The Borsch Belt

By Frank D. Quattrone

Blessed with peerless curiosity, selfless resourcefulness, and an infectious zest for life, celebrity chef Nick Liberato has now trained his uncanny culinary sense on The Borscht Belt. No, not the now moribund Jewish summer resorts in the Catskills, but on an inspired revival of Jewish soul food in his latest restaurant, which he refers to as “a love letter to the Jewish delicatessen.” 

Situated in Newtown’s bustling restaurant and shopping hub, The Borscht Belt has already attracted a loyal following since opening in June. Not hard to see why. Liberato and his business partner, Mike Dalewitz, have spared no expense in creating a modern spin on the “theater” of the Catskills’ and Metropolitan New York’s deli scene.

Built from scratch, their new deli features the hexagonal subway tiles, globe lighting fixtures, tin ceiling, banquettes and up-close seating that invites guests to chat freely with each other. The walls are adorned with a neon “Be a Mensch” sign, a watercolor of comedian Henny Youngman, and actual receipts from Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel.

But it’s clearly the food that draws in the happily surprised, chattering clientele. Not just the freshly baked Ess-A-Bagels brought in daily from New York or Shelsky’s Famous Bialys from Brooklyn. Not just the tart, juicy pickles from Gus’s, Capital, and The Pickle Guy from the Big Apple. It’s also the house-made pastrami, the invitation to “Create Your Own Nosh,” the deli counter, where house made brisket, gravlax, whitefish salad, and babka beckon guests to take them home.

At The Borscht Belt, Chef Nick adds cornichons to the humble egg salad, infuses sauerkraut with Riesling, and elevates Jewish comfort food to new heights. Eve reveled in her Bahn Mitzvah, the chef’s take on a traditional Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich, layered with house made brisket, chicken liver paté, chili sambal aioli, cilantro, pickled carrot, cucumber, and jalapeño, served on fresh French bread. I loved the chef’s favorite, The Pines—pastrami cured salmon with honey mustard, horseradish cream cheese and red onion on toasted caraway seeded rye.

We took home a sumptuous Kellermans Favorite, a veritable Dagwood sandwich layered with pastrami, corned beef, turkey and Swiss cheese with Russian dressing and cole slaw on toasted seeded rye. A whole meal that easily satisfied us both, along with a generous portion of the deli’s Famous Chocolate Babka, from a legendary 150-year-old Hasidic recipe from Brooklyn.

So now you must be wondering how this very Italian young man ended up mastering and sharing his concept of a classic Borscht Belt Jewish deli. Although the chef was born in Doylestown, from the time he was 7 years old, he spent countless hours at his grandparents’ three produce stands in the heart of South Philadelphia’s Italian Market. He told me that his father’s mom had the greatest influence on him, as well as his own father, Nick Liberato, now retired, who was quite a chef in his own right.

“With all these influences, food came easily to me,” he said. “Every night the kitchen was a holiday. I was raised on great peasant food. There was never any waste. We made escarole soup from scratch and every kind of Italian dish you could think of. I learned early what food can do. And I also looked up to Anthony Bourdain.”

The well-travelled Bourdain clearly inspired the young chef’s own travel urge. So he set out in the 1990s for Los Angeles, where he combined his love of cooking with a newfound passion for surfing, and soon established an incredibly successful catering company called Calidelphia that literally had top celebrities such as Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Barbra Streisand, Cher, and Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers eating out of his hands.

With his culinary cunning, resourceful bent, and ambition to make good restaurants great, Nick Liberato ultimately salvaged two struggling restaurants in L.A., which led to perhaps his most noteworthy enterprise—an original Netflix restaurant renovation series called Restaurants on the Edge (2019-2020). As executive producer, Liberato and his two partners, celebrity chef Dennis Prescott and interior designer Karin Bohn, traveled the world to rescue struggling restaurants from bankruptcy or failure.

But the consummate family man, now married to his beautiful wife Jennifer, decided to settle in for a while, returning to his Bucks County roots to be sure his three daughters, Sofia, Alessandra, and Bella, would get to enjoy their grandparents. Meanwhile, he and business partner Mike Dalewitz opened the first iteration of The Borscht Belt in Stockton, N.J., another resounding success, until the owner decided to close the market area in which the restaurant was located. 

Liberato had always enjoyed Jewish food as a boy, was always attracted to Jewish culture, married a Jewish wife, found a great Jewish partner, learned to slice fish from master chefs in New York, and did plenty of practical research in the Jewish delis in and around the Big Apple. And now he offers his inspired take on Jewish soul food in Newtown. 

“We didn’t need another great Italian restaurant. It was time for something new.” The chef will be cooking at the San Diego Food & Wine Festival in November, and he hints strongly that Newtown’s Borsch Belt just might be the first of many more to come.

The Borscht Belt Delicatessen is located at 2124 South Eagle Road, Newtown, PA 18938; 267-297-2600; https://theborschtbelt.com. Open seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Platters for special occasions. Delivery. Reservations recommended.