With the possible exception of a handful of aging Borscht Belt comics, it’s doubtful that anyone in the world has eaten at more Jewish delicatessens than David Sax.

A 30-year-old freelance journalist who was raised on daily brown-bag lunches of beef salami and coleslaw from Yitz’ Delicatessen in Toronto, Sax set out four years ago on what he has described as “an obsessive quest” to save the deli from extinction.

This involved visiting close to 200 delis in six countries, 26 states, and two Canadian provinces.

Although he claims to have ingested “mountains of cured meats, rivers of mustard, and lakes of chicken soup” during his quest, there was one corner of New York, the deli capital of the world, in which Sax had not even eaten a bissel of latke. At the time of his research, he could not locate a single sit-down Jewish deli south of Canal Street.

With Sax returning to the area this month to discuss the recently published chronicle of his experience, “Save the Deli,” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Trib asked him if he could now find the makings of a good deli meal Downtown.

He began his search at Zucker’s Bagels and Smoked Fish on Chambers Street, an obvious first stop.  

The counterman’s brusque greeting—“You guys gonna order or what?”—inspired confidence. So did the sight of the pastrami: to Sax’s delight, it emerged, shaped like a first baseman’s glove and encrusted in black pepper, from a metal steam box. “Some places will toss it in a microwave,” Sax said. 

At which point the counterman sliced it and tossed the slices into a microwave. “Cardinal sin,” muttered Sax.

Although Sax’s interest is in deli, not dairy, he couldn’t resist the pull of Zucker’s poppy seed bagel with cream cheese and pickled herring. He gave it high ratings.

The next stop was Izzy and Nat’s in Battery Park City, a year-old “deli with a heavy foot in diner,” as Sax put it. He ordered the matzo-ball soup. “If there was food I never got tired of, it was the M-ball soup,” he said.

The “M-ball” arrived minutes later, a pale fist of dough soaking amid colorful cubes of carrot and flakes of dill.
The verdict? “Really nice… not too dense but not like a sponge: not a sinker or a floater.”

As for the de rigueur pastrami on rye, it was deemed “a deal,” even though, as a rule, Sax strongly prefers hand-carved pastrami to the machine-sliced variety.

Finally, it was time for a visit to that most sacred of Jewish culinary destinations: Chinatown.

“All Jews love Chinese food,” Sax declared with rabbinical authority over a plate of pastrami-fried rice at Amazing 66 on Mott Street. According to Sax, the restaurant was founded by an accountant who spent a life-changing lunch hour with a Jewish colleague at the Second Avenue Deli. Sax pinched a pink speck of meat between his chopsticks and held it aloft, as though to punctuate a point. “Chinese food and deli,” he said. “The ultimate Jewish meal.”

David Sax will discuss his book“Save the Deli,” with food expert Arthur Schwartz on Wed., March 24, at 7 p.m. at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Pl., 646-437-4200, mjhnyc.org. $10, $7 students/seniors. Buy tickets online or by phone.