The Helfand’s Story

Every great city needs a New York Style deli and when iconic Worcester Delis like Weintraub’s and Maury’s closed in the past few years Worcester became a city with no Deli.

Delis were always a place to meet friends, enjoy a great sandwich packed with hot corned beef or pastrami on fresh Rye bread, enjoy a cup of Matzo Ball soup, a hot Knish, and a great half sour pickle.

So, four friends got together and decided they needed to create a new Worcester deli tradition. The dream started with Carl Goldstein, one of the partners of Worcester Accounting firm S&G who recruited local Worcester friends David Cohen, Andy Davis and Ward McLaughlin to join him in his dream.

Their dream turned into Helfand’s Deli. After finding a location on Highland Street the four bought a former restaurant and after extensive renovations have created a new, vibrant, NY Style Deli in the heart of Worcester.

So where does Helfand’s name come from?

Helfand in Yiddish means “Elephant” a symbol of luck and prosperity. Elephants also represent long life, wisdom, and vitality. Elephants represent great strength and the ability to remove obstacles. The four friends knew that to succeed in this venture they would need luck, wisdom, and a lot of vitality. So, the symbol became the new name of Worcester newest Deli.

Helfand’s Deli is proud to announce that master chef Mike Sobel will be heading the restaurant. Mike a former head chef of Legacy Grill and Executive Chef at Assumption College, and numerous Restaurants and Banquet facilities in the Northeast has taken on the task of preparing traditional NY Style Deli items for this venture. Mike, another Worcester native, grew up watching his grandmother and mother make amazing Jewish specialties for her family and cooking for seniors at the Worcester JCC.

Over the past year Mike has mastered the art of curing corned beef and pastrami and recreated the great Jewish recipes that he saw being made by his grandmother and mother.

Now that Helfand’s Deli is a reality, we hope you’ll visit and enjoy Worcester’s own NY style deli.