Corky & Lenny’s on Chagrin Boulevard in Cleveland has closed after 67 years.
WOODMERE — When Northeast Ohio’s treasured, 67-year-old Jewish deli closed its doors in the middle of Hannukah, it opened a flood of memories. A mostly shocked Jewish community was quick to recall food and family experiences at Corky & Lenny’s both at Cedar Center and in Woodmere Village. The first opened on Cedar Road in 1956, with the eastern Chagrin Boulevard expansion in 1973.
Related: Corky and Lenny’s, a legend of Cleveland’s restaurant scene, closes after 67 years in business
Corky & Lenny’s were places where people went for meals, after Temple and on dates. They did carryout for celebrations and for shiva. The community, Jewish and Gentile, will miss the restaurant.
“I am a little shocked,” says Ruth Levine, owner of the now-shuttered Bistro 185 in Cleveland, and Pepper Pike resident. “It’s not that he didn’t have business. He just couldn’t find the help. I would be very frustrated.”
“I grew up at Corky & Lenny’s when they were still at Cedar Center. We ate there all the time,” she says. “The line would be out the door at midnight, this was going back to the ‘60s. That was the place to be at midnight. You’d see everybody.”
Over time, four generations of Levine’s family ate at the deli.
“I took my kids, my grandkids. I took my mother there for a corned beef sandwich,” she says. “I loved his deli. I would order the fatty corned beef because fat is where the flavor is. I would go in often with my husband and he would get the mishmash soup.”
“It’s a real institution in the Cleveland community. I find it very sad that an institution like that has closed. It’s the kind of place that you never think will close. I’m going to miss them.”
“I feel sad for Kenny [Kurland, the owner], he’s a nice guy who’s worked hard,” she says. “I understand that as a former restaurant owner. The pressure can really get to you after a while. It’s an overwhelming business.”
The restaurant announced its closing Tuesday in a voicemail to callers. “This is Corky and Lenny’s. I am sorry to say we are closed for the time being. We do not have a set reopen date. Please keep your eye out and maybe we’ll be able to open at some point in some iteration.”
The original restaurant opened in 1956. Sanford “Corky” Kurland partnered with Lenny Kaden to serve the Eastern European and American dishes they had grown up eating. The deli was steeped in Cleveland history and Jewish tradition.
Their first location opened in South Euclid’s Cedar Center — a shopping-dining area near the intersection of Cedar and Warrensville Center Roads in Cleveland Heights and University Heights.
“Corky & Lenny’s” became a regional institution, known for its brimming corned beef sandwiches, matzo ball soup, giant pickles and more — a place “where people meet to eat,” as their motto heralded.
The deli had been a must-do for a who’s who of entertainers passing through Cleveland throughout the years. Milton Berle, Norm Crosby, Totie Fields, Jackie Mason, David Letterman and Zero Mostel all have stopped by — usually for the duo’s signature corned beef.
The original location at Cedar Center shuttered in 1994, but for a time, Kurland and Kaden operated it concurrently with the Village Square location in Woodmere with the help of a new partner, Alex Pearl. In 1990, Alex Pearl passed away and not long after Lenny Kaden retired, leaving Kurland’s son Kenny and nephew Earl to carry on the business as partners.
Both restaurants had run alongside one another for two decades and were by all accounts incredibly successful— so much so that the management expanded into Horseshoe (now JACK) Casino’s food court.
Despite the delicatessen’s success and endurance, that location closed in early 2021 and management had been actively seeking a buyer for the Village Square location.
It’s no secret that the food service industry has been one of the “hardest hits in the economy” by the Covid-19 pandemic. Many food and drink purveyors across the country have struggled to attract and retain staff. Sadly, Corky & Lenny’s was no exception.
The deli’s size, clientele, and overstuffed menu — filled with everything from hot pastrami, whole smoked fish and lox to potato pancakes and knishes — made things more challenging and complicated. It was never a lack of business according to many who took to social media to lament the closing.
It was a lack of employees.
Last month owner Amanda Kurland took to Facebook hoping for a departure strategy:
“Corky & Lenny’s Restaurant Deli in Cleveland has been keeping the deli traditions alive for over 65 years! We still have a strong loyal following but are struggling to have enough staff or an exit plan!” she said on a Save the Deli Facebook page right before Thanksgiving.
“Do you know someone who might want to jump in and reinvigorate the place? So much potential (and a liquor license) just need the right chef, manager, partner or outright owner to take the great name and reputation into the future!”
Jeremy Umansky, the owner of Larder Delicatessen in Ohio City, wasn’t interested in moving east with his business. But he has both culinary and social memories.
“I’m absolutely devastated,” says Umansky. “During my high school years, I was in a Jewish youth group. We met every Sunday to hang out and would then all go out to dinner at Corky’s.
“I learned what a really good pickle could be there and how to properly say ‘knish’ there,” he recalls. “Sitting at the table having a bite of pickled green tomato I knew I was about to have an awesome meal.”
Those meals included soup and latkes. While Corky & Lenny’s had latkes year ‘round, Larder is only having them for Hannukah and cold winter days, he says.
“I always loved getting my matzo ball soup with kreplach there,” he says. Kreplach, for those who don’t know, are a Yiddish version of a wonton.
Umansky’s memories stretched to include the beef tongue sandwich, preferably with a bread heel on one side. To that order he’d add an extra-large chocolate phosphate with extra chocolate.
“They had all the Jewish deli specials, knish, noodle kugel, insanely big rugelach,” he notes. “If you wanted to reconnect with those Ashkenazi roots, that was the place to go.”
Doug Katz, owner for several Cleveland restaurants including Amba and Zhug, and chef consultant for Provenance at the Cleveland Museum of Art, has fond memories as well.
“I remember going to Corky’s with my grandma Prima when I was as young as five years old,” he says. “I used to love eating the pickles and we would always order latkes with corned beef. At times, we ordered chopped liver, too, as that was one of my grandma’s favorites.
“It has been part of our family eating traditions for my entire life, and I wish the Corky & Lenny’s family happiness and peace as we all share the great memories.”
Linda Mushkat of Aurora said her family is disappointed.
“All of us are in shock and sad,” she says.
“One of my favorite memories was when we would drive up from Akron on a Saturday I would call my camp friend, Lynn Samuels, who lived in South Euclid, from the pay phone that used to be just inside the door. It just cost at quarter and wasn’t long distance,” she says. “Then I would meet my family at the table and eat all the pickles on the table.”
Her father Jerome Mushkat of Akron says, “Damn, I like their frozen soup, pastries, and cabbage rolls. I will miss Corky’s. It was a major part of our lives and culture.”
Meanwhile, her brother Steven says he’s already missing dill pickles from the serving bowl on the table.
Beth Schreibman-Gehring of Cleveland Heights was a fan.
“The entire Jewish community in Cleveland is in mourning,” she says. “It’s an institution. You can’t talk to any Jewish family in this city without finding a Corky & Lenny’s memory.”
“I totally have such fond memories of Corky &Lenny’s from being a kid,” she adds. When she owned a retail establishment — Schreibman’s — in the late 1990s, she’d get takeout for the staff when they were working late during the holiday season.
“I will miss a Corky & Lenny’s lean corned beef sandwich with mustard,” she says. “And the halvah. My grandpa used to buy me bars of halvah. And the cream puffs. Corky & Lenny’s cream puffs were the best things going. They were huge and full of whipped cream and covered with dark chocolate. It was your big time Jewish delicatessen cream puff.
“My sister-in-law in Asheville is going to lose her mind when she finds this out. We would bring pastrami to her in Asheville.”
“To have it suddenly be gone is so odd,’ she adds. “Especially as a Jewish girl who’s grown up with it. It’s one of those places that become home away from home for Jewish people. That’s what the loss is.”
