Deli Dog

Just finished this the other night for my show at Hot Diggity. Homage to the little known Philadelphia Deli Dog - a.k.a. Kosher Tommy. According to my mother this was common in the 1950's at Philadelphia Jewish delis as a kosher alternative to the popular texas tommy (hot dog wrapped in bacon, usually with cheese).

A Kosher Tommy usually consists of an all-beef dog wrapped with beef bologna or salami, variations including pastrami or some with cheese (I guess for the non-kosher??).

A while back I scoured Philadelphia area delis looking for these things and man some of them were sort of awful. Knockwurst and thick layers of greasy, dried out grilled salami under a mountain of congealing provolone cheese on a stale hoagie roll?!?!

 My favorite was this fairly simple Sizzle from Zeke's, a semi hidden diner-deli around 5th and Spruce, and the inspiration for the painting. 

Anyway you can check it out this month at Hot Diggity (630 South Street) along with a bunch of my work that's hanging in the shop. No word on whether or not they are going to run it as a special but this month's Detroit Coney dog is really really good.