Weintraub’s Delicatessen on Water Street has been feeding Worcester since 1941, and it looks exactly like you’d hope it would.
The deli counter runs the length of the room. Behind the glass: corned beef, pastrami, tongue, chopped liver, whitefish salad, half-sour pickles sitting in their brine. A handwritten sign lists the day’s specials. The fluorescent lights have been on for decades. This is not a place that has been art-directed to look old — it actually is old, and it carries that weight without making a fuss about it.
Worcester doesn’t have a deep Jewish deli tradition the way New York or Boston’s Brookline does, which makes Weintraub’s more valuable for those who know what they’re looking at. The corned beef is the main event: sliced thick, properly fatty, piled high on rye without apology. Get the sandwich and don’t ask for mustard on the side — just let them make it. The matzo ball soup is the thing to order when it’s February and you’ve made poor decisions about your coat. It’s the kind of soup that makes you feel less stupid about your choices.
The pastrami runs close behind the corned beef in esteem, though loyalties split hard around here on that question. The chopped liver, if you grew up eating it, will stop you mid-bite. If you didn’t grow up eating it, this is a reasonable place to start.
Weintraub’s also does a brisk retail business. They stock shelves of Jewish pantry staples — rugelach, babka, Streit’s matzo, Dr. Brown’s sodas in every variety including Cel-Ray, which is the celery soda that sounds like a dare but is actually very good with corned beef. You can leave with both lunch and a bag of groceries, which is a reasonable use of a Wednesday afternoon.
The space seats maybe twenty people if everyone sucks it in. There’s no ambiance in the trendy sense, just booths and a counter and the low-grade hum of a refrigerator that has been running since the Carter administration. On weekend mornings, it fills up with regulars who know each other and don’t rush. On weekday lunchtimes, the line moves fast and people eat standing if they have to.
Pricing is honest. A full corned beef sandwich runs around twelve dollars, which in 2024 is a fair deal for what you’re getting. A cup of soup is a few dollars more. Dr. Brown’s sodas are under two dollars, and you should absolutely get one.
Parking is available on the street and in a small lot nearby. Water Street is on the eastern edge of downtown, easy enough to find, easy enough to drive past without noticing if you’re not looking for it. Most people in Worcester know it’s there; not enough of them go often enough. That’s their loss and your opportunity.
Go on a weekday if you can. Sit down. Order the corned beef on rye with a Cel-Ray. Tell yourself you’ll try the chopped liver next time, and then actually try it next time.
