There’s Noshing Like Benjie’s

Not many around here know much about noshing, but in New York City, it’s a part of everyday life. It has been since the 1600s, when food vendors first situated themselves all over New Amsterdam (pre-I Love N.Y. days), selling clams, corn on the cob and sweet potatoes to people in need of a fast snack.

To grab the true spirit of a traditional nosh today, step into any great New York-style delicatessen and order a bit of everything.

Benjie’s in Santa Ana is a good place for the nosh neophyte: It offers--under a menu heading of “appetizers & noshes”--gefilte fish ($3.50) and creamed pickled herring ($3.75), served with onions and rye bread (for 30 cents more, you can have a classic bagel). Or, for $14.95, one of Benjie’s hard-working waitresses will trot out the Deli Feast, loaded with corned beef, pastrami, turkey, tongue, salami, chopped liver, cheese, potato salad, cole slaw and a kosher pickle.

Though it’ll take 60 hours of Stairmastering to burn it off, nothing surpasses the delicate, decadent, pungent, peppery first bite of pastrami drenched in the sinus-clearing fragrances of fresh horseradish ($5.95). The 3-inch-high triple-decker sandwiches (referred to as “smile highs” by the waitresses) are $6.85.

Breakfast is a bigger bargain: For $3.50, you get corned beef hash, which is completely unlike that cubed potato/beef mush offered at most places. Here the hash has generous strings of shredded corned beef and pastrami, taken from the ends of the beef that can’t be cut into sandwiches.

From the noodle kugel to the kasha varnishkas and kreplach soup, everything (except a few bakery items) is prepared on site.

But in the New York tradition, an honest deli offers more than great food; it also serves as a social center, a place to kibitz over an egg cream or Cel-ray. At Benjie’s, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings, the place is electric with conversation and laughter.

Most of the customers are regulars; many have been coming in since the family-style restaurant opened 25 years ago, says Lloyd Weinstein, who works alongside his brother, Larry, and his parents, Stan and Ellie, Benjie’s founders.

The restaurant was named after Ellie’s father, Benjamin Finegold, in the Jewish tradition of naming a “newborn” after a deceased loved one.

Lloyd says three coffee-loving widows arrive each morning to chatter at the turquoise counter, then return in the evening for more of the same. It’s that kind of place.

Benjie’s, 1828 N. Tustin Ave., Santa Ana. Open daily, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (714) 541-6263.