They escaped the Holocaust for a new life in Colorado. Their deli dream lives on | Craving Colorado
The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, a family-owned establishment founded by Holocaust survivors Paul and Lola Weiner in 1967, has become a local institution known for its authentic Jewish deli experience. Now run by their grandson Jared Kaplan, the deli, featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” continues to thrive, offering a diverse menu of traditional Jewish dishes and sandwiches and maintaining it’s family legacy.
DENVER • Tom Craft walks into a busy Bagel Deli, where owner Jared Kaplan and others behind the counter are slicing meats to stack on rye while shouting at customers for orders.
“Whaddya need?” goes Kaplan’s common line.
Craft wants a — “I know, I know,” Kaplan says, cutting off the regular. Another Reuben piled high, half corned beef, half pastrami.
More importantly, “How’s your boy doing?” Kaplan asks.
Craft’s boy is just fine, though surely he would prefer to be here with his dad for another Bagel Deli run.
Craft has been coming for years. The reason is simple.
“This is the best deli in Denver,” he says, “if not the only real deli in Denver.”
Terry Varkony, a customer for around 35 years, talks about how The Bagel Deli & Restaurant is the closest he’s found to the jewish delis he grew up with in New York, as he waits for his table on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Denver, Colo.(Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
Or take it from Terry Varkony, another regular of 35 years. He grew up in New York, eating at the Jewish delis there, so he would know: “This is as close as you can get,” he says.
“As authentic as it gets,” goes the slogan of the family-owned shop in a nondescript strip mall off Hampden Avenue.
A half order of the Rueben Sandwich, on marble rye bread and ordered with half pastrami and half corned-beef, is a favorite, as seen on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo.(Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
The setting is as unassuming as the name itself, the Bagel Deli, which would be easy to miss were it not for the neon sign above the door.
The light has been seen shining at night, just as it did in the early years. It could very well represent light in darkness — light that was hard to find for a young couple escaping the Holocaust.
Paul and Lola Weiner, immigrants from Austria, arrived to Denver in 1939. They went on to open the Bagel Deli in 1967.
Third-generation owner Jared Kaplan slides a customer’s rueben up for the waiters on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo.(Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
Today their grandson, Jared, keeps a helpful guide out front. It’s a guide for non-Jewish customers, translating items to be found inside: A blintz is a crepe, it explains; a knish a stuffed pastry; challah a braided egg bread; latke like “a potato pancake”; lox meaning “Sunday’s breakfast of smoked salmon.”
Also listed is “meshugah,” Yiddish for “crazy,” which is what Paul Weiner would have called his family for once closing the deli to host a TV show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” And there’s “Bubbie,” meaning grandmother — another central figure inside.
Jared’s great-grandmother, Valerie Klurman, is seen in the picture frame behind the counter where many of her recipes are still prepared.
A large matzo ball makes the Homemade Chicken Soup with noodles a full meal at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant, as seen on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Denver, Colo.(Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
There’s the matzo ball soup, of course. There’s kishke (encased stuffing) and kugel (a noodle casserole). Prake (stuffed cabbage) and Bubbie’s mandel bread, which you might call biscotti.
Of great interest to that show host, Guy Fieri, was the sandwiches. Particularly the Reubens, which know epic variations here involving corned beef, pastrami, sauerkraut and Swiss. Other common additions to the pile: egg salad, chopped liver and coleslaw, among foods spanning coolers and cases.
“This is dying,” second-generation owner Rhoda Kaplan says of the array.
A Bagel Deli Philly sits at the front of a large lunch order on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo.
Dying at other delis, perhaps. But not at the Bagel Deli, which lists another key ingredient to authenticity: attitude.
Rhoda’s son, Jared, embodies that. He’s the straight-talking, wise-cracking man in charge now, just like his grandfather before him.
Third-generation owner Jared Kaplan is surrounded by family photos hanging on the dining room wall on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo.(Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
Third-generation owner Jared Kaplan, surrounded by family photos hanging on the dining room wall, wipes away tears as he talks about his relationship with his grandfather who initially purchased the deli in the 60’s, as seen on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo. Kaplan described his grandfather as his best friend. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
But beneath the attitude is tenderness. Jared can’t help but cry at the memory of Papa. He can’t help but cry reflecting on his role now — not just maintaining a business, but a legacy.
Finding home
That’s Paul Weiner in picture frames on the dining room wall, him back in his 10th Mountain Division days. The legendary Army unit was a chapter in a tragic story.
The story began quite the opposite; Paul was highly educated, from a well-to-do family in Vienna. His daughter, Rhoda, shows photos of the family’s high-end apartment and luxury store from back in the capital city.
Rhoda Kaplan shows a photo to her son Jared of the building in Vienna where her father grew up and housed the family business before fleeing the Nazis and coming to the U.S.
“Then of course Hitler came,” Rhoda says.
In 1939, young Paul fled as part of a hurried, scattered exodus that broke up the family. He arrived in Denver with a girl he knew, Lola, and women of her family.
Other relatives had been captured and sent to concentration camps. Paul and Lola would build a life together, a life forever changed by death and destruction.
Joining the Army was Paul’s attempt to fast-track U.S. citizenship. He came as an avid skier, suiting him well for the 10th Mountain Division. He came knowing several languages, serving him in Belgium, where he interrogated prisoners of war.
Life would be hard back home. It didn’t feel like home.
Rhoda Kaplan, left, and her son Jared Kaplan, the second- and third-generation owners, respectively, laugh while talking about the history of the family and business last month 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo.
“It was a struggle coming to a new country,” Rhoda says. “We lived in a little 900-square-foot house with one bathroom. … It was really through the generosity of the community, especially the Jewish community, that (my parents) survived.”
They had the synagogue. Lola was active there, cooking for the congregation in the traditional way. She and Paul learned the American way elsewhere. They ran the kitchen at Meadow Hills Golf Course until coming by a for-sale business to make their own in 1967.
The business was called the Bagel Deli. It was originally off 14th Avenue and Krameria Street, “a hub where Jewish people immigrated,” Rhoda remembers. “There was an instant clientele.”
In 1971, the Bagel Deli moved south to what was then a much different stretch of Hampden Avenue, without the buildings and traffic.
“We’ve watched Denver grow up around us,” says Rhoda’s husband, Joe.
All along, the Bagel Deli stayed much the same. Then Joe got a call one day.
“I pick up the phone,” he recalls, “and it’s some guy who says, I’m so-and-so from ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.’”
Keeping the light
The show aired in 2011 and skyrocketed the deli’s popularity, beyond the neighborhood and old Jewish friends.
“The best way I could put it,” Jared says, “is if you look at any four tables now, there’s a table of what you’d call hipsters these days, a table of bikers, a table of old Jewish women and a table of people who are middle-aged people with kids.”
Waitress Jodi Shedletski laughs with customers as she takes their order on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo.(Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
There are more non-Jewish people now, explaining the food guide posted out front. Slow hours are few and far between.
Paul and Lola would be amazed, Rhoda thinks. Her dad died in 1994, followed by her mom. But Rhoda still sees them.
“They’re smiling on us,” she says. “My dad would just be shaking his head, going, Would you look at this.”
Sergio Caamal slices and toasts a customer bagel on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo.(Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
Customers Matt Simpson, left, and Stephen Chestnut look over the desserts behind the glass in the deli while they wait to be seated in the dining room on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo.
Look at Jared now. His was a long, winding road — from what he called his “black sheep” youth to unsteady years later, bouncing from jobs as a firefighter, a farm hand and a chef.
Papa knew something about tough times.
“My grandfather was my best friend,” Jared says, wiping tears. “He always told me I was gonna be OK.”
He would be OK thanks to what Papa created.
“I pull up here every day and know that I’m keeping his dream and my grandmother’s dream alive,” Jared says.
He sometimes leaves at night under the neon glow of that old sign. It’s a very old sign now.
Third-generation owner Jared Kaplan jokes that he’s been doing this too long as he slices pastrami and salami for an order last month 2024, at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant in Denver, Colo.
“We don’t want to take it down and fix it,” Jared says, “because it still flashes every night.”
On the menu
The Vegetable Beef Barley soup is a favorite at The Bagel Deli & Restaurant, as seen on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Denver, Colo.(Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
The Bagel Deli’s menu at last check listed 18 different combo sandwiches ($17.50, with choice of coleslaw, chips, potato salad, cottage cheese or fruit). Third-generation owner Jared Kaplan likes No. 2 (corned beef, pastrami and swiss) while his father likes No. 6 (corned beef and egg salad).
Another side of the menu is dedicated to the first-generation owner, “Papa Paul’s Pastrami Parade.” Several variations of pastrami with turkey, tongue, chopped liver and onions, lettuce and tomato and mayo. Brisket and beef comprise other favorites, including the Philly (marinated roast beef, grilled green peppers, onions and provolone).
The menu also points to some of what Guy Fieri ate on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” The Classic Reuben is hot corned beef, sauerkraut and swiss. The Triple D Sampler includes a few of the deli’s vast array of traditional Jewish bites: matzo ball soup, meat knish and kishke.
The vegetable beef barley is another soup recipe passed through generations. Among other suggested “deli treats” ($10-$14): potato- or beef-stuffed knishes, prake (stuffed cabbage) and potato latkes.
Lox, eggs, onions and fries are a go-to for breakfast (served all day, $8-$16). As are the bagel sandwiches, built by egg, cheese and meat including fried pastrami in the place of bacon. Jared says to not overlook the surprise huevos rancheros.
Blintzes (like cheese-filled crepes topped by fruit) go for breakfast and dessert ($6). Cheesecake made in-house along with the beloved cinnamon apple knish.
Craving Colorado is a monthly dive into the culinary character of the Centennial State. Send your recommendations to seth.boster@gazettedev.gazette.com
Bagel Deli, 6439 E. Hampden Ave., Denver, is open daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; restaurant closes at 3 p.m. 303-756-6667, bageldeli.com
For a video from the Bagel Deli, go to gazettedev.gazette.com