Grossinger’s iconic rye bread rises again
A forthcoming scripted TV show about Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel is getting a product tie-in aimed at igniting appetites among fans of the famed Borscht Belt retreat.
The creator of the series “The Mountains,” is working with the kosher food company Streit’s to launch a cracker version of the hotel’s iconic rye bread.
Producer Harris Salomon and Newtown, Pennsylvania-based Borscht Belt Delicatessen president Mike Dalewitz, whose extended family ran various Catskills resorts, are launching a new product: Grossinger’s Rye Cracker Boards. They describe it in promotional materials as “a light, flavorful, and healthy take on a traditional classic,” based upon Jennie Grossinger’s beloved rye bread recipe.
“A generation of people who went to Grossinger’s — they remember the foods, from the Grossinger recipe book, from the hotel recipes,” Salomon said. “And hopefully there’ll be other products coming out later that also reflect the recipes, the legacy of the taste of food at Grossinger’s.”
Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel, which later served as the inspiration for the 1987 hit film “Dirty Dancing,” became famous in the post-World War II era for its celebrity performers and clientele. At its peak, the resort hosted some 150,000 guests per year, and boasted three swimming pools, a golf course, 600 rooms, and two kosher kitchens, as well as its own post office.
Many well-known Jewish comedians and entertainers got their start performing at Borscht Belt resorts in the mid-20th century, including Mel Brooks, Jackie Mason, and Joan Rivers. Actor and singer Eddie Fisher’s career began at Grossinger’s — legend has it that Eddie Cantor discovered Fisher while he was performing at the resort.
Like other Catskills hotels, Grossinger’s was also beloved for its food. Though Jennie Grossinger’s rye bread recipe was not included in her popular 1958 cookbook, it did take on a life of its own as Grossinger’s Country Club Rye Bread, which began mass production in 1954. It was the first kosher rye bread baked under rabbinical supervision by a major baking company, according to the New York Times.
The launch of Grossinger’s Rye Cracker Boards is meant to appeal to a broader audience, beyond the people who normally purchase kosher packaged goods, Salomon added. “This is all part of this kind of Catskill rebranding, if you will,” he said.
The rye crackers made their debut last weekend at the third annual Borscht Belt Festival in Ellenville, New York, which celebrates Jewish nostalgia about the Catskills. They will also be sold online, and customers can expect to see it on some grocery store shelves in the New York metro area by September, Salomon said.
Dalewitz, a serial entrepreneur, is president of Grossinger’s Foods, which expects to put out a full line of Grossinger’s branded kosher foods with Streit’s, including an applesauce and possibly a wine.
“This brand is about food, but also about family, legacy, and laughter,” Dalewitz said in a press release. “We’re making something you’ll love whether you remember the Catskills or are just discovering them.”
As for the Grossinger’s television show, Salomon is producing the series with Alan Zwiebel of Bergen County, an early “Saturday Night Live” writer who spent his childhood summers there. “The Mountains” will follow “the untold, multigenerational story of Jennie and Elaine Grossinger, the formidable matriarchs who transformed a humble Catskills boarding house into an empire of leisure, elegance, and resistance,” according to Deadline.
Salomon, whose previous credits include producing “The Dr. Ruth Show,” acquired the rights to the Grossinger’s family story in 2019, after the second season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” aired. The characters spent a significant amount of time at a Borscht Belt resort during the course of that season.
“The way they created that whole patina of the Upper West Side in the 1950s and ’60s was just so beautiful,” Salomon said of the hit Prime Video series, which ran for a total of five seasons. “It was bringing back a part of not only Jewish New York but a part of New York that was genuinely lost, and it was so rich. I mean, even though I didn’t live it, I had heard about it, and I think it was a part of the folklore, if you will, of all New Yorkers. And I wanted to do the same thing with the Catskills.”
Salomon, who grew up in Westchester, said he never had the opportunity to go to Grossinger’s, which closed for good in 1986.
“I was from a slightly younger generation, but it always fascinated me, because it was a lost world, really,” he said.
Salomon added that he hopes “The Mountains” will be released “sometime in 2026.”
One of the entertainers at the Borscht Belt Festival was comedian Linda Hirshbein Belt, who was born and raised in Jersey City and spent childhood summers at Masten Lake in the Catskills. As she said, “This Belt had fun at the Borscht Belt.”
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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