Cecil's — Restaurant in Saint Paul

The Potato Knishes at Cecils reminded me that my Koreaness is also infused with New York Jewishness (and a touch of Appalachian redneck) as a Korean adoptee living in America. The throwback diner chrome chairs with round red vinyl seats reminded me of sitting in my Jewish great-grandmother’s kitchen in Florida. When the waiter brought out the Knishes, I thought about how she used to stoically cook for the family – always in a practical flowered house dress and white nurse shoes. After serving us, she would scurry back to the kitchen, never sitting down and always ensuring we were full. Biting into the diced potato and onion mixture encased in a perfectly flaky pastry reminded me of how she could only express emotion through food. Cecils’ modest exterior belies the warmth of the food on the interior. The Knishes were perfectly browned and flaky with the temperature walking right up to the line of scorching. But the cold butter saved my mouth as it melted alongside the filling. Cecils reminded me that food retrieves childhood memories faster than a skilled therapist. My identity is rolled up into a weird conglomerate of Korean, Eastern European, and Appalachian influences, and lately I have been gravitating towards Korean food, the cuisine of my origin. However, the Knishes reminded me that I cannot deny that they also taste like home. The small marketplace at Cecils looked like they stocked my great-grandmother’s pantry. As I paid for my pickle jar sized Manischewitz gefilte fish, I thought about how my mother’s extended family understood how food sooths the confusion of ethnic displacement. At times, I cling to the glimpses of togetherness that my family could only express through food. Cecils is a sprinkle of familial belonging. I definitely recommend Cecils for its throwback vibes and...

I've loved Cecil's for many years and wish I could give 5 stars. But when I visited today, as one employee was ringing me up, a different employee - a white man in his 40s or 50s - called me "young lady" (I'm in my 40s) and asked if I am from Minnesota. When I said yes, he expressed great surprise that I was buying the Jewish deli food I bought. He left it hanging there, staring at me, in such a way that I felt I had to justify myself. I explained that I am Jewish and grew up going to the Lincoln Del, which was in St. Louis Park for decades.

I am accustomed to fellow Minnesotans finding various ways to point out to me that I don't "look Jewish." Over time, I've learned it's usually understandable, and not to take it personally. (I should add that although I'm 5'10" and freckly, I'm also white and curly-haired.) But when I go to a business that does specifically cater to Jewish people (though of course many others go there), I would rather not be singled out, and treated with suspicion and/or marvel in this way.

I hope that the next time I go to Cecil's to satisfy my hankering for beet horseradish, great pastrami, and Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray, I will be treated less like a problem or an oddity, by someone who is supposed to be providing some kind of customer service. Jewish businesses do have a right to be more on alert again for anti-Semites lately, and maybe this employee is thus more anxious. But still, people working at Cecil's should have a basic awareness that someone who doesn't look like a character from Seinfeld might still want to buy...

Once they took the order, we had to sit there for a long time-the people next our table came way after we did, but they got their food before us. When we got our food, they were cold, it is obvious that it sat there for a while although it was not busy at all. The entire kitchen people talked so loud that although we were sitting toward the back, we could hear the noise, talking and laughing….while we were eating, the cashier in the black shirt came to our table with a check and said that she was going home so ‘pay now’. I was bit startled at the manner she was talking to us. She must have thought that we did not understand her so she repeated, ‘pay now’. I noticed that she was not going around the entire dinning room demanding them to ‘ pay now’. She kept repeating herself and we were in such a disbelief in the treatment that we received, we could not talk. She took this as if we did not understand what she was saying ,so she got frustrated and left. After finishing the meal, we went to pay, I saw a gentleman in a white uniform. I asked him if he was the manager, and he replied, ‘I could be’. I went on to tell him what just happened and he said that he was going to investigate, and that was that. I stopped at the deli and wanted to get some corned beef to take home. There was this young lady at the counter who seemed nice first but when she saw that I was not leaving her any tip, she threw the receipt at me. Wow….what a joke…. Here is the thing, even if you were a beggar on my doorstep, I would still treat you better,...