As any Jewish mother will tell you, a hot bowl of matzo ball soup can cure anything from a bad mood to stage-four lung cancer. Thus, in preparation for the last week of tests and assignments due before spring break, my friend and I decided to find a Jewish deli in Boston.
A quick Google search returned Zaftigs Delicatessen in Brookline. Though far away, it came highly reviewed: It boasts nearly 30 awards from various magazines and newspapers, including multiple "Best of Boston" honors. As such, it seemed like a worthwhile excursion for a Sunday.
We got there around 1:30 p.m. and were told that the wait would be over half an hour — unheard of on a Sunday, but we had come so far that we were all right with waiting.
To start, the restaurant provides complimentary toasted bagel slices to all patrons instead of bread or rolls, with an herbed cream cheese spread as an accompaniment.
The list of options is quite extensive. They serve knishes, kugels, latkes and lox, all manner of breakfast foods and a number of "From the Grill" items. They did indeed have the matzo ball soup we so craved, available by the cup, pint or quart — though it is labeled as "Chicken Soup," with "egg noodles with matzo ball" as a subtext. It was delicious, with big chunks of well-seasoned chicken. It was so good, in fact, that we ordered a quart to take home — a snack tastier than Ramen noodles for late-night studying.
The potato pancakes, though a little thicker than we would have liked, were cooked to a golden crisp with a moist, tasty center and served with applesauce and sour cream.
The soup and pancakes were tasty enough to merit the trip, but they were far from filling, so we turned to the menu for our main meal. Although breakfast is served all day, we both ended up ordering sandwiches: a Reuben and the "Jack and Marion's," named after the two founders.
The corned beef on the Reuben was stacked over three inches high, and the bread seemed to be struggling to keep everything under control. The sandwich was grilled, so it oozed with melted Swiss cheese and Russian dressing. A carefully chosen bite to maintain the precarious structural integrity of the sandwich revealed that it tasted just as good as it looked and that the reviews we'd heard seemed to be correct.
I'm not a fan of sauerkraut myself, so the "Jack and Marion's" was my choice — pastrami, beef tongue, corned beef and house-made mustard piled high on rye bread with caraway seeds. This sandwich was even taller, with sliced meat stacked almost four inches high in the center, but once I redistributed the meat more equally across the bread (the edges had almost no meat on them) it was a much more manageable two inches high.
Unfortunately, my sandwich was a bit lackluster. The Reuben has both Russian dressing and sauerkraut to add moisture, but the "Jack and Marion's" lacked both. Though more of the (very tasty) mustard could have helped matters, the sandwich ended up being too dry to really be great.
Both sandwiches were served with a pickle (half-sour and house-made, of course) and a choice of coleslaw, potato salad or fries. The potato salad was the best I had ever eaten; indeed I enjoyed it more than my sandwich.
Though we came in with growling stomachs, the monstrous sandwiches ended up besting us, and we each took half home. This made the bill (around $50 for the two of us, including tip and the $8.00 quart of soup) a little easier to swallow, considering we really got two meals out of it.
Most of the food at Zaftigs was excellent, and it certainly did satisfy our soup craving, but I can't say that I am rushing to go back again. It took over an hour to get there, plus the long wait; it was a little too pricey for a college-student budget; and my sandwich was disappointing. That said, if, come finals time, you are looking for a slight getaway and a little stress-relieving soup, it may be just the thing you need.
