​WORCESTER – Weintraub’s Jewish Delicatessen, the 99-year-old Water Street landmark and the city’s last remaining Jewish deli, will close next month, with plans to be succeeded by a French crepe café.

“We were a little reluctant to go away from the Jewish deli, but we’ve exhausted all efforts (to save it),” Edward Murphy, the building’s owner, said Monday.

Mr. Murphy bought the 126 Water St. property last summer and made it known he was looking for a serious candidate to take over the deli, which had fallen on hard times.

The once-thriving eatery – part of a string of Jewish businesses that populated Water Street in the mid-20th century - lost customers over the years as the neighborhood diversified, and had struggled with health code violations in recent years.

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WORCESTER – Dariush “David” Mizrahi wishes he could say that business at the city’s only kosher deli spiked this week for Hanukkah.

He can’t.

“No,” the ungregarious proprietor of Weintraub’s replied when asked the question Friday as he sliced up some tender corned beef.

The 61-year-old, who announced a retirement in July but reversed course in August, said business, already tough, has declined since summer.

“I want people to know that we didn’t close down,” he said, although the long-term fate of the 98-year-old deli appears uncertain.

Local developer Ed Murphy, who bought the building in August for $360,000, told the T&G that although he’s still open to another operator continuing the deli, he’s exploring other options.

“We’re actively entertaining other offers,” said Mr. Murphy, who owns several properties in the area.

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WORCESTER - Weintraub’s Delicatessen, Worcester’s last remaining Jewish deli, was sold last week to local real estate developer Edward Murphy.

But Dariush “David” Mizrahi, who has run the business at 126 Water St. for the last 30 years, is still behind the counter, slicing kosher corned beef and pastrami and serving up matzo ball soup.

“I didn’t want the business closed,” Mr. Mizrahi, 61, said.

As for retirement? “I’ll think about that later.”

Mr. Mizrahi said the 98-year-old deli’s prospects would benefit from the proposed relocation to Worcester of the Pawtucket Red Sox and redevelopment of the Kelley Square area, including construction of the 10,000-seat Polar Park stadium for the top Red Sox minor league affiliate.

Dr. Charles Steinberg, PawSox president, came to Weintraub’s on Friday and ordered a tuna fish sandwich and side of coleslaw, according to Mr. Mizrahi. He told the waiters he’d be back.

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WORCESTER – The framed black-and-white photographs inside Weintraub’s Jewish Delicatessen on Water Street tell the story of an era gone by.

In the 1930s, a smiling Sam Weintraub greeted the camera in a white shirt and tie, a handful of other similarly dressed employees by his side.

A photograph of the street from the 1960s shows a row of Jewish businesses - the large vertical Lederman’s Bakery sign looming in the distance - of which Weintraub’s was only one.

Today, Weintraub’s stands on a street that has long ceased to be a hub for Jewish shops, now two doors down from a marijuana lounge. It’s the only Jewish deli left in the city, and it could be gone by the end of summer, as owner Dariush “David” Mizrahi is retiring at the end of August.

“It was a difficult decision,” Mr. Mizrahi said from behind the counter Friday, where a menu of products written on a whiteboard has hung for a decade. The 60-year-old, who manned the shop alone Friday afternoon, is in the midst of selling the building to Ed Murphy, who owns a number of nearby buildings and is hoping to find someone to keep the deli going.

“I’d like to keep it what it is if I can,” said Mr. Murphy. He said he’s already heard some interest, and is hopeful the deli will not close for good at August’s end.

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