Chef Shuffle

Delicatessen Gets a New Chef

Photo: Courtesy Delicatessen

Michael Spector this week promoted Alexandra “Ali” Waks to be the top toque at Delicatessen. Waks first came aboard the modern Jewish deli a little less than a year ago to help with its marketing efforts and later took on managerial duties while slowly inching her way into the kitchen. The hospitality vet has been kicking around the local foodiesphere since opening the short-lived Bella (now Meritage) in 2002. Since then she’s gone to culinary school and become a regular contributor to Amanda Hesser & Merrill Stubbs’s food52 blog, where in one contest, her porchetta lost to a dish from Christopher Kimball by just four votes. “I’ve been Jewish, like, my whole life,” Waks told Grub Street. “Deli food runs in my blood.”

Going forward, Waks expects to tweak Delicatessen’s menu with new original dishes and other inspired by things her Bubby taught her while growing up. Some new dishes she’s currently working on include goat cheese blintzes with melted tomatoes, coriander cured salmon, housemade knishes, dill pickle-brined roast chicken, and more “seasonal and local stuff.”

Delicatessen Gets a New Chef