It's Jewish American Heritage month and there's no better place to get a taste of the culture than at a Jewish deli.
Katzinger’s, located in the German Village and in Dublin, has been serving authentic recipes for the last 37 years.
When the original co-owner of Katzinger's, Diane Warren, opened the deli she had no idea that the recipes she'd be using would lead her to find out more about her own family's heritage.
"Corned beef hash changed my life,” she said, reminiscing on the time she fell in love with the culinary experience a deli can provide.
Her dream to open her own deli started in an unexpected way.
"I went to Miami Beach with some girlfriends,” she said.
She was 16-years-old. It was spring break in 1964.
She said she was amazed by a massive Jewish-style deli across the street from the hotel where they were staying. While her friends went to the beach, she went to the deli. She was amazed by the constant lines out the door and the overall “culinary experience.”
That Miami Beach deli she discovered there called Pumpernik’s eventually inspired Katzinger's.
"My mom's a great cook, we ate lots of Jewish foods,” she said. “We had blintzes and we had latkes and we had all these things at home but it was the deli experience and I just fell in love with it."
Katzinger’s opened in the German Village in 1984, exactly 20 years after her trip.
Recipes used at Katzinger’s now came from some of Warren's friends and family. And some of the recipes she had to do a little research for.
She said one grandmother would make chopped liver or matzah balls one way and her other grandmother would make them another. The recipes mostly would differ in texture.
"I was like, 'why is that?' Well as I find out many decades later the reason is because of where they came from,” she said. “So they did not come from the same part of Russia or Poland where lots of Jews had emigrated from. They came from different places and the culinary experience for them was different the recipes were different."
One staple you’ll find at Katzinger’s is the blintz. They say it's popular with customers celebrating Friday night Shabbat, a time to relax and eat with the family.
And Warren discovered more about her own family, thanks to her dream as a teen.
Katzinger's has two locations, one in German Village and the other in Dublin.
Warren sold the business in 2016 to CityBrands.