{"id":32157,"date":"2019-03-22T03:48:08","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T10:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=32157"},"modified":"2019-03-24T22:43:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T05:43:59","slug":"grab-a-ferry-head-to-buzzys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/03\/22\/grab-a-ferry-head-to-buzzys\/","title":{"rendered":"Grab a ferry, head to Buzzy\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hungry Jew, one of the signature sandwiches at Buzzy\u2019s Luncheonette. (photo by Adam Bogoch)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

My friend, Adam Bogoch, pitched it as the \u201cSmoked Meat Story.\u201d Soon after that email, he would write his own review, for narcity.com, titled, \u201cThis smoked meat sandwich on Salt Spring Island in B.C. will actually change your life<\/a>.\u201d His friend and colleague, Howard Busgang, had opened a deli on the island, and not only did I need to meet Busgang, but I needed to get on a ferry and taste The Hungry Jew, one of the signature sandwiches at Buzzy\u2019s Luncheonette.<\/p>\n

Between the Independent<\/em>\u2019s annual summer publishing hiatus and the High Holidays, it was November before Adam and I headed to Salt Spring. The travel ran like clockwork and we were pulling up to 122-149 Fulford Ganges Rd. right in time for lunch. We shared a Hungry Jew \u2013 a Montreal smoked meat sandwich with homemade horseradish sauce, coleslaw and, I kid you not, two latkes \u2013 and the Rabinowitz, Buzzy\u2019s take on a Reuben. They were both incredibly good, and the only reason I\u2019ve waited this long to share the news is because I wanted to wait until better weather, when people would be more likely to take a day or weekend getaway.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Howard Busgang serves customers rugelach on a sunny November afternoon. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even in winter, Buzzy\u2019s was busy. Having arrived at prime feeding time, it was hard to get Busgang to sit down and, as we talked, he was constantly distracted \u2013 in a good way \u2013 by customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me, I\u2019ll get you another sandwich before you go,\u201d he said as he finally was able to join me at a table outside for the interview.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Montreal, stand-up comedy took Busgang first to Toronto and then to Los Angeles, where he met his wife, Melanie Weaver, and where he lived for 28 years, before returning to Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s Jewish-adjacent,\u201d joked Busgang. \u201cShe was working for a rabbi when I met her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two met on a blind date, he said, brought together by a Jewish comic who knew both of them.<\/p>\n

When he started in comedy in the early 1980s, Busgang said, \u201cThere were not a lot of comics around. It wasn\u2019t like today where every second person does stand-up, so it wasn\u2019t that OK a profession,\u201d as far as his parents were concerned. \u201cIt was kind of an oddity, like maybe he\u2019ll grow out of this kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busgang attended Jewish high school, then went to McGill University before heading to Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know where I started?\u201d he said. \u201cUnited Synagogue Youth, USY, that\u2019s where I started. I was emceeing all their events and that led me to go professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

He recalled the first time he performed at amateur night in Toronto. \u201cThey packed the place with all these people from USY who knew me. It was packed, and it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Howard Busgang, left, and Adam Bogoch prepare sandwiches. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So great, he said, that he was put into regular comedy shows right away, \u201cwhich wasn\u2019t so easy, by the way, because it wasn\u2019t my friends anymore in the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he was a stand-up comedian, Busgang did a lot of Jewish material. \u201cI was a very Jewish comic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Los Angeles, he moved from stand-up to comedy writing. \u201cI just was a little tired of the road,\u201d he said, and performing caused him some anxiety.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, I had a respectable career, I did well, but I would constantly punish myself by asking, why am I doing this? But I think I do that with everything. I do that with this place [Buzzy\u2019s], I do that as a writer.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Busgang was in the middle of saying he might just be a miserable guy, he was called back into the deli to help make a sandwich.<\/p>\n

Weaver took his place. Her recollection was that a woman from the synagogue set up that first date.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the only non-Jew in the whole place,\u201d she said. However, Weaver was raised Jewishly, with her family observing some of the holidays, hosting seders, for example, and she taught at a Jewish camp. Born and raised in New York, she moved to Los Angeles some 30 years ago. She and Busgang have been married for about half that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoward had this property on Salt Spring our entire marriage,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so, our entire marriage, I kept hearing \u2018Salt Spring,\u2019 \u2018Salt Spring,\u2019 and all I kept seeing was this property tax bill every month. I was, like, how good could it be? Then the elections and everything started to happen in the U.S. and it just got bad. We took a trip up here in September [2016], I fell in love and then we came in July [2017].\u201d<\/p>\n

A blended family, the couple has three daughters: Alexandra, 30, in Toronto; Emma, 20, in Seattle; and Hannah, 10, who was dividing her attention between helping in the deli and playing with a local dog while her mother was being interviewed.<\/p>\n

Neither Busgang nor Weaver had any restaurant experience before opening Buzzy\u2019s. \u201cIt\u2019s funny,\u201d she said. \u201cThe night before we were open, we had to learn the cash and I was almost in tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ignorance was a kind of blessing, she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we knew what could go wrong, so ignorance was bliss, in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their first day, there were lineups out the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got thrown into it, which was great,\u201d she said. \u201cI think if we had opened in the winter, when it was slow, it would have been a different experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busgang\u2019s love of cooking seemed to have come out of nowhere, said Weaver. \u201cAnd then he started to smoke his own meat. So, we had that in our back pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the couple still wasn\u2019t planning on opening a restaurant, until the location became available. \u201cIt was basherte,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In addition to Busgang\u2019s meat-smoking skills, Weaver\u2019s desire for a good tuna sandwich was a motivation. \u201cSo, again, why not open a deli? Not the brightest of ideas, but it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Howard Busgang\u2019s father called him Buzzy, hence the deli\u2019s name. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And it\u2019s hard work. There is only one staff member. Busgang smokes meat \u201caround the clock,\u201d said Weaver. \u201cIt\u2019s like having a newborn. It\u2019s a lot of work but the rewards \u2013 it\u2019s a community, we\u2019ve become part of a community and it means so much. My daughter gets to work the cash register. It\u2019s crazy. We still can\u2019t believe we have keys to this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said, \u201cIf we did anything right, it\u2019s that we didn\u2019t focus on the tourists, we focused on our people, and so we have a lot of loyalty here. I think people also come here [because] there\u2019s a lot of cursing, a lot of bad behaviour, you can come here and just laugh, and that\u2019s what we want. Come here, have a laugh, I\u2019ll make you eat, you have to finish your plate or you go to your room. That was our business plan \u2013 make the community happy, hopefully make a few bucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since they opened, the menu has seen some additions; in particular, matzah ball soup and tomato soup. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to get too big. We just want to stay like someone\u2019s kitchen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And the island has been very welcoming. \u201cSomeone knew that we want to make our own pickles, so they\u2019re going to grow us cucumbers,\u201d said Weaver as one example. \u201cThe love here,\u201d she said, \u201cit\u2019s insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah, who had checked in a couple of times with her mother, joined the interview. In addition to sometimes working the cash, she delivers food to the Saturday market and to the bar a few doors down from the deli.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s another thing,\u201d said Weaver, \u201cit\u2019s a family joint.\u201d<\/p>\n

School runs four days a week and, while Hannah enjoys helping out, she was still getting used to living on the island. When she\u2019s not working or at school, she\u2019s probably at soccer or horseback riding; she had just received a paddleboard for her birthday. Though she has a couple of sandwiches named after her, her favourite is the grilled cheese.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of what we\u2019re doing here has to do with taking the power back in our lives,\u201d said Busgang, when he returned to the table. \u201cIt has to do with being in showbiz all those years and feeling like you had no control over anything and feeling like you\u2019re handing over all the power to other people to validate you\u2026. I was tired of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buzzy\u2019s opened on June 22 last year. \u201cWhereas, in show business, nobody wants to help you, in this business, I have so many people who want to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those people was William Kaminski, owner of Phat Deli in Vancouver, who Busgang described as a mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not perfect but we\u2019re figuring it out,\u201d said Busgang.<\/p>\n

The smoked meat he has got down to a science.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re open till four o\u2019clock and then I have to get my brisket ready for the next day, so I have to bathe the brisket,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cure it for eight days \u2013 dry cure \u2013 and then I have to take the salt out, so we bathe it. I\u2019m bathing a brisket right now and sometimes I sing to it. It\u2019s very sweet. After I bathe it, then I put some rub on it and then I\u2019ll take it home and we\u2019ll smoke it for seven-and-a-half hours. And then it goes in the steamer for two, three hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding rye bread was one of the early challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was in a special place,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause people would come by with bread and say, \u2018Try this bread.\u2019 They\u2019d constantly come in and say, \u2018What are you going to do about the bread?\u2019 It became like a cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bre, the bread. It took me three months, and I got someone here on the island to make me an organic rye bread.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barb Slater makes the bread; Shigusa Saito, the knishes. Saito is now also \u201cmaking a dark chocolate babka to die for,\u201d wrote Busgang in a follow-up email. \u201cIf you\u2019re not already dead, she\u2019s also making us New York cheesecake, our soon-to-be-famous potato knishes, and rugelach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Busgang \u2013 whose credits include having been a head Just for Laughs-gala writer, creating the award-winning sitcom The Tournament<\/em> and writing for TV series Boy Meets World<\/em> and Good Advice<\/em>, among many others \u2013 is still writing, still pitching shows. Earlier that afternoon, he was slicing meat while plugged into his phone, listening to a meeting in which a producer was trying to put a deal together.<\/p>\n

Weaver popped out to say that Busgang often has to go next door to finish his calls because the meat in the charger of his cellphone prevents his phone from charging. \u201cThere\u2019s meat everywhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
The November sunset as seen from the ferry, en route home. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A couple of relatively new customers stopped to say hello to Busgang and Weaver. They said they were slowly adding Buzzy\u2019s to their list of usual places to eat.<\/p>\n

And, said Busgang and Weaver, local Jews have discovered, by going to Buzzy\u2019s and meeting fellow Jews, that there actually is a Jewish community on the island.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re blessed to have this,\u201d said Busgang.<\/p>\n

As he explained the deli\u2019s name \u2013 his father called him Buzzy \u2013 Hannah returned, offering him a taste of a new salad dressing she had created. \u201cDaddy, just try it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInteresting,\u201d he said, \u201cI like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gross,\u201d she corrected him.<\/p>\n

Three generations seemed present in that moment.<\/p>\n

As the interview came to an end, Busgang asked, \u201cDo you want some rugelach? I gotta keep feeding you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buzzy\u2019s is open Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Find them at facebook.com\/buzzysluncheonette<\/a> and then head to bcferries.com<\/a> and start planning your trip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hungry Jew, one of the signature sandwiches at Buzzy\u2019s Luncheonette. (photo by Adam Bogoch) My friend, Adam Bogoch, pitched it as the \u201cSmoked Meat Story.\u201d Soon after that email, he would write his own review, for narcity.com, titled, \u201cThis smoked meat sandwich on Salt Spring Island in B.C. will actually change your life.\u201d His […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[8811,2626,5839,6073,8813,8814,3812,8810,8812],"class_list":["post-32157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-buzzys","tag-deli","tag-entrepreneur","tag-food","tag-howard-busgang","tag-melanie-weaver","tag-restaurant","tag-salt-spring-island","tag-smoked-meat"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}