Good News

June 6, 2009

Want kosher food? Try deli at Wilkes-Barre YMCA

Rabbi-supervised eatery now operating in Christian facility

By Sarah Hite shite@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
Sarah Hite on Facebook   |   https://twitter.com/#!/@TLSarahHite on Twitter

WILKES-BARRE – A new deli located inside the Wilkes-Barre YMCA will be supervised by a Jewish rabbi, making it the only true kosher deli in the area.

Northampton Street Deli opened quietly this week, with a grand opening scheduled for July 6.

YMCA Executive Director Jim Thomas said the idea came up when he, Rick Evans from the Wyoming Valley Jewish Community Center and Gil August from the Wilkes-Barre Jewish Community Center Federation began talking about collaborating on programs to better serve the community.

They were sitting in an area outside of the Y’s former caf� that had closed, and Evans mentioned he might know someone interested in opening a kosher deli at the site.

“We’re extremely happy,” August said of the decision. “We think it’s great. The JCC and the Y have started doing joint programming there together, too, in the past couple of years. It’s a natural progression. We’re a friendly community.”

Steven Arnovitz, who was formerly a chef at the JCC, is co-owner of the new deli. Arnovitz explains that the deli is kosher because it will be monitored by a worker under Rabbi Nachman Bruce of Congregation Ohav Zedek in Wilkes-Barre and Vaad of Luzerne County, the communal body responsible for Jewish dietary standards.

“It makes it really official for the religious Jews who come in,” Arnovitz said.

The deli will serve sandwiches, hot foods, soups, salads and sides and will include health-conscious items. Hours for the Northampton Street Deli follow the rules of the Sabbath. Arnovitz also operates a kosher hot dog stand at PNC Field in Moosic and says the deli hours will be extended after the end of baseball season.

“We’re seeing that some of the members of the JCC and some of their families are coming in at lunchtime,” Thomas said. “It’s turning into a nice relationship between us and the JCC.”

Larry Newman, vice president of community and economic development at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry, is happy to see the return of a kosher deli. Newman remembers the former Pensak’s Deli on East Northampton Street, the last kosher deli in the downtown, which closed more than 20 years ago.

“We’re thrilled that another business is opening in downtown,” Newman said. “It shows the continuing appeal of downtown and the various opportunities that exist here even in the midst of a very difficult economic climate.”

If you go

Northampton Street Deli

Wilkes-Barre YMCA

40 West Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre

Phone: 301-2081

Tweet	Follow @TLnews

Send Question or Remark to the Publisher