Wichita’s one day a year to indulge in Jewish deli food returns after a two-year hiatus
It’s been a long wait for the return of Jewish Deli Day — a big Wichita food event that happened every November until the pandemic put a stop to it in 2020.
Now, after a two-year hiatus, the event by Congregation Emanu-El in Wichita is back, and it happens from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.
But fans who are ready to reunite with the fundraiser’s famous matzah ball soup, corned beef, latkes and challah need to know that there’s been a big change since Deli Day last happened in 2019: The congregation has moved.
It — along with Deli Day — can now be found at 1850 N. Woodlawn. In 2020, the congregation left its longtime home at 7011 E. Central and moved into the Wichita Jewish Community Center on Woodlawn.
The menu, though, has stayed mostly the same from before the break. Those who attend will pay $20 a meal and will get a choice of beef brisket with challah roll or a corned beef sandwich on rye. Meals also include a potato knish, a cup of matzah ball soup, tomato cucumber salad and choice of strudel or a black and white cookie for dessert.
Attendees can either dine in and check out the new building or take their meals to go. Tickets are for sale at the door the day of the event or online through Friday at www.reformjewsofwichita.org/info-full-meals
While at Deli Day, people also can visit “Uncle Manny’s,” which is an on-site bakery and market that offers more than a dozen food items to go, including things like rugelach, matzah ball soup, cheese blintzes and apple strudel.
Wichita foodies seem eager to have the dinner back, said Hannah See, who is the office administrator for Congregation Emanu-El. Because Wichita lacks a restaurant that serves Jewish deli food, people eagerly await Deli Day and have missed it, she said.
“There’s excitement from not only people who knew about it in years past but also from people just finding out about it for the first time this year,” she said.
The congregation, which is made up of 90 or so families, also is happy to have its big fundraiser back. It takes dozens of volunteers to put the event together and it’s an “all hands on deck” endeavor, See said.
For more information on Deli Day, visit www.reformjewsofwichita.org/deli-day
This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 2:49 PM.
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