I love a good Jewish Deli! From breakfast food to specialty sandwiches to full turkey dinner, Jewish Delis have impressively extensive menus, and everything is always delicious! However, to me, the classic Jewish Deli food is Matzo Ball Soup and a Black and White Cookie. Matzo Ball Soup is usually chicken noodle soup with a large bread-like dumpling in the middle—the matzo ball. A Black and White Cookie is a large, round cookie with a cake-like consistency that is iced half with white, vanilla frosting and half with black, chocolate frosting. Both foods are classic to Jewish Delis and absolutely delicious!

L.A. has a few very popular Jewish Deli’s and I decided to try Matzo Ball Soup with bagel chips and a Black and White Cookie from each of them to find the best Jewish Deli in L.A. In my experiment I included Canter’s Deli, Jerry’s Deli, and Brent’s Deli.

My least favorite deli was Canter’s. The flavor of the Matzo Ball Soup was good, but it came with only a matzo ball, no chicken or noodles or veggies! The bagel chips were also cut a bit thick for my liking. Additionally, the cookie part of the Black and White Cookie was oddly dense and crumbly for my taste. The black and white part of the cookie was also softer than it usually is in my experience. With most Black and White Cookies, the white part is a harder, icing consistency and the black part is a softer, frosting consistency. However, with the Canter’s Black and White Cookie, both sides were softer and more frosting-like. Canter’s had both my least favorite soup and cookie.

Brent’s came number two for me. The broth of the Matzo Ball Soup was very flavorful and there was a generous amount of noodles and chicken (although I could’ve used a few more carrots). The bagel chips were AMAZING! They are cut very thin and cooked so that they are crispy and fall to pieces in your mouth. My favorite bagel chips of all the delis! However, the Black and White Cookie was just okay. They were definitely the biggest Black and White Cookies and the cookie part of it was lovely and spongey, but the frosting was seriously lacking in flavor. The white side of the cookie was good enough, but the chocolate side barely tasted like chocolate! Brent’s had my favorite soup, but only my second favorite cookie.

And finally, my favorite deli was Jerry’s! The Matzo Ball Soup included chicken, noodles, and carrots, but the flavor of the broth was a bit weaker than that of Canter’s and Brent’s. The bagel chips were very crispy and yummy, but still a little thick for my liking. The Black and White Cookie from Jerry’s was my favorite cookie (which is why this is my favorite deli)! The cookie part was soft and sponge-y, like it should be and the chocolate and vanilla were both very flavorful. The chocolate was soft and the vanilla was harder, just how I like it. I kept going back and forth between the two sides, I couldn’t pick a favorite! Jerry’s had, by far, my favorite cookie and they also had my second favorite soup.

What’s your favorite Jewish Deli? Do you think something else counts as the classic Jewish deli dish? What other ‘best of’ lists would you like to see?

canters deli.com

brentsdeli.com

jerrysdeli.com