Takeout from Max's

I have been away from this blog too long. When I was making the post about the barkers at Riff Burgers recently I discovered the following entry I had written but never posted three months ago. So here it is with a new ending added.

Max's Deli at the Colonnade continues to be a high end deli. I recently picked up takeout for some family members, one of whom wanted the "1962 Dog".

The "1962 Dog" is a quarter pound kosher Dog with slaw, onions & BBQ sauce, served with a side of steak fries. This is a meal in itself.

I opted for the "Russian Reuben" which is: Pastrami on grilled rye with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing. This has come to be a favorite sandwich of mine. As I write this I consulted the online menu to verify the ingredients of this sandwich and find that the description on the menu lists slaw instead of kraut. Whenever I've had this sandwich it has come with kraut, as it did this time. I believe the menu used to list kraut rather than slaw as an ingredient. I'm going to have to ask about this. If it is slaw it must be a sour rather than sweet slaw.


You might remember that when we discussed Chicago style hot dogs a while back I concluded that Max's Chicago is the nearest thing to authentic that you will find in Birmingham. They clearly take pride in their hot dogs at Max's. My focus at Max's has been on the Chicago style dogs and I've never tried the "1962 Dog".

This is a BIG hot dog that to some degree dwarfs the fries served with it. The report I got from Aaron who ordered the "1962 Dog" was that it was outstanding. The red sauce on top is a sweet bar-b q sauce that perfectly compliments the sour slaw. I guess I need to try one myself. As I write this I have decided to get one this week; so I might add to this entry before I post it.

I must stop and speak up for Steve Dubrinsky, the owner operator of Max's. A while back he was quoted in the Birmingham News as commenting on how Alabama's new immigration law has made even legal workers uncomfortable. After that many people who are passionate supporters of the law decided to twist his statement and accuse him of either hiring illegal aliens and much worse. All of these comments have been far from the truth. At the time of the article he had 9 LEGAL latinos working in his restaurant. If you click on the link above to Max's website the first thing you will see is a message from Steve in response.

Here's the afterthought added much later. I did try the 1962 dog at Max's just a couple of weeks after I saw Aaron eat his. My reaction was much like my reaction to the "Beale St. dog" at Riff Burger. I don't care for slaw on hot dogs, and don't want a sweet sauce on my hot dogs. That made two strikes for me on this dog. I like a little sweet relish if it is balanced with some good sour toppings like mustard and kraut. This was just too sweet for my taste. If you like this kind of thing like Aaron does, I say; "Help yourself". Just let me get one of their other dogs and I'll be very happy. Max's remains a favorite of mine.

As I look back over this I see I mentioned the Birmingham News when I wrote this back in the days when it was a local paper published daily. I still miss what was a pretty good paper for a city our size. Since it is now the print version of a news website for Alabama's four largest cities it seems to be quickly becoming irrelevant and uninteresting to me.