This article was originally published in Boro Magazine in September 2020.
When Andrew Steinberg started his Jewish catering company early last year, his most popular item launched him into New York’s food market scene. Customers told him to focus on the pastrami, and he listened.
Steinberg, an Astoria resident for the past 18 years, has worked in the food industry since he was a teenager, but mostly in front-of-house roles. After co-founding a vendor at Brooklyn’s Smorgasburg food market, he decided to branch out on his own.
“I did a couple of other small managing projects before I realized ... if I’m going to spend all this time building someone’s company, it might as well be my own,” Steinberg said.
The idea for his catering company came from his background — his father is an Ashkenazi Jew and his mother is African American. Steinberg said he figured soul food was inundated in New York, but there was a lack of what he coined “Pan-Jewish” in the market — food from the diaspora including European, Sefardi, and Israeli dishes — especially in Astoria. Plus, Carnegie Deli had recently closed.
“Anything that a Jew eats, I’ll serve,” he said.
He set out to make his own pastrami, brisket, Israeli kebabs, and babka, a sweet European dessert made of braided dough.
Despite not having a professional background cooking, he’s always been passionate about it and learned from all the restaurants he worked at. Food was also important while growing up in Flushing. He said his family was competitive about who brought the best babka to parties — “babka street cred” was important. He also watched his grandfather cook pastrami on his Weber Grill.
“Pastrami was a big thing in my family growing up,” he said.
But, he didn’t learn how to make it until recently. Steinberg turned to all the information he could find about how Katz Deli makes pastrami to figure out his method. He uses a professional smoker and goes through a “long, painstaking process” that involves 10 days to cure the meat and hours in the professional smoker — a 12-day timeline.
With feedback from his first catering customers, he honed his craft, creating Berg’s Pastrami. He started at Queens Night Market last year and went on to sell in-person at markets across the city and at Fifth Hammer Brewing Co. in Long Island City and Queens Brewery in Ridgewood. He was the only American chef featured in the Queens Market’s recent book featuring 50 vendors, “The World Eats Here.” Steinberg moved from working out of the communal kitchen at the Entrepreneur Space in Long Island City to another kitchen in the area that has a bigger smoker.
“It was just shocking how it just went from 0 to 100, and just to see people lining up, like 20, 30 people in a queue to wait for your food,” he said of starting his popup company. “For somebody who loves to please and loves to cook for people, nothing is a better feeling than that.”
He said his typical customers range from tourists who know they have to try a pastrami sandwich while they’re in town to experts who already love it.
COVID-19 was disappointing for Steinberg, who loves serving customers and feeds off the energy of crowds of thousands at food markets. And, selling mobile food was 95% of his business. He spent February preparing for the summer Smorgasburg season, right before businesses essentially shut down.
When Smorgaburg launched on a smaller, socially distant scale in July, Steinberg was in the first lineup of vendors opening week. Even though he’s faced some challenges, and it wasn’t the same as last year, he didn’t appear to let it get him down.
I met him there on a hot, humid August evening to try the pastrami for myself. Brimming with energy, he greeted us while wrapping up a classic pastrami sandwich, a Reuben (his number-one seller), and a Dr. Brown’s black cherry soda — he insisted. We also watched him at work at his booth, slathering classic rye bread with Thousand Island dressing, carefully cutting through the thick smoked meat, adding swiss, and waiting for the perfect moment to slice it in half, to show off the melted cheese slowly pulling apart.
His favorite moment is watching “that eye roll” when people take their first bite.
“I definitely miss that,” he said.
He didn’t get to see ours, but I watched my sister and her boyfriend take their first bite, and can attest that it happened.
He also sent us off with a piece of babka baked that morning. It’s one of my favorite desserts, but I’m still discerning. I was supposed to save some for later, but once I had a bite, I couldn’t stop eating it.
Since COVID-19 slowed down the food market scene, Steinberg has been focusing on pushing his catering business. Kebab plates and babka have been popular, which means getting up at 4 a.m. to bake the dessert in his kitchen. Often people, especially in Astoria, order too much because they want to try everything, or can’t get it anywhere else, he said. He recently delivered food from his catering menu that seemed like it was for a small gathering, but it was for a couple.
When he has catered mostly house parties, kafka, chicken kebabs, fresh flatbreads, and Israeli-style salads were popular items on the menu, and he said he makes “the best baba ghanoush around.” He said some local spots in Astoria like the King Souvlaki truck on 31st Avenue and Sal, Kris, & Charlie’s Deli have influenced him, along with all the places he has worked.
One of his goals for the end of the year is to have his own storefront in Long Island City or Forest Hills as a hub for deliveries. He feels lucky to have his own business.
“I was working for so many years managing people’s businesses ... so it felt great,” he said. “The payoff is not immediate — it’s nice to work hard and build something in your own name.”
You can order food from Steinberg at www.chefsteinbergcatering.com.