RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Here in Los Angeles, Canter's Deli is an institution that's buzzing this time of year. Yom Kippur begins tonight when observant Jews seek forgiveness during a 25-hour fast. Canter's Deli provides what's needed for when that fast ends?
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It is an old-school deli, wood-paneled walls, huge pastrami sandwiches. They're expecting big crowds stocking up before the place closes at sundown.
JACQUELINE CANTER: Every hungry Jewish person comes to Canter's to break the fast because, simply put, Canter's is like going home again. You get a home-cooked meal.
MONTAGNE: Jacqueline Canter is the manager. Her grandfather opened this restaurant 85 years ago.
CANTER: Get matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, round challah like their grandmother used to make, chopped liver. You name it, we have it.
MONTAGNE: She takes us from the dimly lit dining room into the kitchen bursting with activity.
INSKEEP: Not everybody working in the kitchen is Jewish. In fact, most are Latino, but they can prepare the perfect matzo ball soup, we're told, and they have the language down, too.
CANTER: Yes, some of them do speak Yiddish, yes. And I speak Spanish, by the way. So there you have it.
INSKEEP: There you have it indeed. One corner of America preparing for Yom Kippur. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.