There’s this Jewish deli in Bala Cynwyd, PA, near where I used to live, called Hymie’s.  And Hymie’s makes THE BEST chicken salad I have had ANYWHERE in this entire world.

I know, I know, again – here we are – really SFB?  Chicken salad?  I know.  It’s so simple, probably everyone has a recipe for it.

But do you know how to make it like Hymie’s makes it?

I will tell you that if you are in the Philadelphia area and consider yourself a chicken salad aficionado, then you should take a Saturday and head out to Bala Cynwyd and pick up a pint of it at Hymie’s.  Pick up a couple of their pickles too.  Ugh, mouth watering.

So, there’s also this kinda sorta popular food blogger, Mel Joulwan, who was my idol during my Paleo days, and in one of her cookbooks she has a recipe for deli tuna salad.  But ew, fish.  So I skimmed over the recipe ingredients and thought hey, maybe I can just swap out the tuna with shredded chicken, and voila, chicken salad.  Well, I did exactly that, AND OMG WHAT ARE THE CHANCES BUT IT TASTED JUST LIKE HYMIE’S.

That might have been the most excited I’d been while following Paleo.

But the beauty of this chicken salad is that it can be as simple or as complex as you’d like it to be.  There have been times where I’ve just wanted to throw something together for lunch for the week and I toss only some of the ingredients in a bowl and mix it up and it’s still delicious.  But the full recipe – listed here – is, dare I say, a Hymie’s copycat chicken salad recipe.

My absolute favorite way to eat this chicken salad is as pictured – wrapped in butter or Boston lettuce leaves.  But, if you are going for a non-Paleo, Jewish-deli style experience with your chicken salad, pile it up onto some rye bread and nomz it down.  With a big ol’ pickle on the side.  ?