Still More Room

by Elisa Ludwig

Much has been said about the Kibitz Room, Cherry Hill’s claim to New York-style overfeeding greatness. The deli’s authentic Jewish foodstuffs have even been the subject of a short documentary film. Now, Kibitz is staking a kosher claim on Center City, with an arsenal of pastrami, dill pickles and Cel-Ray soda.

Kibitz in the City's stainless steel facade, with its sleek, neon Hebrew characters, announces itself as a proudly frill-less eatery on an increasingly trendy eating block. Yet if you squinted your eyes, it might seem Kibitz had been here long before the Starrs and perhaps even before the spate of beauty supply and dollar stores, which, in true Philly fashion, seem to defy gentrification.

The front room, with a few tables overlooking the street, is one of two dining areas -- the second is upstairs. The room is clean and brightly lit, and display cases full of bagel dogs and brick-sized blocks of kugel promise that your caloric (and emotional) needs will be sated by starch. I considered the kinahora fish platter, but soon discovered that nearly everything on the menu has been supersized to kinahora status. Brobdingnagian-sized sandwiches come in half portions, which are still too large for most non-macho humans. The brisket dinner amounted to about seven servings of meat. Tender, melting and perfectly seasoned, it was a leftover I actually looked forward to meeting again.

Shrimp salad (with substantial shrimp -- no puny crustaceans here), coleslaw and whitefish salad: Foods too often the second-class citizens of the display case are here given dignified treatment and are worth taking out by the pound. The chopped liver, on the other hand, was a bit bland and could have used more caramelized onion.

The real treat at Kibitz is the deli meat. Both the pastrami and corned beef are thickly sliced and left fatty enough to fill the palate with carnivorous bliss. Served warm, they are the reason to battle the obnoxious traffic on Chestnut Street. The pastrami, with its emphasis of cinnamon and allspice, is practically dessert in itself, which is why I did not sample any of the plate-sized cookies or wedges of cake behind the counter.

My only regrets: Kibitz is closed on Sundays, making it necessary to anticipate a kinahora platter craving earlier in the weekend; and you can't call in orders ahead of time, so have to ogle the bratwurst a bit longer than I, for one, am comfortable with. But these are small, petty concerns, when such excellent smoked meat is so close at hand.

KIBITZ IN THE CITY

703 Chestnut St. 215-928-1447

Appetizers, $1.50-$6.75; entrees, $5.75-$17

Mon.-Sat., 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

Wheelchair accessible. Smoking is not permitted. Reservations not necessary. Credit cards accepted.