaves and fried kibbeh were on the table. From a culinary standpoint, moving to Detroit felt like home, but it felt more exciting , too. The vastness of Levantine cuisine is on full display here, and Leila is a restaurant that I've absolutely adored since moving to the city. It's one of those special places a traveler can point to and go, 'There's not many restaurants like this in the country.' Leila's kibbeh nayeh is prepared relatively traditionally — a mix of finely minced raw lamb, bulgar wheat, and spices spread flat on a small plate, dragged with a fork, and topped with chopped onions and mint. 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Here are the best spots for New Haven, New York, and New Jersey-style pizza in Austin, ranked. In the small Connecticut city of New Haven, apizza (pronounced 'ah-beets') is a complete lifestyle. Locals take great pride in their coal-fired, thin-crust, deeply charred, and asymmetrically sliced pies. This glorious gold standard of regional pizza specialties is tough to find outside Elm City. But thanks to a Connecticut pizzaiolo in Austin, scoring apizza is possible. Connecticut native Kelsey Small launched Small's Pizza in 2021 as a pop-up, and later found a temporary home on the grounds of East Austin cafe Mercado Sin Nombre before moving to a pop-up counter at Springdale General in Far East Austin. True to tradition, Small's Pizza only sells whole pies, all of which are asymmetrically sliced, deeply charred, and absolutely irresistible. The smoky crust is perfectly burnished. The sauce is piquant and sprightly. 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The company helped American Airlines develop a system for managers and colleagues to recognize good work with points that can be applied to a catalog order. It also helped Amway create gift boxes to celebrate workers' accomplishments and important personal milestones, such as buying a home or adopting a child. 'Recognition impacts so many facets of the employee experience. And when you do it well, it connects people back to a deep sense of purpose and meaning,' said Meghan Stettler, a director at O.C. Tanner. Some companies donate their own products to thank nurses, doctors, police officers, firefighters and other workers who serve their communities . Frontline Builders, a nonprofit organization launched during the pandemic, connects donors of snacks, drinks and personal care items with recipients. 'We've all worked in that job where we weren't shown gratitude and realized how much that stinks,' said Jason Lalack, partnership director at Frontline Builders. 'Showing someone gratitude or showing appreciation doesn't really cost anything, and shouldn't be that difficult of a thing, and yet it's rarer than it should be.' Registered nurse Denise Whittsell remembers how quiet the hospital where she works became during the pandemic . The hallways of Denver Health, typically busy with families and guests, were suddenly empty as visits from outsiders were curtailed and patients battled illnesses alone. Once in a while, someone from the community would deliver gifts of gratitude: tasty snacks or handmade cards from schoolchildren. 'Those spontaneous recognitions were really sweet,' Whittsell said. 'It just felt really kind, and it felt like there was a lot of wrapping around us, a very supportive feeling.' Whittsell is part of a team of volunteers at Denver Health's RESTORE program, which connects front-line hospital workers with trained peer responders for confidential emotional support and training. The hospital started the program as a way to improve and sustain the emotional well-being of its workforce, said Tia Henry, the program's director. Volunteers take shifts so someone is available around-the-clock to answer calls from hospital personnel who are struggling with stressful events such as losing a patient or witnessing violence. Volunteers and staff regularly express gratitude for the program, Henry said. 'I've had calls on my way to work: 'I'm having a hard time and I need to talk with somebody who gets it,'' Whittsell said. 'It's a good way to give back to the people that I work with.' Aside from peer support, RESTORE also provides training and education to employees about stress, burnout and techniques to deescalate violence, Henry said. 'We're not doing counseling or therapy, but we're using components of psychological first aid to truly engage timely with our teammates when they're distressed, helping them calm their nervous system and get back to the place of regulation where they can show back up and do what it is they need to do or they can lay something down and go back home,' Henry said. 'That is gratitude from my lens.' Indy Public Safety Foundation, an Indianapolis nonprofit organization that supports front-line workers, shows gratitude to police, firefighters and paramedics through awards banquets, trainings, and showing up with food, shaking hands and saying thank you after a community tragedy. Foundation staff members take gratitude a step further by providing tools and equipment such as electric bikes for police patrols. While front-line workers were applauded during the pandemic , 'their work has continued and arguably not gotten any less stressful, and some of that support has waned,' said Dane Nutty, the foundation's president and CEO. While practicing gratitude may make for a more pleasant on-the-job environment, it's not a replacement for better working conditions. It's good to be grateful to have a job that pays the bills. It's also important to ask for what's fair. 'Being grateful absolutely doesn't mean that we accept anything subpar or inappropriate,' Jones said, adding that people should advocate for basic needs such as meal breaks. 'It's important not to confuse gratitude with being passive.' ___ Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ Follow AP's Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at .