And the temple of cold cuts.
Sometimes you just get a hankering for a New York sandwich. Well, at least, I do. A jones like this is tough in the City Different. Certainly you can get a fancy sandwich, but it's been a trial to get
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a real deli sandwich, one with a bunch of meats and cheeses all piled high. The Brooklyn Deli aims to fix this fix.
Comprised of all Boar's Head cold cuts, the sandwiches are big and served with a choice of side dish. Go for the coleslaw. Understand, I'm generally not a fan of coleslaw (the green cabbage, mayo and carrot shreds anyway) but the slaw here is fresh, and yummy red cabbage, apples, mustard seed and just the right amount of mayo make for added zing. You also can get German potato salad, which has studs of bacon. The potatoes were a little undercooked, which made for a crunchy, rather than slurpy, bite. Or opt for hot macaroni or chips. The sandwiches themselves are a mixed bag. I tried the Coney Frank: a hot dog with corned beef and sauerkraut ($7.25). I got a potato knish for an extra $2.50, and was glad I did. The hot dog/corned beef combo isn't as weird as it sounds, but the corned beef was not the thick, fresh cut from a slab 'o beef that I'd expected. Instead, it was also pre-sliced and too thin for my taste. The dog was scrumptious, though-skin that crunched in my teeth as I bit through to perfectly mouth-watering meat within.
The knish looked too healthy to be good. But I was wrong. It was a real New York knish, just like you'd want from a place called Brooklyn Deli. Mashed potatoes housed in a crust…what more could you ask for? (Better mustard, actually. The mustard here was the yellow kind in packets rather than a grainy, quality kind in a jar.) The Reuben ($7.50) was pretty good. Pastrami and sauerkraut with Russian dressing on grilled Sagehouse bread. Again, the meat was too thin and lean for my taste, but if you're watching your fat intake, it could be just what you're looking for.
Vegetarians are welcome too. Cheese, avocado, sun-dried tomato, sprouts, cukes, all on Sagehouse
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bread make up the Central Park Veggie Sandwich ($6.25). The deli also has kids' meals like homemade mac and cheese or bologna and cheese-served with chocolate milk and dessert (NY style cheesecake!). For me, though, the best thing about Brooklyn Deli is the Dr. Brown's soda.
If you've never tried a Cream Soda or a Cel-Ray, do. Really, really do.
Open just seven months, the Brooklyn Deli is housed in a mini-mall near Jackalope on Cerrillos (in the Big 5 Shopping Center). The bad news is they're not open for breakfast. The good news is that when they are open, they deliver!
