Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen is designed to combine traditional New York deli food with contemporary cuisine.
Chyna Blackmon
Tuesday is a “slow day” for Kenny & Ziggy’s in Houston’s Post Oak. You wouldn’t know it in its packed dining room where the wait for a table was 15 minutes (unless you sat at the bar).
The 27-year-old delicatessen, restaurant and bakery has been at 1743 Post Oak Blvd for fewer than five years. Yet even in its new, larger space, it’s serving more customers than ever before.
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Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen opened in Houston in 1999.
Chyna Blackmon
A graduate of culinary school in England with experience working in and running restaurants, Ziggy Gruber was no stranger to the culinary world—but Texas was new territory. Kenny Friedman’s father sought him out to bring a New York-style deli to Houston. They opened their namesake restaurant in 1999, combining traditional New York deli food with contemporary cuisine.
In 2022, Gruber and Friedman chose not to renew the lease on their original restaurant at 2327 Post Oak Blvd. because of plans to demolish the building. They moved the deli to a former Luby’s location about half a mile away—bringing that same Big Apple spirit to the new space with walls lined with Broadway playbills and celebrity caricatures.
Decor at Kenny & Ziggy’s Delicatessen Restaurant and Bakery.
Chyna Blackmon
With more than twice as much seating as the original outpost, along with a full-service bar, onsite bakery and soda fountain, the longtime deli has found a new purpose in its new space.
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Diners during the lunch service at Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen.
Chyna Blackmon
Cakes and pies from the deli of Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen.
Chyna Blackmon
Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen moved to its current space in 2022.
Chyna Blackmon
Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen has a full-service bar, onsite bakery and soda/coffee bar that offers milkshakes, ice cream sodas and sundaes.
Chyna Blackmon
“The space itself? I like better. The other space was L-shaped, and we carved out a back room from another space, so it was a little broken up and tight. But when we came here, everything was open,” said Gruber, who has been the sole owner since Friedman left four years ago. “It’s almost like a social club, the new restaurant, where everyone knows each other: ‘Oh, there’s Charlie over there. Oh, there’s the mayor.’ Everyone sees everybody.”
With a 2-and-a-half-foot menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you might spend just as much time trying to decide on a dish as you would waiting for it to be prepared. That was basically my experience, while I scoured through the menu with a bowl of the restaurant’s complimentary pickles.
Following the menu’s suggestion, I started with dessert, indulging in Kenny & Ziggy’s famous torte—a combination of cheesecake and chocolate mousse with an Oreo crust.
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Kenny & Ziggy’s Famous Torte is made with layers of cheesecake, chocolate mousse and an Oreo crust.
Chyna Blackmon
It was a delicious decision—but perhaps not the wisest one before tackling the Ziggalicious “fancy schmancy” burger, piled high with pastrami, aged Swiss cheese, Russian dressing and coleslaw on a challah bun. By the time it arrived with a side of crispy fries, I was already nearly full, fighting the urge to finish my dessert so I could fully enjoy a burger that was massive in both flavor and size.
Even after a few bites of my burger, I was already daydreaming about the other menu items offered at the restaurant that I could dig into during a future visit.
The Zigalicious burger piled with pastrami, aged Swiss cheese and topped with Russian dressing and coleslaw on a challah bun.
Chyna Blackmon
There are shareable noshes, sandwiches, soups, stacked burgers and smoked bagelwiches, just to name a few, along with a delectable dessert lineup from the onsite bakery, including giant cookies, pies and cakes. Some ingredients are even shipped in from New York, including burgers made with a special blend of short ribs and skirt steak ground by Pat LaFrieda, as well as fish flown in from New York daily and hand-sliced.
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Cookies from Kenny & Ziggy’s Delicatessen Restaurant and Bakery.
Chyna Blackmon
“We have everything, and it’s a varied menu but we do that for a reason. If you don’t know where you’re going to eat or what you want, come here. I promise there’s something on the menu you’re going to want to eat,” Gruber said.
“On top of that, we get big tables all the time—parties of 10 or 20. Everyone’s like, ‘Okay, Grandpa’s going to have something traditional, maybe Hungarian goulash or stuffed cabbage. The kids are going to say, ‘I’ll take a Chinese chicken salad or a sashimi salad.’ And Mom and Dad are going to say, ‘I want a corned beef or pastrami sandwich.'”
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With nationwide shipping, Gruber also said Kenny & Ziggy’s has grown a fan base in multiple cities across the country, including New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.
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The soda fountain bar offers milkshakes, ice cream sodas and sundaes, plus cake, coffee, pastries and coffee drinks.
Chyna Blackmon
While Houston—and even Texas doesn’t scream “deli destination,” Kenny & Ziggy’s has become one in its own right, gaining a reputation across the state and country as one of the best.
“When we first started, I would say, you know, 70 percent of our clientele was Jewish. 30 percent was not. Now, that’s reversed,” Gruber said. “It’s not that we lost anybody, we didn’t. Our customer base has grown so much…and this has become a real center of the universe for Houston.”
Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Chyna Blackmon