On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with Jeremy Kneller Hernandez, owner of Kneller’s Delicatessen & Appetizing in Tucson, Arizona.
“[A good deli] is like a barbershop with food; everyone knows each other by name and it’s just cozy,” Hernandez says. “When I have people in the deli here, who are literally hanging out all day eating breakfast and lunch and talking to people … it warms my heart.”
Hernandez – whose father is Hispanic and from East LA; his mom is Jewish from Queens – would spend summers with his grandparents in New York, where family gatherings were never missed and his bubbe’s cooking was non-stop in the kitchen.
“The aroma of brisket, kugel, rugelach, and schmaltz – so much schmaltz – would fill the air with a sense of warmth and a lot of love,” he says. “My grandpa and I would hit a delicatessen almost every morning before Oyster Bay for a day of fishing or the Shea Stadium for a Mets’ game.”
After working in the world of food since age 15 – and feeling as if the deli was a second home – it was finally time for him to open his own place. He wanted to bring the deli vibe to the desert.
Jeremy Kneller Hernandez shares his love of deli, his dual-cultural upbringing (“ I’m very grateful to have had both experiences,” he says.), and the role of music in his life and in the kitchen. He talks about some of the ways he “spices up” traditional deli food and his take on his great aunt’s knish recipe.
“There’s something about the flow of making knish,” he says. “It’s a beautiful melody that comes together with just perfect timing; it’s fun to make and it’s really fun to master.”
Learn more about Jeremy Kneller Hernandez and Kneller’s Delicatessen & Appetizing at knellersdelicatessen.com and follow @knellersdelicatessen on Instagram and Facebook.
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Read the highlights and get the recipe at JewishJournal.com: https://jewishjournal.com/category/podcasts/taste-buds-with-deb/
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Debra Eckerling is an award-winning writer and podcaster, goal-strategist, and foodie. She is the author of “Your Goal Guide” and “52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.” Join Deb every week for bite-sized conversations about food, cooking, and community. Follow @TheDEBMethod on social media and learn more at TasteBudswithDeb.com.
Welcome to Taste Buds. I’m Deborah Eerling, goal strategist, writer, and foodie. And today I’m speaking with Jeremy Neller Hernandez, the founder and owner of Neller’s Deltesta and appetizing in Tucson. Welcome, Jeremy. Yeah, great to be here. Thanks for having me. I first have to ask you, what is this appetizing in the title of your restaurant? Yeah. So, it’s like kind of an homage to an old dying culture um on the east coast of New York and New Jersey. Um, there’s a lot of delicates out there that also include appetizing in the name or there’s just places that are called appetizing, which is an old term for going to grab, you know, goodies for a smores board or a picnic or a counter or family gathering and having some spreads. So, a lot of salads, fish salads, pickled goods, you know, marinated olives, that kind of thing. So, that’s where that term comes from. You don’t really see it on the Western Hemisphere anywhere. And how did you become a deli and appetizing owner? Um, so I’ve been in the industry, well just the restaurant industry since I was 15, cooking, bartending, serving, managing, chefing, and then eventually consulting. Um, and finally, just a few years ago, I wanted to put some faith in myself and finally do do it for myself and and my family. And this is an homage to pretty much nostalgia from New York. Growing up, I was dropped off on uh at my grandparents every summer. I had spent all my summers in Queens and Scios at Long Island and me and my grandpa were very close. We go to Delicate Festins almost every morning. The vibe is just there’s nothing like it, especially here in Tucson. I don’t know about the West Coast, but uh there’s just nothing like a like a barber shop with food. Everyone knows each other. You know, you sit down, you have your coffee, we got the New York Times here, you’re reading the paper, everyone knows each other by name, and it’s just cozy. And I just uh I wanted to bring that that vibe here to the desert. I was born in Tucson. My dad’s Hispanic. He’s from East LA. And my mom’s from Queens and she’s Jewish. Um, and so we ended up here cuz my dad got a job at Kino Hospital in the Thard before I was born, like right before I was born. So that’s how I was born here. And then I was just split growing up east coast in here after the divorce. Yeah. Kind of like a transplant just like pulled back and forth. You do not hear of a lot of delies in Arizona. it it doesn’t have that vibe. So, was it like a New York homesickness that said I need or was it more like my city needs this kind of a restaurant? What was the inspiration for you? Both. I mean, it’s a niche that needs to be filled. We have a ton of New York and East Coast transplants here in Tucson, probably in Phoenix, too, but you know, this this whole area is growing and growing and growing every day. And uh and yeah, it’s just such a I mean, the food is so unique to this region, you know. No one’s got house brine pastrami. No one cures their own locks. You don’t have a deli case full of like old school house smoked white fish salad, potato salad, egg salad, that kind of stuff. So, it’s like it was kind of a no-brainer. Um, and I started working on recipes, you know, my grandmother’s, my aunt’s recipes and tweaked them, of course, with my own fine-tuning. But, uh, I was just, yeah, it just was made sense to, to to pull the trigger on this concept. And was there an aha moment where you’re like, okay, is it time for me to do this thing? Yeah. Um, so before doing this, I I partnered up with someone who moved on to our property, the kind of a communal housing area downtown and he’s from Morocco and uh I was doing consulting and I have some extra time on my hands and uh he brought back all these spices. Long story short, we started making Moroccan food and uh I was kind of the guy behind the curtain. Um, didn’t work out. We did it for a couple years. We got a lot of buzz. It was fun and I figured out that doing popups was a new way of really getting yourself out there on a on like, you know, on a buck, like no no budget whatsoever, right? Um, so when that partnership ended, I had this in the back of my I had this on the back burner for probably five years and just been working on recipes and thinking of concept and colors and branding and that kind of stuff and always always wanted to do an homage to the fam. Um, and so when that ended, it was that exact moment where I was like, “Okay, cool. Nothing’s in my way. Let’s go.” And I just uh pulled the trigger. I had I got very fortunate with someone who believed in me and um lent me a little bit of money to get started. And so yeah, that’s how that worked. Yeah. What is it that you think you love the most about what you do? Definitely the people uh the crew having fun connecting with people here and really just making people feel something. Um that’s that’s what it’s all about is just making people feel okay. And you want them to feel hungry, nostalgic. Uh want them to feel, you know, welcomed and warm, you know. I mean growing up I always worked in the restaurants or would go to delicatess and would just each ros off and like just hung out in delies you know and it was like a second family. So when I have people in the restaurant or in the deli here who are literally hanging out all day eating breakfast and lunch and talking to people and it’s just a vibe it’s like yeah it warms my heart. That’s so nice. And then you got to be or you get to be the person who creates that. So, I I totally totally dig that. Yeah. What honor? It’s definitely an honor. And it always sounds funny for me to ask this question, but I’m going to ask it anyway. I feel like you’re like a throwback to original jellies, but in what way has the deli culture changed over the years? Definitely finesse. um a lot more seasoning, a lot more flavor in certain like traditional recipes, you know, and I’ll get, you know, you don’t find kish anywhere in Tucson or Arizona or even maybe chompies in Phoenix about it. Um but, you know, kishes back home, like they’re all right. I I more like love the nostalgia behind it and just going to a little bakery, a pinish bakery, grabbing a few or a dozen for a family event. But they were never seasoned. And they’re always so plain, you know. So here we’re putting a lot more love in that filling and the pastry dough. And you know, we add brisket to it. Housem smoked brisket or we have a pinish of the day and we have fun. We do pizza or artichoke olive top or mushroom and Swiss, you know, just stuff like that. So, um, definitely taking these old dinosaurs playbooks and evolving it and kind of growing with the times, you know, think they’re dying out for a reason because a lot of these a lot of these people which are very proud and I understand it. It’s a very very specific and particular niche culture. Um, but they’re dying. You know, these every time I go back to New York, I see another deli closing down. I see another little bakery closing down. And it’s like we got to grow. We got to grow with the times. What parts of your Hispanic background do you bring into your deli? Because I’d imagine that’s where this love of spice and flavor comes from. Mhm. You already you just said it. There’s definitely a lot of spice and flavor, you know. So, um yeah, we I also partnered up with the hot sauce company which we have here. Uhhuh. So, we make our own hot sauce. It’s called Jabati and we have it in a few places in town. So, we we have fun. We do some pickled jalapenos and do some bagels, some Lots bagels with that. Um, but definitely the uh with some seasoning and spices I’ve brought on. You know, I haven’t changed it. I haven’t changed or gone crazy with it, but the opportunity is always there. Do you have particular recipes that you like whether it’s for your restaurant or just at home where you’re just like like doing big uh Mexican Jewish fusion? I have to say not really. Oh, I did do a huge batch of carneasada kesh once and that was really fun to make. Um we’re already talking about doing a special in a couple weeks of doing like a bidia kesh. You dip the kanesha birya with the beria meat, goat meat inside. Um, and then we might be adding one to the menu eventually. It’s been it was a hit. People keep asking for it back, but we did a lock bagel with pickled jalapeno and then we made a infused hot sauce with our hot sauce cream cheese um, and uh, a spicy chili vinegar on top. So, it like gives it a nice spicy flavorful kick. So that’s that that’s probably the most I’ve done with like a Mexican Jewish fusion. I thought about maybe going that route with the restaurant, but I think it’s too much. Well, it feels to me like you’re doing in like baby steps, you know, little bits at a time to get people excited about it. Do you feel as a chef it’s an advantage to have so much culture from different areas in your back pocket? Very much so. Yeah, I’m very grateful to have had both experiences. Um, it makes sense now. It didn’t when I was young. It was a little confusing, but now it’s like now it’s like, oh, cool. Now I have like the best of both world, you know? Okay. So, when you were younger, were were your cultures more separate? Very much so. Yeah. Very total opposite ends of the spectrum. Yes. Do you remember your earliest food memory for either or both sides of your heritage? It’s funny. I was actually asked this the other day, and I do. I I think I was like two or three, very young, and I remember this so vividly, but I loved butter. Who doesn’t, right? Right. And uh I would steal a stick of butter and sneak into my mom’s van in the garage and just like go chow town on a stick of butter and like Yeah, that’s probably the earliest Yeah, that’s like the earliest memory I have of like loving food, you know what I mean? Or the smell of butter like on a pan almost burnt is just like heaven. It was like I just always remember that. Now, do you remember your earliest cooking memory? Yeah. Uh, scrambled eggs. Yeah. My grandma taught me to make scrambled eggs when I was I don’t know. I don’t even remember what age. I was super young. Very. But yeah, fluffy, creamy scrambled eggs, you know. She told me she taught me how to whip it. Add a little cream, you know. Um, and then I, you know, after learning that, I loved waking up and cooking for the family when we had family over and I I would just cook eggs and hear. And so, did you know really young that you were going to go the chef route? No. Um, I was a musician. My dad’s a my dad’s a really talented musician. and I would uh I used to sing with him and do concerts and whatnot back in the day with me and my sister and my dad. So we my dad’s side of the family, they’re all musically talented. It was just in our blood and um and so that was the first route that I took was was wanting to be a professional musician and then learned the the hard way that that is a very hard thing to do. Okay. So, what what inspired you um to go the food route then? Or it was a this isn’t working. What else do I love? How did you how did you leap from musician to this career which apparently obviously you also love? Yeah. Yeah. Um that’s a good question. I uh I hopped around the states and moved up north. uh was in Oregon trying to make, you know, trying to do the music thing, joining bands, touring, all that jazz. And uh was kind of a reckless fool, you know, I got into some trouble and and um and when I got my together like 10 years ago, the restaurant kind of revitalized me back to life. Uh Nate Aries is a restaurant tour in town. and he’s owns, you know, Prep and Pastry, Commodore Co. He had Flores, they just closed and he’s in Phoenix now and expanding. um he took me off the streets and you know gave me a job and uh had to start from ground zero cuz I was already I was doing well in the restaurant industry beforehand but I I had to get my feet I had to get back on my feet and and I guess that experience they welcomed me in a family you know which I lost connection to a lot of my family and my friends at that time and so yeah I just fell in love with it again and knew after a few years being there. Uh that that’s what I wanted to do was to make people, you know, welcome and feel warm. Well, it makes sense though. What we were talking about before when I asked you what you love the most about it was the people, the community, the connection and that like revitalized you. So you are like not just nourishing people’s bellies but their spirits by providing the same respit that you needed. So right I hope that I I am and can do the same you know that was done for me. So that’s yeah well I think you’re off to a really good start in in creating this space that is a throwback but also a place of comfort. What words of advice do you have for somebody who’s maybe wandering and trying to find revitalize, you know, their soul? Just throw a shot in the dark at something and uh and if you don’t like it, then throw another one, you know? And really like what was a huge influence for me was to find someone who I was like, “Oh, damn. This fool’s got it.” like this is he’s got what I want. Soak it up. Be a sponge. Humble yourself. Learn. If you really want it, it’s there for you. It’s going to take a lot of work, though. But it’s there. Well, and you know, the other side of what I do is goal strategist. So, if life’s not working, you you have a choice. You can keep spiraling or you could choose to find something else. And I I love your insights because, you know, try something, anything, and if it’s not the thing, there are other things. Yep. Yep. Exactly. But you got to do something. What is your the comfort food of choice? What do you eat when you need to to feel that like eat that love, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it changes from time to time. Like when I was in Oregon, it was definitely like sushi, you know, or like just raw salmon, sashimi salmon. Like it was like a drug. Um, and then now it’s more of like I love I love Taiwanese food like hot pots, Sichuan Chinese food. There is so much ridiculous amount of flavor and complex recipes and it’s just beautiful when it all comes together in a soup with noodles. It’s like amazing. Yeah, that’s probably where I’m at with the comfort food. Do you have a recipe that you love that you want to share? Um, yeah, I would I would put up our pastrarami, but that is a very big secret that I cannot share. because it is damn good pastrami and um you know you know how it goes with that. But I’d love to share a recipe of uh my kinish. Um, it’s a tweaked version of my old aunt, my great aunt’s uh, pinish that she used to make. And I like sharing it. Like I’m doing a cooking class we have at the JCC here in October 17, I believe, which is a Friday, um, of teaching a good amount of people a kesh recipe. And there’s something about the flow of making kesh. Hopefully, there’s someone in the kitchen with you when you’re doing it or you’re listening to a podcast or you’re bumping some music and you just dive in and you zone out and there’s a flow to making your own pastry dough and the timing has to be just right with uh letting the dough rest and then rolling it out and your potatoes are almost done as you’re rolling it and then it’s just it’s a beautiful little it’s a like a song. It’s a beautiful melody that that comes together with just perfect timing and it’s fun to make and it’s really fun to master and once you do it it’s just like second nature you know. Well, I was hoping you were going to say kesh after your kinish tangent earlier in the conversation. So, I’m really really excited about that. Right on. And it really sounds like you brought your love of music into the kitchen through cooking. Yeah. No, we always have music bumping. We curated a pretty cool playlist in the deli like dining area and whatnot and add to it every day and whatnot. So, yeah. And what kind of music then? Is it a cloud pick? It’s all over. No, it’s jazz, hip-hop, some old rock, some 90s indie. Um, yeah, it’s all over the place. So, what lessons do you think people can take from music to bring into their kitchen? What lessons can people take from music? Well, I don’t know. In my opinion, everything’s just better with music, you know? Like it’s like you’re living in a it’s like you’re living in your own sitcom or your own movie and uh there’s just moments in the restaurant or industry when you know hit the fan and you got to really you got to really uh buckle down and get through the storm and like get through a rush. And when there’s like some awesome loud passionate music playing in the background, it’s more of a force. It’s like a driving force for the crew to really zone in and and and get and get stuff done. You know what I mean? So, yes, you’re adding the soundtrack to to your life to your life. I love this. Jeremy, this has been so enlightening and I really appreciate all that you shared in your journey and your passion for this. Where can people learn more about you and your restaurant? Yeah. Yeah. We have a we have a website Nellisdelocatessan.com. Uh we have we have a pretty awesome social media for Instagram and Facebook. It’s just Nelliselatess. We post all the time, tell stories, share our food. Um share other people’s food in the community. And really the community in Tucson and in this industry and the music industry is really thriving right now. It’s solid, like really solid. People show up for each other. So, we like to showcase that, too. But, yeah. Um, I think there’s a couple articles on like Tucson Foodie and Visit Tucson as well that were put out. Awesome. Yeah. And I have to tell you, I do typically get hungry through my conversations that that I do for taste buds, but I am even more hungry than normal. Maybe I need to make some conishes. But I I so appreciate you sharing your journey and your passion of food and the power that it has to bring uh people together and that warmth, the nostalgia factor. So thank you Jeremy. Thank you for tuning in to Taste Buds with Deb. Don’t miss an episode. You can subscribe on YouTube, iTunes, and or your favorite podcast platform. And if you go to jewishjournal.com, you can get the recipes and read the articles that go with each episode. And you can learn more at tastebudswithv.com. Until next time, turn on some music, do some cooking, and bun up a tea.
Dining and Cooking