My 5-year-old son Hank has been eating bowls of soup bigger than his head since he could hold a spoon. He is such a matzo ball head that the last time we were at our regular place he got to utter that iconic line "I'll have the usual." (It was actually more like "I'll get that one thing that I always get here." He's still working on the idiom).
He'll be in his element, along with his twin sister Lucy, next week, when Chanukah begins sundown Dec. 25 (aka Christmas Day -- the first time they've coincided since 2005). Instead of Chinese food, (or along with, whatever you do) we'll likely have hearty bowls of matzo ball soup at our table.
My dad's ideal bowl is a thick matzo ball -- the kind of thing he says you could throw across the room at a cousin. He also wants the carrots and celery to be so soft they fall apart instantly in your mouth. It's pretty hard for him to find this at the deli. He said occasionally someone in the kitchen at Jerry's Deli (RIP) would send out a hardball -- but it wasn't consistent.
My mom's matzo ball ideal is closer to the L.A. deli standard. A fluffy matzo ball, maybe made airier with the presence of seltzer. Squishy matzo balls with firm vegetables.
Sinkers or swimmers, there's definitely an argument to be had. (Case in point: when I asked the Save the Deli Facebook group their personal favorite it almost came to blows. Firm! Fluffy! Check out some of their words of wisdom later in the story).
So I decided to speak to the masters, aka L.A.'s delis, to get the inside scoop on making a great matzo ball soup.
When they opened in 2012 they were the first of a generation to bring handmade chef-driven Ashkenazi cuisine to a wide audience at Grand Central Market. They've since added a Santa Monica shop and a location inside the Aria resort in Las Vegas.
Customers regularly kvell over the deli's ability to make matzo balls that taste like those from their childhoods.
Owner Michael Kassar said the key to great matzo balls "is using extremely high-quality, pasture-raised egg yolks, and not adding too much matzo meal".
"The goal is to keep the matzo ball light and fluffy," he said. "Form the balls delicately, use high quality schmaltz, and simmer gently."
When my nana and Auntie Jan moved from the old neighborhood to Canoga Park in the 70s they'd still have their favorite deli dishes caravanned over from Pico-Robertson.
But when Frank's Weiler's Deli opened in Canoga Park they had found their spot.
(The deli was a big enough deal for our family that my nana wanted to make sure that they catered her funeral.)
Frank Mesriani said their secret to a great matzo ball "is to keep the dough in a cooler for about an hour before boiling them."
Mesriani, who left Iran in 1979, said he also "put a touch of my Sephardic heritage into my menu. I add a bit of turmeric to the soup."
Nate 'n Al's said it "probably goes through 60 pounds of matzo meal a week."
The matzo ball itself needs to have "schmaltz, good eggs, and an ample amount of sodium." And to prepare the dumpling and give it a good shape, an ice cream scooper is recommended. Then it's poached in salt and water.
But you've also got to have a strong chicken broth. "We are making a chicken broth daily," he added.
If you think keeping a matzo ball together is hard, imagine the challenges of doing it vegan style -- without things like eggs or schmaltz. Chef Megan Tucker of Mort and Betty's has made it her mission to crack the code.
For her, getting a dense umami-full broth is the easier part.
She said that while some of the vegan soup bases are totally fine for home use, she likes to make her broth from scratch. She makes a mirepoix, and adds in shiitake mushrooms (to replace the chicken.)
Then she adds fresh bay leaf, a little fresh turmeric, and fresh thyme. "I can never find parsley root, so I use parsley stems, plus any alliums I have laying around, like leeks," Tucker said.
She also includes fresh dill, onion powder, black pepper, and traditional aromatics, "to make it tasty."
The matzo balls have taken a little more experimentation. Tucker said that for the past three years she has been using The Matzo Project, an all-natural artisanal matzo brand founded in 2014. She said the product has "a tastier base to start with, but I had to adjust it because it's a coarser grind of matzo crumbs."
As for replacing the egg and schmaltz, Tucker said she landed on psyllium husk: "They're typically used as a fiber supplement, but they gel when you add water, acting as a binder."
And instead of the 20 minutes refrigeration for conventional matzo balls, she said they make the mix, shape it immediately and refrigerate it overnight.
You can buy four matzo balls in broth by the quart on Sundays at Atwater Farmers Market.
Suzee Markowitz has been running this place with her sister Debbie for more than forty years.
She said the restaurant makes an estimated 3,500 matzo balls a week. Her customers like to customize their matzo ball soups; some just want broth and a matzo ball, others want noodles, others want rice. Her favorite way is to add kasha varnishkes, the bow-tie noodle and buckwheat groat Ashkenazi comfort food. "Try it next time you come in," she said.
The kitchen has a legacy as well. Head Chef Silverio Perez has been working in the kitchen with his four brothers and cousins since he started as a young dishwasher in 1981. His father Papa Chuy had been running the kitchen since 1979. Their family is originally from Tala, Jalisco.
His matzo ball making process is to "break an egg into some vegetable oil. Add baking powder, white pepper, salt, and chicken base. Then mix. Once they're ready, boil in water."
Suzee playfully interjects that "we blow kisses" into each matzo ball "because they are made with love."
Jacqueline Canter told me they've made over 24 million matzo balls since opening Canter's on Fairfax. They use a 100-year-old recipe for its soup, which includes matzo balls, noodles, chicken, onions, carrots, celery, and parsnips.
Her grandfather first opened Canter's in 1924 in Jersey City. Then, after losing the deli to the stock market crash, they relocated to Los Angeles with $500 in their pocket and opened their first location in Boyle Heights in 1931. In 1948 they moved with the Jewish community to the Fairfax neighborhood -- then into their current location inside the old Esquire theater in 1953.
Jacqueline Canter said many people swear matzo ball soup is "Jewish Penicillin" and "the cure for the common cold," to the extent that as soon as they get out of the hospital they go and pick up this comfort food.
Note: they also offer vegetarian matzo balls, as well as vegetarian broth, so everyone can have their fill.
Not to get too schmaltzy, but chicken soup really has the power to bring your family together. Even if you're still figuring out how to keep your matzo balls from falling apart.
"Dad, that was yummy," is the ultimate feel-good compliment. Even if it wasn't perfect, my family still enjoyed it.
Finally, for the matzo ball lovers among you, I recommend the scene from Janicza Bravo's 2017 movie Lemon, of a family singing along to Dean Friedman's novelty song "A Million Matzoh Balls."
It's just hilarious and reminds me of my family. And now my kids won't stop singing it.