My major deli experiences have been primarily in New York. I have lamented the passing of the Stage, indulged with the mountainous sandwiches at the Carnegie, patronized Katz’s when I once worked near there, and currently, when I’m anywhere near Lexington Avenue and 78th Street, partake of the best pastrami I ever have savored at Pastrami Queen.

Alas, I have never been to Kenny and Ziggy’s in Houston, Texas. But if ever I find myself in Houston again, I’ll be sure to get there. The exuberant Ziggy Gruber is the star of this mouth-watering documentary as he escorts us through his establishment, and more than that, through the history and tradition of Jewish deli food in this documentary directed by Erik Greenberg Anjou.

Gruber is an unusual fellow. He is a French-trained chef who speaks Yiddish and grew up in a deli environment. His uncle and great uncle owned delis. His grandfather was the owner of the now-extinct Rialto Deli on Broadway. When Ziggy was a youngster he was already put to work by his grandpa helping to make stuffed cabbage.

To hear Gruber tell it, he had a very close feeling for his grandfather, and when he works on deli food in his kitchen, he says he feels as if his grandfather is alongside him. He talks as if love of deli were a religion. Indeed, when he was wed he chose to get married in the famous old restored synagogue in Budapest, Hungary, a scene movingly filmed.

There are close-ups of food preparation and the tempting results, with stern taskmaster Gruber barking orders in demanding that his kitchen staff meet his proclaimed standards. Beneath it all is Gruber’s love for what he was doing, keeping up Jewish deli tradition instead of aspiring to a career in fancy French restaurants.

The film suffers somewhat from repetition in Gruber’s extolling the joys of deli food, whether the assortment of meats, special preparations, blintzes etc.—the entire gamut of deli.

But Gruber is a most interesting maven, and there are clips visiting famous delis, as well as the notables who dined there. We see Jerry Stiller expounding, Larry King and the venerable actor Fyvush Finkel, and even lawyer Alan Dershowitz gets a word in.