Went to Zaftig’s in Framingham for the first time on Sunday evening, with my wife.

I grew up in a Jewish family, so delicatessen food appeals to me. Nowadays, however, I choose not to eat certain foods, especially in the massive quantities we see in a typical deli.

Zaftig’s is very nice inside, and the wait-staff is very friendly and accommodating, which makes it somewhat atypical for a deli. The decor is updated, but with old-time bar stools to remind me of the good old days, when Bailey’s Ice Cream was a destination.

And the food looks MARVELOUS. As it turns out, much of it is really fresh and delicious.

We had a bunch of sides; Steamed Broccoli was not overcooked or with too much seasoning. The potato pancake was very fat, with lots of fluffiness inside, but not too oily. The salmon cake was delicious, mostly made of fish. And the half sour pickle was perfect!

Watch out for store-bought pickles. Avoid table salt, sugar, corn syrup, vinegar, msg, preservatives, and food coloring. Here’s my recipe for half sour pickles.

• 2 large pickling cucumbers
• 1/2 small daikon radish (optional)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (I use course Celtic sea salt)
• 1 TS fresh dill
• black pepper, mustard seed, sea weed shake and garlic to taste
• 2 cups spring water

Slice ends off washed cucumbers, and slice longways in half. Same for daikon then make slices in shape of half moons. Daikon is very good for blood quality and digesting animal protein. Some people soak them in cold water for :30.

Place vegetables into a vegenaise jar

Boil the water and spices, then shut off and cover for one minute to cool below boiling point. Pour into jar, fully submerging veggies and to the top. Then seal and leave on counter for several hours. Place into fridge. They will be edible in six hours, and perfect in 1-2 days. Leave them two more days for full sour pickles.

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