S&S

There aren't a lot of restaurants that last 10 years or 20 years, and there are very few restaurants that actually survive past 100 years. But this is one of those places. Welcome to the world famous S&S Restaurant in Inman square, Cambridge.

Talk about a legendary culinary icon, the S&S first opened up back in 1919, and believe it or not, it's been run by one family that entire time. We are now on the sixth generation, Gary Mitchell and the rest of his family. And it's just the way it was back in the day. Now this is a big, multi-faceted restaurant. You got a deli and take out on one side, multiple dining rooms and a full bar. They serve lunch, they serve dinner, they serve a massively popular breakfast on the weekends, and the menu just goes on and on and on. I'm talking page after page of appetizers and deli classics and entrees and sandwiches and salads and everything is made fresh.

So where does the name S&S come from? The S's don't actually stand for anything. You see, the matriarch of the family, Ma Edelstein, used to tell her customers to “Ess and ees” and in Yiddish, that means “eat and eat”. And that's exactly what customers do to this very day.

At its heart, the S&S has always been a traditional Jewish American deli, but over the years, the menu has expanded, and now it draws in all kinds of people looking for all kinds of tasty food. Let's take a look at one of their signature appetizers, the knishes. What is a knish you may be asking? Basically, it's dough wrapped around a filling that is baked and serve piping hot. They have two styles of knishes. Here you got the meat knish and the potato knish. If you ask me, I'll take the meat knish over the potato knish, but I ain't gonna say no to either.

Comfort food is what this place is all about, and nothing to me is more comforting than the potato pancakes. These are hand shredded potatoes. Stack them up into a thick pancake and drop them into the deep fryer so they are super crispy on the outside. On the inside, you get those nice, fluffy, beautiful potatoes. They're delicious on their own, but I like to kick it up traditionally with a little bit of sour cream and a nice dollop of applesauce. Now that's a ladke I like.

Here's something that definitely was not on the original S&S menu back in 1919, their signature S&S chicken wings. I mean, who would have thought some of the best chicken wings in all of Massachusetts are served in an old school Jewish deli? These are big, fresh, never frozen wings. They are deep fried to order, and they are tossed in their signature top secret sauce. It's a little sweet, it's a little spicy. It honestly kind of reminds me of the Gold Fever Wings at the Ninety-Nine and I love Gold Fever Wings at the Ninety-Nine and these are like three times better.

From the very beginning, sandwiches are what the S&S has always been known for. As a guy who has spent a lot of time in delis over the course of my life, I can tell you that pastrami is the king of all deli meats. So this is very high quality beef. They cure it right here. It is covered in that beautiful black pepper all around the edges. It's steamed, so it served nice and hot and juicy. You're talking eight ounces of that peppery pastrami. It's all stacked up on a nice, shiny egg roll, everything you want in a good deli sandwich, salty, peppery, really, fatty, really, really tasty.

If you don't feel like pastrami, go for the Reuben. You have your rye bread that they sizzle up on the griddle, throw on some of their thick, homemade Russian dressing, little bit of sauerkraut, and then the corned beef, which is made right here in house, and the Swiss cheese gets melted right on to hold everything together. So this is crispy and buttery and melty and just waiting for me to take a huge bite. And that's what I'm gonna do. The key to this thing is the Russian dressing, perfect sauce for a perfect Reuben.

Even if it's the afternoon or at night, breakfast foods are popular all day long at the S&S. French toast lovers, this is a rendition you absolutely need to try. This is the signature pound cake french toast. It starts with their dense, delicious, homemade lemon pound cake. They take three thick slices and dunk them directly into their French toast. Batter, throw that onto the grill, get a nice golden brown on it, Pile it onto the plate with some powdered sugar, fresh fruit, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries. Frankly, it's sweet enough that you don't even need the maple syrup. But go ahead and indulge. What the heck you're at the S&S.

You take a look around this restaurant, and it's like taking a virtual tour through the history of Inman square. You can see the old fashioned stores and pharmacies. Inman square has seen a lot of changes over the years, but the one constant is right here at the world famous S&S Restaurant.