The Best Jewish Food in the United States

The pastrami gets brined, pepper-and-coriander rubbed, and smoked before it lands on house-made rye sourdough at this Mueller BBQ shop and deli. Texas Monthly and the New York Times have both taken notice, and the James Beard committee named the team a semifinalist. Concrete floors, wooden-slat booths, and a menu that wanders happily between brisket by the pound and matzoh ball soup. No fuss about it.

The name means "to fuss around in the kitchen," which tells you everything about this Jewish deli in Knoxville's Old City. It started as a pop-up and grew into a proper room serving comfort food that bubbe would recognize but maybe not endorse, like matzoh ball soup finished with chili oil. The challah comes out of the oven daily, the babkas rotate flavors, and the sandwiches are large enough to warrant a to-go box. A James Beard semifinalist.

The smoked fish counter on Orchard Street has been an institution since forever, and Russ & Daughters is the appetizing shop New York trots out whenever it needs to prove a point. White-jacketed servers, a pristine deli case, egg creams, bagels, and Scottish salmon done multiple ways. The Michelin Bib Gourmand nod keeps it honest: the food is the whole point, and the regulars at the counter have known that for years.

A modern Jewish deli operating out of an old firehouse in Ohio City, where the bread case alone causes problems for anyone trying to leave quickly. Babka, challah, rugelach, and knishes anchor one end of the menu; koji-cured pastrami sandwiches have become the thing people line up for. The chef earned a James Beard semifinalist nod in 2025, as did the pastry program, which tells you something about how seriously both sides of the counter are taken.

A pastry shop on Gough inspired by Jewish diaspora baking, where every drink arrives with a cube of halva whether you asked for it or not. The team behind it came up through Tartine, and the instincts show: babka with a proper crust, pistachio cream puffs, spiced Turkish coffee cream pie. A James Beard Semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef, and a cozy, specific kind of place that knows exactly what it wants to be.

The corned beef and pastrami sandwiches here are the kind that require a game plan before you pick them up. This old-school Jewish deli in Queen Village has been feeding Philadelphia for as long as anyone can remember, with a menu that runs from Reubens and smoked fish to cheesesteaks and a full breakfast. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks. Come hungry and do not make afternoon plans.

The sourdough starter for the bagels here is fed with imported Brooklyn water, a detail that tells you exactly where this deli-bar's loyalties lie. Grossman's is a relaxed Jewish-style deli and cocktail bar in Santa Rosa, turning out knishes, latkes, and chopped liver in a corner of California that doesn't see nearly enough of them. The San Francisco Chronicle named it among the best restaurants in Sonoma County and called its bagels the best in the Bay Area.

A Jewish deli in the Bay Area is a rare enough thing that Saul's has been feeding North Berkeley for decades without much competition. The latkes are aggressively crunchy, the pastrami comes fatty and brined on rye with grainy mustard, and raspberry jam sits on every table like a standing invitation. Pancakes are fluffy in the way a diner promises but rarely delivers. Weekend brunch draws a crowd that clearly has nowhere more important to be.

Hayworth is a Jewish steakhouse in Henderson, which means challah knots where the dinner rolls would be and whipped chicken schmaltz where the butter usually goes. It's dressed-up date-night territory, with plush booths, icy martinis, and well-dressed neighbors airing grievances about their cooling bills over latkes crowned with roe. The pastrami is finished with bone marrow jus, and the babka comes home with you.

The seeded rye bread is baked on-site, and the corned beef and pastrami get piled onto it over the counter, no table service involved. Davis Bakery is an old-school Jewish deli that has been around forever in Cleveland, still family-owned, still efficient in the way that only counter-service places can be. In a country where Jewish delis keep quietly disappearing, this one draws a line out the door without seeming to notice the trend.

El Bagel is a Miami bagel shop that opened a counter in the Fontainebleau food hall, which means your bacon, egg, and cheese now has a casino view. The line forms early with people who have clearly met the night before, and the pastrami gets smoked for 18 hours, a commitment most of us can't make to anything. It's a quick, casual stop, and a beautiful mess to eat. Eater has named it for both bagels and sandwiches.

Schneider Deli is a counter-service Jewish deli tucked into the old Ohio House Motel diner, where the midcentury bones survived the renovation and so did the booths. Breakfast runs from corned beef hash to bagels with lox, then lunch turns to pastrami, brisket, and turkey sliced to order while you watch. Casual, quick, and priced like a sandwich shop, which is the correct amount of money for a deli.