Chaim Davids in his store Prohibition Pickle
There’s something uniquely appropriate about opening a new restaurant in the middle of a nationwide pandemic and lockdown and then calling it “Prohibition” or in this case “Prohibition Pickle.”
Walking around the distressingly empty Kanyon Harim Mall in Gush Etzion, I noticed an unusual pashkevil (poster) in a corner of the mall warning about prohibition pickles. After some hand signaling and tough negotiating with Chaim Davids (an out-of-towner from Baltimore), the young man inside setting up the shop, I was let in and found myself immediately overwhelmed by the delicious and distinctive aroma of a genuine NY deli, flooding me with memories from earlier days.